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Wight, Isle of

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Wight, Isle of

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Locator map for the English administrative region of the Isle of Wight.
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Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight, a site of great natural beauty, famed for its coloured sands. Alum, a double sulphate of aluminium and potassium used in papermaking, tanning, and medicine, was first mined in the area during the reign of Elizabeth I.
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The Needles and lighthouse, Isle of Wight. The Needles, at the western extremity of the island, are sea-stacks formed principally of chalk and flint; the unmanned lighthouse is on the furthest rock.

Island and unitary authority of southern England.

Area

area 380 sq km/147 sq mi

Towns

Newport (administrative headquarters); Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor (all resorts)

Physical

chalk cliffs and downs, and deep ravines, known locally as ‘chines’; the highest point is St Boniface Down (240 m/787 ft); the Needles, a group of pointed chalk rocks up to 30 m/100 ft high in the sea to the west; the Solent, the sea channel between Hampshire and the island

Features

Benedictine monastery at Quarr Abbey (1132); Cowes, venue of Regatta Week and headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron; Osborne House, built for Queen Victoria in 1845

Agriculture

fruit and vegetables grown in south of island

Industries

aircraft components, electronics, marine engineering, plastics, boatbuilding, sawmills, tourism

Population

(2001) 132,700

Famous people

Thomas Arnold (schoolmaster), Robert Hooke (physicist), Alfred Tennyson (poet)

History

conquered by the Romans in AD 43; there are Roman villas at Newport and Brading. Charles I was imprisoned (1647-48) in Carisbrooke Castle, now ruined.



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