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Swimming stroke

Human swimming typically consists of repeating a specific body motion or swimming stroke to propel the body forward. There are many kinds of strokes, each defining a different swimming style or crawl.

In high school, collegiate, and Olympic swimming, there are two undulating strokes (breaststroke and butterfly stroke) and two alternating strokes (front crawl and backstroke).

Most strokes involve rhythmic and coordinated movements of all major body parts — torso, arms, legs, hands, feet, and head. Breathing typically must be synchronized with the strokes, too. It is possible, however, to swim by moving only legs without arms or only arms without legs; such strokes may be used for special purposes, for training or exercise, or by amputees (paralympians) and paralytics.

Swimming styles
Within a competitive sense particularly, swim stroke techniques are continuously changing to become either easier or more efficient as more people explore the activity.
 * Front crawl: the fastest style for swimming on the surface. Done while face down. The arms alternate while the legs perform a flutter kick.
 * Dolphin crawl: Similar to front crawl, but with a dolphin kick. One kick per arm or two kicks per cycle. This style is often used in training.
 * Catch up stroke: A variation of the front crawl where one arm always rests at the front while the other arm performs one cycle. This can also be used as a drill when training in competitive swimming.
 * Head-high crawl (also known as the water polo stroke, lifeguard approach stroke, or Tarzan drill): This stroke is used for water polo, lifeguards to keep the victim in sight, or those who simply want to see where they're going and breathe with ease. It is similar to front crawl, but with head above the water.  This can also be used as a drill when training in competitive swimming.
 * Trudgen: The trudgen is similar to the front crawl, except that it is paired with a scissors kick, similar to that used in the sidestroke.
 * Trudgen crawl: Similar to the trudgen, but with the use of a flutter kick (up and down leg kick) between the scissors kicks.
 * Double trudgen: Similar to the trudgen, but the sides of the scissors kick alternate.
 * Double trudgen crawl: Similar to the double trudgen, but with a flutter kick between the scissors kick alternate.
 * Butterfly stroke: performed face down in the water. The legs perform a dolphin kick while the arms move in a forward circle at the same time.
 * Slow butterfly (also known as "moth stroke"): Similar to butterfly, but with an extended gliding phase, Breathing during the pull/push phase, return head into the water during recovery. This style uses two kicks per cycle.
 * Breaststroke: performed face down in the water without rotating the torso. The arms stay in the water and move synchronously, while the legs perform a whip kick (which is sometimes called a breaststroke kick). It is possible to keep the head elevated out of the water throughout the stroke, although the head usually dips in and out.
 * Inverted breaststroke: Similar to elementary backstroke, but with a whip kick and arm motions.
 * Backstroke (Back crawl): Done while lying on the back. One arm reaches behind the head with a fingertip entry while the other arm is by the side.  The legs perform a flutter kick.
 * Elementary backstroke: Both arms move synchronized (They begin out like an airplane, then go beside the body like a soldier then they run up the sides and back out to an airplane position) with whip kick.
 * Inverted butterfly: Similar to elementary backstroke, but with a dolphin kick. This is often used for training.
 * Back double trudgen: Similar to the backstroke, but with a scissors kick to alternating sides.
 * Old English Backstroke : Lying on back, breaststroke legs and butterfly arms
 * Sidestroke: On the side, pull the water as if with a rope with arms going out and stopping in the middle while ensuring that the strokes are most hydrodynamic when moving towards the desired location, and pushing the most water when moving away from the location. In addition, the legs are performing a scissors kick, which is like whip kick, but sideways.
 * Lifesaving stroke: Similar to the side stroke, but only the bottom arm moves while the top arm tows a swimmer in distress.
 * Combat sidestroke: This stroke was developed and used by the United States Navy SEALs and is designed to be more efficient and reduce profile in the water.
 * Composite stroke is drill stroke within one basic stroke, ins (for example, Front crawl flutter/scissor Dolphin/Dolphin flutter) or between two basic stroke, weens (Over arm 1 Arm Lead Sidestroke to 2 Arms Lead Dolphin). It is a strength and stamina training technique.
 * Dog paddle: face over water and paddling with alternate hands, often with the nose and mouth above the water. This stroke can be used in reverse to propel the body feet first.
 * Human stroke: Similar to the dog paddle, but the arms reach out more and pull farther down.
 * Survival travel stroke: Alternating underwater arm stroke, one cycle for propulsion, one for a lift to stay on the surface. This style is slow but sustainable.
 * Breast feet first strokes: With legs extended, use the arms with a pushing, flapping, clapping or uplifting motion.
 * Snorkeling: Swimming on the breast using a snorkel, usually in combination with masks and fins. Any stroke on the breast can be used, and there is no need to lift or turn the head for breathing.
 * Finswimming is the progression of a swimmer using fins either on the water surface or underwater. Finswimming is usually done on the breast.
 * An arm and a leg: is the progression of a swimmer clasping one leg with the opposite arm, and using breaststroke movements with the remaining arm and leg.
 * Flutter back finning: Symmetrically underwater arm recovery with flutter kick.
 * Feet first swimming: A very slow stroke on the back where a breaststroke movement with the arms propels the body forward feet first. Also the arms can be lifted out of the water and pulled backwards together with a scooping movement. Alternatively, the arms can be raised behind the head, alternately or together pushing with the hands, propelling the body. Similarly, the hands can be brought together in a clapping action. These strokes are often used for training.
 * Corkscrew swimming: Alternating between front crawl and backstroke every arm. This leads to a constant rotation of the swimmer. The stroke is used mainly for training purposes and is also sometimes known as Newfie Stroke, referring to Newfoundland. When rotating every third stroke, this is called waltz crawl.
 * Gliding: The swimmer is stretched with the arms to the front, the head between the arms and the feet to the back. This streamlined shape minimizes resistance and allows the swimmer to glide, for example after a start, a push off from a wall, or to rest between strokes.
 * Turtle stroke: On the breast, extend right arm then pull, after pushing with the left leg (while opposite limbs are recovering), then opposite limbs repeat this process, i. e. left arm pulls after right leg pushes. Uses muscles of the waist. Head can easily be above or below water: this is a slow but very sustainable stroke, common in turtles and newts.
 * Open water swimming: Mostly freestyle stroke. Difference is that due to swimming in open water visibility will be an issue and every 4th or 6th stroke the head is slightly lifted upwards for visibility.

