St Helens - Whites 1878 - - Page 1

The parish of St. Helen's is partly in the municipal borough of Ryde. It contains 1883 acres of land and 13 of water.

The population increased from 853 persons in 1831, to 1948 in 1851, 2586 in 1861, and 3412 in 1871, owing chiefly to the rapid rise of Sea View as a bathing place. Of the inhabitants 164 were in the borough of Ryde.

The parish has many lodging-houses, built principally during the last ten years at Sea View. Being opposite Spithead and the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, this part of the coast of the Island is a favourite residence for pilots, many of whom have houses here, with delightful sea prospects and excellent accommodations for the numerous visitors who throng hither in summer.

Henley Grose Smith, Esq., is lord of the manor [Priory], but the soil belongs chiefly to the Oglander, Glynn, Harcourt, Beech, Leacock. Young, Hutt, Somerset, Calthorpe, and other families.

St. Helen's Green is an old scattered village, near the present parish church, on the noth side of the broad creek called Brading Haven, and nearly a mile west of the Old Church Tower, which stands close to the sea, and was strengthened with a thick facing of brickwork to preserve it as a sea-mark in 1719, when, owing to the incursion of the ocean, the inhabitants were obliged to erect a new parish church. This tower is painted white, and preserved at the expense of the Brethren of Trinity House.

The Priory, a large stone mansion, is the seat belonging to Henley Grose Smith, of London, but is now occupied by the Marquis of Cholmondeley. It occupies the site of a Priory of Cluniac Monks, founded before 1155, and made subordinate to some abbey in Normandy. In the early part of this century the Priory was the seat of Sir Nash Grose, one of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, and a relative of Grose, the celebrated antiquary.

The ancient town or village of St. Helen's was washed away by the incursions of the ocean many centuries ago, and is supposed to have been a place of considerable importance, as Edward III, in 1337, issued a writ directed to the mayors and bailiffs of Yarmouth and St. Helen's, in the Isle of Wight.'

A Local Board was formed in 1873, and the district comprises Sea View, St. Helen's, Nettlestone, Elmfield, High Park, Oakfield, and St. John's Park.

The present Parish Church (St. Helen's) was built in 1719, partly with the materials of the ancient church, but it was all rebuilt, except for the chancel, in 1830, at the cost of 500GBP. It is a plain structure with 280 sittings, 129 of which are free.

St. John's Church, at Oakfield, was built in 1843, at the cost of 1,630GBP, for a district comprising the orth-western portion of St. Helen's parish, and which had 2102 inhabitants in 1871. There are 300 sittings, of which 160 are free.

St. John's Schools were built in 1845 and 1852, at a cost of 700GBP.

Sea View Church (St. Peters') is a small chapel of ease to St. Helen's, erected in 1859, at the cost of 1,100GBP raised by subscription, and was enlarged in 1870, at an outlay of 700GBP.

The Wesleyans and Wesleyan Reformers have small chapels both at St. Helen's Green and Sea View; and the Bible Christians have one at the former place.

St. Clare Castle, one of the finest marine residences in the parish on the coast, about a mile east of Ryde. It is the seat of Colonel Francis Vernon-Harcourt and his lady, who is a daughter of the third and last Earl of Liverpool. Adjoining these grounds are those of Appley and St. John's House, the seat of Capt. S. Gassiot, R.N. The latter was built during the last century by Lord Amhurst.

There are several neat marine villas at and near Sea View and Spring Vale, as named in the directory with their occupants.

St. Helen's House, the seat of Gaspard Thomas Le Marchant, Esq., is a handsome mansion, which was built in 1848, at the cost of 3,500GBP.

At Nettlestone Point are the foundations of an Old Fort, and near there were formerly salterns.

Post, Money Order, and Telegraph Office and Savings' Bank, at Mr. Benjamin Dash's, St. Helen's Green.

Post and Money Order, and Telegraph Office and Savings' Bank, at Mrs. Elizabeth Dawson's, Seaview.

Post and Money Order Office and Savings' Bank, at Mr. Alfred Tutte's, Oakfield.

Carriers to RYDE - Charles Bartlett, Tues., Fr., and Sat. ; Charles Dallimore, Mon., Wed. and Sat. ; William Spragg, daily.

Adams John, joiner, Nettlestone

Allen Robert, lodging house, Sea view

Anderson John, manager, Sea View Hotel

Ansell Sidney, butcher, The Green

Baillie Mrs. Eleanor, Spring vale

Baines Mr. George, Arctic cottage, Sea view

Barclay Mr. Henry Ford, Sea View house

Bartlett Mr. Caleb, The Green

Bartlett Charles, carrier, The Green

Bartlett John, wheelwright, Nettlestone

Bartlett William, butcher, The Green; h Sandown

Beech Mr. Henry, Seafield house

Bourne Joseph, manager, Oakfield

Boyle Mr. Alexander, St. Helen's cottage

Brooks James, farmer, Smallbrook

Burden Charles, boat builder, St. Helen's green

Burden Edward, boot and shoe maker, Spring vale

Burden James, victualler, Sailors' Home, The Green

Burrow Sir George, Bart., F.R.S., D.C.L., Springfield

Burton Edward, shoemaker, Spring vale

Butler Edwin, grocer, corn & coal merchant & glass & china dealer, Oakfield

Callaway Mrs. Emma, shopkeeper, The Green

Callaway Richard Robert, master mariner, The Green

Calthorpe Hon. Somerset J. C., Woodlands vale

Carnell Mr. Samuel Robinson, Spring vale

Cartrall Peter, shoemaker, Oakfield

Caws Albert, pilot, Nettlestone

Caws Alfred Richard, pilot, Sea view

Caws Ashford, pilot, Sea view