Shorwell (pronounced Shorrel by some locals and Islanders) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

English Parishes & Welsh Communities N&C 2004
/ref> on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

, United Kingdom. It is from

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

in the southwest of the island. Shorwell was one of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

's favourite places to visit on the Isle of Wight.

History

The parish of Shorwell contains three manors: North Shorwell (or Northcourt), South Shorwell (or Westcourt), and

Wolverton Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and G ...

. The Shorwell helmet, a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon helmet, was found in the parish. Northcourt was built in 1615 by the Deputy Governor of the Island, Sir John Leigh, and is the islands's largest

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...

Features

Northcourt Manor's grounds contain a spring, the Shor Well, which feeds a stream, one of the tributaries of the

Buddle Brook Buddle Brook a small river on the Isle of Wight, England. The Brook drains water from the southern side of Brighstone Down and as far to the east as the village of Shorwell. Its flow is the greatest of the streams in the South-West of the Island ...

. There is a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

called the Crown Inn, featuring a pond stocked with

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...

. Shorwell's terrain is hilly, and backs onto the chalk downs leading to Chale Bay and Compton Bay; several public footpaths crisscross this region, linking the village up to walking routes nearer the sea. The twelfth-century St. Peter's Church is in the village. The island's oldest

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

club is based in Shorwell as well as Shorwell United, the Island's oldest Sunday League football club. It is linked to other parts of the Island by

Southern Vectis Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight. The company was founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by the Southern Railway (Great Britain), Southern Railway b ...

bus route 12, serving

Freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does in ...

Totland Totland is a village, civil parish and electoral ward on the Isle of Wight. Besides the village of Totland, the civil parish comprises the western tip of the Isle of Wight, and includes The Needles, Tennyson Down and the hamlet of Middleton. T ...

and

as well as intermediate villages.

References

External links

Photographs of Shorwell
Francis Frith Collection. Villages on the Isle of Wight Civil parishes in the Isle of Wight {{IsleofWight-geo-stub