Special purpose styles
A number of strokes are only used for special purposes, e.g. to manipulate an object (a swimmer in distress, a ball), or just to stay afloat.

Underwater swimming
Swimming underwater is faster than swimming on the surface. Underwater swimming is not its own category in the Olympics, but in the 1988 Olympics several competitors swam much of the backstroke race underwater. After that, the Olympics created a rule that swimmers are only allowed to stay underwater for the first 10 meters (later changed to 15 meters) after a start or a turn.

Any style with underwater recovery can be done underwater for certain distances depending on the need for air. Underwater swimming on the back has the additional problem of water entering the nose. To avoid this, the swimmer can breathe out through the nose or wear a nose clip. Some swimmers can close their nostrils with the upper lip or with the compressor naris muscles.
 * Dolphin kick: The feet kick up and down, while pressed together. This is the style that is usually used at the beginning of the race, to hold on to the speed the swimmer generates by pushing off the walls at the start and the turns. When it is used for underwater swimming, the arms are usually extended in front of the head, keeping still with the hands together.
 * Fish kick: Similar to the dolphin kick, but performed while on the swimmer's side. This may be the fastest form of swimming. Swimming creates vortices which propel the swimmer forward. In the dolphin kick, the vortices go up and down, where they're disturbed when they hit the surface of the water or the bottom of the pool.  But with the fish kick, they go sideways, where there are no obstructions.
 * Pull-down Breaststroke: most common swim stroke underwater as it requires very low energy. Main application is for dynamic apnea (DNF)
 * Sea lion stroke: based on the swimming style of sea lions, this swimming stroke is primarily performed with sculling, arms at the side along the bodyline and strongly supported with flutter kicks in a contralateral sequence. It is very effective when swimming through narrow underwater places.

Lifesaving strokes

 * Lifesaving stroke: Similar to the side stroke, but only the bottom arm moves while the top arm tows a swimmer in distress.
 * Lifesaving approach stroke (also known as head-up front crawl or Tarzan stroke): Similar to the front crawl, but with the eyes to the front above the water level, such as to observe the surroundings as for example a swimmer in distress or a ball.
 * Pushing rescue stroke: This stroke helps to assist a tired swimmer: The tired swimmer lies on the back and the rescuer swims a whip kick and pushes against the soles of the tired swimmer (not taught or recognized by the RLSS body governing UK lifeguarding).
 * Pulling rescue stroke: This stroke helps to assist a swimmer in distress. Both swimmers lie on the back, and the rescuer grabs the armpits of the swimmer in distress and performs a whip kick (on the back) for forwarding motion. The kick has to be not too shallow as otherwise the victim will be hit.
 * Extended Arm Tow (unconscious victim): swimming sidestroke or breaststroke on their back, the rescuer holds the head with a straight arm, the hand cupping underneath the chin, and ensures that the mouth and nose are out of the water.
 * Arm Tow: the rescuer swims sidestroke, behind the casualty holds the upper right arm of a casualty with their left hand or vice versa, lifting the casualty out of the water.
 * Vice Grip Turn and Trawl: used on a victim with a suspected spinal injury. The lifeguard approaches slowly to the victim (who is usually face down in water), places one hand on the victim's chin, with arm pressed firmly against the victim's chest. The other hand is placed on the back of the victim's head with the arm down the victim's back. Both arms press together (like a vice), and the lifeguard uses his feet to begin moving forward and then rolls under the victim to come up alongside her or him, but with the victim now on his or her back. (This is one of the hardest lifesaving maneuvers, as the grip must be perfect on the first attempt; otherwise, the victim may be given further spinal damage, such as paralysis.)
 * Clothes swimming: The swimmer is wearing clothes that restrict movement when wet, i.e. almost all clothes. This is done to practice situations where the swimmer fell in the water dressed or the rescuer did not have time to undress. Due to the restricted movement and the weight of wet clothes out of the water, overarm recovery is harder, which makes a style with underwater recovery, like the breaststroke, the better option.
 * Rescue tube swimming: The lifeguard pulls a flotation device, which is pushed forward when approaching the victim.

Without forward motion

 * Survival floating (also known as dead man float and drownproofing): Lying on the prone (face down in water) with minimal leg movement, and staying afloat with the natural buoyancy. Lift the head to breathe only then back to floating. This style is only to stay afloat and to rest.
 * Back floating: Similar to the survival floating, except on the back.
 * Treading water: The swimmer is in the water head up and feet down. Different kicks, such as the whip kick or eggbeater kick, and hand movements (Sculling) are used to stay afloat. This is useful to keep the head out of the water for a better view or to catch an object as for example in water polo. In addition, treading water is used in training by competitive swimmers in order to build up the strength of the kick; butterfly or scissors kick are most common when training vertically.
 * Sculling: This is a figure 8 movement of the hands for forward motion or upward lift. Used in surf lifesaving, water polo, synchronized swimming and treading water.
 * Turtle float: The knees are raised to the chest and encircled by the arms.
 * Jellyfish float: Holding the ankles with the hands.
 * Head first surface dive
 * Foot first surface dive
 * Pencil float

title: Swimming stroke


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Okehampton

Okehampton ( or ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and west). Their joint population at the same census was 7,500.

Okehampton is 21 mi west of Exeter, 26 mi north of Plymouth and 24 mi south of Barnstaple.

Toponymy
The name means settlement or estate (tun) on the River Okement. This is shown by early forms of the name, such as Ochementone as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and Okementon(a) in 1167 and 1275. The name was later associated with the common suffix -hampton, but as late as the 1930s the original name was remembered by the pronunciation "Okington" or "Okenton" still used by old people in the district.

History
Okehampton was founded by the Saxons. The earliest written record of the settlement is from 980 AD as Ocmundtune, meaning settlement by the Ockment, a river which runs through the town. It was recorded as a place for slaves to be freed at cross roads.

