Place:Bembridge, Isle of Wight, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight, England. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to claims by residents that Bembridge is the largest village in England. The population had reduced to 3,688 at the 2011 UK census.

Prior to land reclamation the area of Bembridge and Yaverland was almost an island unto itself, separated from the remainder of the Isle of Wight by Brading Haven. Before the Victorian era (1840-1900) Bembridge was a collection of wooden huts and farmhouses, which only consolidated into a true village with the building of the church in 1827 (later rebuilt in 1846). The historical heart of the village is located close to the church in the north of the parish.

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Bembridge was created out of the parish of Brading in 1896 and became a civil parish in the Isle of Wight Rural District. It absorbed the neighbouring parish of Yaverland in 1933. A Vision of Britain through Time states that it ceased being part of the rural district in 1933, but there is no evidence of it becoming an urban district or being merged into another parish. In 1974 it became part of the Medina District, and in 1995 it joined the Isle of Wight unitary district.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on Brading.
• The Isle of Wight Family History Society has a website with a lot of information.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons