Place:Mottistone, Isle of Wight, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Mottistone is a village on the the Isle of Wight, England, located in the popular tourist area, the Back of the Wight. It is located 8 miles southwest of Newport in the southwest of the island, and is home to the National Trust's Mottistone Manor.

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Mottistone was a civil parish until 1933 when it was abolished and the area transferred to the neighbouring civil parish of Brightstone.

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

"MOTTISTON, a village and a parish in the Isle of Wight. The village stands on the S skirt of Mottiston Down, 1 mile from the coast, 1½ WNW of Brixton, and 5 SE of Yarmouth; was known, at Domesday, as Messetone; and now consists of a picturesque and scattered group of cottages. The parish contains also the hamlet of Fernfield and part of Chilton. Post town: Brixton, under Newport, lsle of Wight. Acres: 1,107. Real property: £1,571. Population: 160. Houses: 27. The property, with small exception, is all in one estate; belonged formerly to the Lisles, the Chekes, and the Leighs; and belongs now to Seely, Esq. The manor-house is a grey old building; was erected in 1557, by the Chekes; and is associated with the memory of Sir John Cheke, the tutor of Edward VI. Mottiston Down rises to an altitude of 698 feet; and has, on its S side, two Druidical stones,- the one 13 feet high, 6½ feet broad, 20 feet in girth, and little less than 30 tons in weight; - the other recumbent, 9¼ feet long and 4 feet broad. The living is a rectory, united with the vicarage of Shorwell, in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £392. Patron: Brasenose College, Oxford. The church is a quaint and beautiful little building, of nave, aisles, and double gabled chancel; was restored in 1864; and contains a large late altar-tomb, with an illegible inscription."

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on Mottistone.
• Victoria County History of Hampshire has an outline map of the parishes of West 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