Like many towns in the West Country, Okehampton grew on the medieval wool trade. Notable buildings in the town include the 15th century chapel of St. James and Okehampton Castle, which was established by the Norman Sheriff of Devon, Baldwin FitzGilbert (d.1090), and the 17th century Okehampton Town Hall.

Feudal barony
Okehampton was the caput of a large feudal barony, which at the time of the Domesday Book was held by Baldwin FitzGilbert. The tenure of the barony is obscure for the twenty years following his death in 1090. After that it was held by the heiress Maud d'Avranches until her death in 1173, and then passed to her daughter, Hawise de Curci (died 1219), who married Reginald de Courtenay. His French possessions were confiscated by the French King Louis VII, but were given, together with the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth de Courtenay, to his youngest brother Peter I of Courtenay. The Courtenay family rebuilt Okehampton Castle, until King Henry VIII seized the lands and had Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter executed for treason in 1539. The castle is now owned by English Heritage and is open to the public during the summer season. The town is also home to the Museum of Dartmoor Life, which has received notable visitors such as the then-Prince Charles.

Political representation
Okehampton elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons. The Reform Act of 1832 abolished its representation as a rotten borough.

Military presence
There is a substantial army training camp on Dartmoor which can be reached via Okehampton, and is commonly referred to as "Okehampton Camp". It is managed by the Defence Training Estate, and used by a variety of military units, including the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM), Lympstone, Devon, and many cadet training units. The Ten Tors event is run by the Army each year in early May from Okehampton Camp.

Education
Schools in the town include Okehampton Primary School and Okehampton College. There are also a number of smaller primary schools in the surrounding areas for children within the catchment area of Okehampton that include South Tawton, Hatherleigh, Chagford, North Tawton and Bridestowe.

Religion

The Anglican parish church of All Saints is located on Church Path, on a slight hill to the west of the town centre. Its origins are Saxon, long predating the earliest recorded consecration by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter in 1261. The medieval building was reconstructed in 1447, but was almost completely destroyed in a fire in 1842. Another reconstruction followed, overseen by John Hayward who incorporated an 80 ft granite ashlar tower which survived the fire into the new church.

Within the building, the remnants of a reredos can be seen in the south aisle. Its replacement was constructed in stone by Harry Hems in 1891. The choir stalls and altar rails date from this time, while the pulpit is slightly earlier. Stained glass in the church includes work by Morris & Co., the Kemp studios and Ward and Hughes. Some medieval glass is preserved in the Lady Chapel. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

Fairplace United Church is located on St James Street. The church has been a centre for both Methodism and the United Reformed Church. Fairplace Church was built in 1904 for the Wesleyan Methodists, who were joined by a congregation from the Bible Christian tradition in 1962. It then joined with the United Reform Church in 1974.

The Baptist Chapel on Fore Street was built in 1889 and enlarged in 1901. Other churches include the Okehampton New Life Church, a Pentecostal church, a Jehovah's Witnesses hall on East Street, and the Catholic church of St Boniface on Station Road.

Sport
The town's football team, Okehampton Argyle F.C., is a non-league club which was established in 1926 after the original side, Okehampton Town, disbanded. The club competes in the South West Peninsula League which sits at Steps 6 and 7 of the National League System; four leagues below the top division of non-league football, the Football Conference. The town also has a rugby club, Okehampton RFC, which is believed to have been founded in 1884. There is also a table tennis club in the town that was purpose-built for the sport beside the local post office off the town.

Media
Local TV coverage is provided by BBC South West and ITV West Country. Television signals are received from the Caradon Hill and local relay TV transmitters.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Devon, Heart West, Greatest Hits Radio South West and Radio Exe.

The town is served by the local newspaper, Okehampton Times which publishes on Thursdays.

Transport
Okehampton's location at the edge of the moor means that it has always been a route centre.

Road
The A30 trunk road gives fast access to the east and west.

After years of uncertainty, this trunk road was finally re-routed in 1988 to bypass the town, which had previously been a holiday traffic bottleneck on summer weekends.

