Place:Niton, 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

Niton is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England near Ventnor. Niton village is split into two halves by a break in the inner cliff large enough to house the main road through the village. Upper Niton lies in a hollow and is set around a crossroads. The parish had a population of 2,082 in the 2011 UK census.

The lower part of the village, below the inner cliff is often known as Niton Undercliff, and was a small fishing hamlet until the 19th century. This part of Niton flourished in Victorian times due to the popularity of Ventnor as a health resort, and many mansions and holiday cottages were built here.

In 1933 the area of Niton civil parish was expanded when it absorbed Whitwell civil parish. (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time)

The road on the Undercliff continues east from Niton towards Ventnor. The Undercliff at Niton includes the most southerly point of the Isle of Wight, St. Catherine's Point which has a lighthouse. The source of the river, the Eastern Yar is in the parish, a little to the north of the village.

Research Tips

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