Place:Binstead (IOW), Isle of Wight, England

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

Binstead is a village and former civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located in the northeast of the Island, two kilometres west of Ryde on the main road (A3054) between Ryde and Newport. The civil parish of Binstead was absorbed into Ryde in 1933.

Binstead is recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book as "Benestede". It became known for the quality of its limestone which led to a local quarrying industry, the result of which is still visible in the village’s landscape and place names. The nearby Quarr Abbey takes its name from ‘quarry’, and the suffix ‘pitts’ is occasionally found in house and road names because the quarries were known as pits.

The earliest recorded quarrying was by the first Norman Bishop of Winchester, Walkelin, who was granted half a hide of land by William the Conqueror. He used the stone to construct Winchester Cathedral starting in 1079. Subsequently the stone was used in the building of Chichester Cathedral, Romsey Abbey and part of the Tower of London.

There is still a monastery at Quarr Abbey.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on Binstead.
• Victoria County History of Hampshire has an outline map of the parishes of East Medina.
• 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