Rail
Okehampton railway station is on the former northerly rail route from Exeter St Davids to Plymouth via Tavistock. The line from Exeter was kept open for freight traffic to and from Meldon Quarry, 2 mi west of Okehampton. In 1997, Devon County Council revived a passenger rail service from Exeter, on summer weekends only, in an attempt to reduce motor traffic to the national park, which became a summer Sunday service, operated at its closure by Great Western Railway. In March 2010, the freight operator Devon & Cornwall Railways announced plans to reinstate a daily passenger service terminating in Exeter, though this never came to fruition. The station was also previously served by heritage trains, but closed to all services in 2019.

Okehampton station then reopened to a regular service on 20 November 2021 as part of refurbishment of the line. The Dartmoor Line, as it is now called, opened with a two hourly service to Exeter St Davids which increased to hourly in Spring 2022.

In the wake of widespread disruption caused by damage to the mainline track at Dawlish by coastal storms in February 2014, leaving Plymouth and Cornwall with no rail connection to the rest of the country, Network Rail considered reopening the Exeter-to-Plymouth route via Okehampton and Tavistock.

Bus services
Okehampton is served by various bus services from Exeter, Bude, Newquay and Tavistock. Stagecoach South West service 6 links from Exeter bus station via Exeter St Davids to Okehampton. Other services from Exeter bus station include the 6A service via Exeter St Davids, which continues to Launceston. Dartline run service 118 to Tavistock. There are also rural services operated by County Bus and MD Coaches. There was formerly a town service numbered 318, but it was withdrawn in 2015.

Coach excursions
Lomax Tours run coach trips from Okehampton to various places of interest.

Nearby settlements
Except for the open country of Dartmoor to the south, Okehampton is surrounded by many smaller villages and towns. Notable examples are the villages of South Zeal with its ancient burgage plots, granite thatched cottages and Dartmoor Folk Festival; Belstone on the outskirts of Dartmoor; and Sticklepath which has an annual fire show on Bonfire Night, 5 November. Other nearby villages and settlements include Hatherleigh, North Tawton, Whiddon Down, Chagford, Bratton Clovelly, Lydford, Folly Gate, Southcott, Northlew, Jacobstowe, Bridestowe and Sourton.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Okehampton


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St Austell

Saint Austell (, ; Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, 10 mi south of Bodmin and 30 mi west of the border with Devon.

At the 2021 census it had a population of 20,900.

History
St Austell was a village centred around the parish church, until the arrival of significant tin mining in the 18th century turned it into a town.

St Austell is named after the 6th-century Cornish saint, St Austol, a disciple of St Mewan. In a Vatican manuscript there is a 10th-century list of Cornish parish saints. This includes Austoll, which means that the church and village existed at that time, shortly after 900.

St Austell is not mentioned in Domesday Book (1086). However, A. L. Rowse, in his book St. Austell: Church, Town, and Parish, cites records which show a church was dedicated on 9 October 1262 by Bishop Bronescombe, and other records show a church there in 1169, dedicated to "Sanctus Austolus". The current church dates from the 13th–14th centuries, and was extended in 1498–99. The join between the two sections is still visible.

In the time of Henry VIII, St Austell is described as a poor village. In John Leland's Itinerary he says, in around 1542, "At S. Austelles is nothing notable but the paroch chirch". Neither travel writer, John Norden (c. 1547 – 1625) or Richard Carew (1555–1620) in his Survey of Cornwall mentioned St Austell as a place of any consequence. Oliver Cromwell granted a charter to hold a market on Friday, as a reward to a local gentleman who fought for him at the battle of Boconnoc.

The village started to grow in the 18th century. The nearby Polgooth mine became known as the greatest tin mine in the world. Around 1760 the Land's End to Plymouth road went through the town. Along with William Cookworthy's discovery of china clay at Tregonning Hill in west Cornwall, and the same mineral, found in greater quantity in Hensbarrow downs north of St Austell, the town became more prominent.

China clay mining soon took over from tin and copper mining as the principal industry in the area, and this eventually contributed enormously to the growth of the town. The china clay industry really only came into its own during the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, at a time when the falling prices of tin and other metals forced many mines to close down or convert to clay mining. The success and high profitability of the industry attracted many families whose breadwinner had been put out of work by the depression in the local metal mining industry, and increased the population of the town considerably. This meant that more shops and businesses took root, providing more jobs and improving trade. This, along with other factors, led to St Austell becoming one of the ten most important commercial centres of Cornwall.

