Place:Calbourne, Isle of Wight, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Calbourne is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located eight kilometres from Newport in the west of the island. In the census of 2011 it had a population of 886.

The village takes its name from the stream that passes through town, the Caul Bourne. The stream used to power five mills just north of the town.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Calbourne.

Newtown

Newtown was an ancient borough located within the present parish of Calbourne. It may equate to Swainston Manor, mentioned in Wikipedia.

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

"NEWTOWN, a decayed town and a chapelry in Calbourne parish, Isle of Wight. The town stands on a creek of its own name, 1 mile S by W of the Solent, and 4¼ E of Yarmouth: was originally called Francheville; belonged anciently to the Bishops of Winchester; received from Aymer, half-brother of Henry III., a charter which was confirmed by several kings; passed to the Crown in the time of Edward I.; was destroyed by the Danes in 1001, and by the French in 1377; was rebuilt, after the latter date, under the name of Newtown; never re-acquired its previous importance, in consequence ofits trade having been attracted mainly to Newport; retained sufficient importance in 1585 to be then invested with the privilege of sending two members to parliament; continued to send them till the passing of the reform actin 1832, when it was disfranchised; fell gradually and continuously, not withstanding its borough character, into a state of decadence; is now so reduced as to comprise only a way-side inn, a small church, a town hall of 1699, a farm-house, and about a score of cottages; and presents memorials of its former greatness in the names of houseless lanes at and near it, as High-street, Gold-street, Kay-street, Drapers-alley. The church was rebuilt in 1837; incorporates a fragment of a previous old church; and is a high-shouldered building, in the early English style. Several large salterns are on the shores of the creek, below the church. A good harbour is in the creek's mouth, and admits vessels of 500 tons. Population of the town in 1861: 99. Houses: 22. The chapelry has no defined limits; and is annexed to the rectory of Calbourne, in the diocese of Winchester."

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on Calbourne.
• 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