Place:Ashey, Isle of Wight, England

Ashey is a hamlet on the outskirts of Ryde on the Isle of Wight in southern England. It had a population of 737 in the UK census of 2011.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Ashey from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"ASHEY, an extensive ancient manor in the Isle of Wight; extending from the coast around Ryde southward to the hills which overhang the Main river. It belonged to the abbess of Wherwell, near Andover; was demised, in 1538, to Giles Worsley; and the northern part of it, on which Ryde stands, was sold to Anthony Dillington, and passed afterwards to the family of Player. Ashey Common, 2 miles S of Ryde, is now enclosed. Ashey Farm, a little further S, was the site of a cell of the nunnery of Wherwell. Ashey Down, still further S, rises 424 feet above the level of the sea, and commands a splendid view from Southampton to Chichester. Ashey Sea-mark, on the summit of the down, is a triangular pyramid, erected in 1735 by the Trinity Board; and guides the navigation into St. Helen's Road at Spithead. The Ryde waterworks, constructed in 1855, are at the foot of the down."

Associations with other parishes

(Source: A Vision of Britain through Time)

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on Newchurch, the parish from which Ryde, then Ashey, were formed.
• 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