The town was a noted centre of Methodism. By 1839 The West Briton recorded 37 non-conformist chapels in the town.

Redevelopment
Work began in 1963 on a brutalist-style pedestrian precinct which included shops, offices, and flats. The design was by Alister MacDonald & Partners and the materials reinforced concrete with some stone facing.

In the 2000s this area of the town had become very outdated, and underwent a £75 million redevelopment process. In August 2007, developers David McLean and demolition team Gilpin moved onto the town centre site to complete the preparation, with the Filmcentre which was originally an Odeon cinema dating back to 1936, being demolished in late September/early October.

In October 2007, the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) announced the new development would be named White River Place. It was also announced that 50% of shop units had been leased to High Street stores, with New Look, Peacocks, Bonmarché and Wilko opening new stores. This would mean New Look relocating from its current premises in Fore Street and the return of Peacocks to St Austell following the demolition of its old store to make way for the new development. Bonmarché, Peacocks and Wilko have since closed.

It was announced in October 2008 that the developer David McLean Developments had gone into administration and concern was expressed that this could jeopardise the completion of the project.

The new White River Cinema opened its doors in December 2008 for the first time: the cinema is technically advanced and the first purpose-built cinema in Cornwall for over 60 years. The Torchlight Carnival was revived in November 2009 as a direct result of public demand through a survey conducted with local residents. The Torchlight Procession has become an important event in the town's calendar, heralding in the Winter celebrations and drawing thousands of people from across Cornwall and Devon. The event is run by a small group of non-affiliated volunteers.

The St Austell and Clay Country Eco-town is a plan for several new settlements around St Austell on old Imerys sites. It was given outline government approval in July 2009.

The Cornwall Council strategic planning committee voted in July 2011 to approve a £250 million beach resort scheme at Carlyon Bay, St Austell. The development was initially proposed in 2003.

Governance
The arms of St Austell are Argent a saltire raguly Gules.

Parliamentary
St Austell is in the parliamentary constituency of St Austell and Newquay which was created in 2010 by the Boundary Commission for England (increasing the number of seats in Cornwall from five to six). Before 2010 it was in the Truro and St Austell seat.

Local government
The main local authority is Cornwall Council, the unitary authority created as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The six former Districts and the former Cornwall County Council were abolished and replaced by Cornwall Council on 1 April 2009.

Also on 1 April 2009, four new parishes were created for the St Austell area. They are:
 * St Austell Town Council covering Boscoppa, Bethel, Gover, Mount Charles, Poltair and Holmbush; represented by 20 councillors.
 * Carlyon Parish Council covering Carlyon Bay and Tregrehan; represented by 9 councillors.
 * St Austell Bay Parish Council covering Charlestown, Duporth, Porthpean and Trenarren; represented by 7 councillors.
 * Pentewan Valley Parish Council covering Tregorrick, Trewhiddle, London Apprentice and Pentewan; represented by 9 councillors.

Before this date the area had been an unparished area.

Economy
St Austell is the main centre of the china clay industry in Cornwall and employs around 2,200 people, with sales of £195 million.

The St Austell Brewery, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2001, supplies cask ale to pubs in Cornwall and other parts of the country. Its flagship beer is St Austell Tribute; a number of other ales are brewed but are less commonly sold outside Cornwall. St Austell Brewery's first public house, The Seven Stars Inn, purchased in 1863, still stands on East Hill in the town but has closed as a public house; the building is let by the Brewery at 'minimal rent' to a charity providing an educational facility for young people. Tregonissey House, the site of the company's first steam brewery, built in 1870, can also be seen in Market Hill. A brewery museum and visitor centre is open to the public on the present brewery site in Trevarthian Road.

Tourism
As in much of Cornwall and neighbouring counties, tourism is increasingly important to St Austell's economy. Tourists are drawn to the area by nearby beaches and tourist attractions such as the Eden Project, sited in a former clay pit, and the Lost Gardens of Heligan. The China Clay Country Park, in a former china-clay pit 2 mi north of the town, tells the story of the men, women and children who lived, worked and played in the shadow of the clay tips around St Austell.

