Wight, Isle of

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.