Isle of Wight Archives - A Bit About Britain

The Needles – a tale of shipwrecks, Victorian forts and Cold War

40 Comments / South East / Mike@bitaboutbritain / 29th March 2019 / Castles and forts, Coastal, Isle of Wight, Military, Modern, Victorian

The Needles, enormous 100-feet (30-metre) high chalk and flint stacks off the most westerly point of the Isle of Wight, are part of the Island’s iconography, and one of Britain’s most recognisable coastal features. They are an exposed eroded section of a folded east-west band of chalk running through the Island, the remains of which […]

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Queen Victoria’s Osborne House

39 Comments / South East / Mike@bitaboutbritain / 23rd September 2017 / Film or TV, Gardens, Houses, Isle of Wight, Royal connections, Stately homes and palaces, Victorian

Osborne House, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's home on the Isle of Wight

Royal Osborne House is unlike most palaces and stately homes you will ever visit. There is no lengthy history, no convoluted ownership; Osborne House was the creation of Queen Victoria and her beloved husband the Prince Consort, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They designed it as their personal seaside retreat and family home on the

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A bit about South East England

All, South East / Mike@bitaboutbritain / 10th May 2016 / Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Regions, Surrey, West Sussex

Including the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. The South East is the most heavily populated region in England. It has more businesses, including international HQs, than anywhere else in the UK and is the most prosperous and cosmopolitan region outside London. It owes

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What do people say

NatG on Britain’s most haunted placesInteresting. My parents have often told us about an encounter some 50 plus years ago at Markenfield Hall when the hall was uninhabited and a key could be borrowed to look around it. My dad wanted to look at it as part of a project he was doing for a
grandmisadventures on Coventry’s Blitz and CathedralI love places like this that still show the remains of such a beautiful building.
marmeladegypsy on Coventry’s Blitz and CathedralThis is magnificent, Mike. I think most of us who have read about WWII know the basics of what happened to Coventry, but not with the detail and visuals you shared here. And like you, I'm not a fan of modern churches, but from the first photos you shared, I
edgrant22 on Coventry’s Blitz and CathedralA powerful and moving piece about Coventry. I am now inspired to visit the city which will be a first for me. Thank you Edward
Lisa G. on Coventry’s Blitz and CathedralWhat a tragic tale, Mike. So much destruction, not to mention the terror! I tried imagining being at home, or even not at home, but enduring the fear, the noise, the uncertainty. Hour after hour.
notesoflifeuk on Coventry’s Blitz and CathedralI went to an event there some years ago. I really must visit again one day.
Helen Devries on Coventry’s Blitz and CathedralWhat you said about the blitz spirit echoes what my mother said about the raids on Southampton, where she accompanied her friend to try to salvage what they could from her friend's mother's house in the immediate aftermath. Their uniforms got them through the wardens and they were into a
Jennie on Coventry’s Blitz and CathedralJust wow!!
marmeladegypsy on The Witches of PendleAfter our election, I'm beginning to think that the darker times are definitely back! On another note, Rick and I took your advice and visited The Two Chairman when we were seeking a London pub in Westminster. Your recommendation was a good one -- we loved it! And probably wouldn't
Jenny Woolf on The cockatrice of Renwick and other talesHi Mike, I wrote a comment on Kirkoswald, not sure if it got through! :)