St Austell is home to several public houses, numerous high street retailers, and several independent shops, many of which cater for tourists. The town has a small museum which is situated in St Austell Market House.

A Brewery Museum and Visitor Centre is situated on the site of the St Austell Brewery in Trevarthian Road.

Newspaper and radio
The town has two weekly newspapers:
 * St Austell Guardian, part of the Cornish Guardian series published by Cornwall and Devon Media Ltd, has a long history in the town and is published on Friday.
 * St Austell Voice, sister paper to the Newquay Voice, had offices close to the town centre in Truro Road, but has since moved to Old Vicarage Place. It is published on Wednesday.

Radio St Austell Bay is a local radio station which broadcasts from studios at Tregorrick Park. It launched in January 2008 to cover the area from Trewoon in the west to Tywardreath in the east.

Landmarks
Notable Cornish architect Silvanus Trevail designed a number of St Austell's buildings and houses, including the Thin End and the Moorland Road terrace. Other notable architects from St Austell include John Goode, who contributed considerably during the 1970s to residential developments in the area.

Pevsner remarks in his guide to Cornwall that the following buildings are notable:
 * The Parish Church
 * The Old Market Hall, in Italian Renaissance style, 1844
 * Friends Meeting House, 1829, a plain granite structure
 * Masonic Hall, South Street, 1900 and is home to nine Masonic bodies
 * White Hart Hotel: once contained panoramic wallpaper of the Bay of Naples by Dufour (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum)
 * Holy Well at Menacuddle
 * Three buildings of the 1960s: Penrice School, 1960; Public Library, 1961; former Magistrates' Court, 1966

Television
Local TV coverage is provided by BBC South West and ITV West Country. Television signals are received from the Caradon Hill and local relay TV transmitters.

Radio
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cornwall on 95.2 FM, Heart West on 105.1 FM, and CHAOS Radio, a community based station which broadcast from the town on 105.6 FM.

Newspapers
The town is served by the local newspaper, St Austell Voice.

Transport
St Austell railway station was opened by the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859 on the hillside above the town centre. Two branch lines west of the town were later opened to serve the china clay industry; the Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway which is still partly open, and the short-lived Trenance Valley line. The independent narrow gauge Pentewan Railway ran from West Hill to the coast at Pentewan. The Cornish Main Line in St Austell is quite renowned for its viaducts in the Gover Valley and Trenance areas of the town. The original timber structure was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it was 115 ft high, 720 ft long on 10 piers; it was replaced by a stone viaduct in 1899.

There was a siding located west of the viaduct. In the early years trains from St Austell had to push wagons over the tall, curving viaduct to shunt this siding. The Great Western Railway's instructions stated that: "Trucks may be pushed from St Austell to the Siding, but when this is done the speed of the Train between the two places must not exceed 8 miles an hour, and the head Guard must ride on the leading vehicle, unless it be a bonnet end one, in which case he must ride in the first low sided vehicle from it, to keep a good look out, and be prepared to give a signal to the Driver either by Day or Night, as may be required". Train services today operate west to Truro and Penzance, and east to Plymouth and London. There are also CrossCountry services on most days to the North of England and Scotland.

The town's bus station faces the entrance to the railway station to offer an easy interchange between buses and trains. National Express coach services call here, a dedicated link operates to the Eden Project, and local buses operate to villages such as Fowey and Mevagissey. The town can be accessed by the A390 which by-passes the town to the south on its way from Liskeard to Truro, or by the A391 from Bodmin, or by the A3058 from Newquay. In addition there are the B3273 to Mevagissey, the B3274 to Padstow and the A3082 to Fowey.

St Austell bus station
St Austell bus station is the main bus and coach terminus for the town. The bus station is located in the forecourt of the railway station, formerly a railway goods yard.

The bus station was redeveloped again in 2008, the new facility being opened on 3 November. It now comprises seven stands and shares facilities such as a taxi rank and buffet with the adjoining railway station which is operated by Great Western Railway, a sister company to the main local bus operator. Local services are provided by Go Cornwall and Kernow. Long-distance coach services are part of the National Express Coaches network.

History
The Great Western Railway started to operate what they called 'road motors' from outside their railway station on 3 August 1908. These first services ran to St Columb Road via St Dennis.

A bus garage was later provided nearby in Eliot Road, next to the railway's new goods yard. The network was progressively extended over the next twenty years, after which time the services were transferred to the Western National Omnibus Company, formed in 1929 to free the railway company from its bus services and avoid complaints about its transport monopoly. Western National has now become part of the FirstGroup and operates as Kernow.

Education
St Austell has three comprehensive schools, Poltair School, formerly the grammar school, and Penrice Academy; together with Brannel School which is situated in the nearby village of St Stephen-in-Brannel. Several of these are joining an academy trust called CELT (Cornwall Education and Learning Trust).

Cornwall College St Austell is a Further & Higher Education institution incorporating the former St Austell Sixth Form Centre and Mid Cornwall College of Further Education. The college is based at John Keay House, which is also home to the college group's headquarters.

There are a number of primary schools within the town.

Health services
St Austell has its own hospital, St Austell Community Hospital, formerly called Penrice Hospital.

Religious sites
The church was originally dedicated to St Austol, a Breton saint associated with St Meven, but is now dedicated to the Holy Trinity. By 1150 it had been appropriated to the Priory of Tywardreath by the Cardinhams: this continued until 1535. There was originally a Norman church here, of which some remains may be seen.

The present church is of the 15th century and is large because the mediaeval parish was also a large one: the tower is impressive. All four outside walls bear sculptural groups in carved niches: the Twelve Apostles in three groups on the north, east and south; the Holy Trinity above the Annunciation and below that the Risen Christ between two saints on the west. The tower can be dated to between 1478 and 1487 by the arms of Bishop Courtenay, and the walls are faced in Pentewan stone.

The tower and other parts of the church have an interior lining of granite On the south side of the church, a formerly separate chantry has been incorporated into the church when it was extended. (The chantry itself was abolished in 1543.)

There are holy wells at Menacuddle and Towan. A new organ was placed on the north side of the chancel in 1880 and the first recital was held on 22 April. The organ was built by Messrs Bryceson Brothers and Ellis and cost circa £600. The church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is Grade I listed, and seats 300. There is a Cornish cross in the churchyard which was found buried in the ground on the manor of Treverbyn in 1879. This cross was erected in the churchyard on a new base in 1879. Another cross is in the grounds of a house originally known as Moor Cottage. This house was built in 1819; the cross was brought from Hewas in the parish of Ladock.

The parish of St Austell was part of the archdeaconry of Cornwall and Diocese of Exeter until 1876 when the Diocese of Truro was established. A new rural deanery of St Austell was established in 1875. The style of worship of the parish church is in the Evangelical tradition of the Church of England. The two chapels-of-ease are All Saints, Pentewan, and St Levan's, Higher Porthpean. In the 19th century the following parishes were created out of St Austell parish: St Blazey (1845); Charlestown (1846), Treverbyn (1847) and Par (1846 out of St Blazey and Tywardreath).

Quakers
There was formerly a Quaker burial ground at Tregongeeves, just outside the town on the Truro Road. It was covered by about 6 ft of earth removed from the building of the new road in the 1960s. A high stone wall bounds the remaining acre of land; access can be gained through a wrought iron gate.

Approximately forty of the headstones from Tregongeeves were removed and are now located at the Friends meeting house in the High Cross Street in St Austell, just below the high wall which surrounds St Austell railway station. That meeting house is still in use.

Cornish wrestling
St Austell has been a major centre for Cornish wrestling for centuries. The ancient traditional location for wrestling tournaments was the Bull Ring, behind the stables at the White Hart Inn. Other places used for Cornish wrestling tournaments include:
 * The Wrestling Downs was also a traditional place for wrestling tournaments, opposite Polkyth, that initially were built on in the 1930s making Tremayne Place.
 * Wrestling Green which was another traditional venue for wrestling tournaments, which was very close to the Wrestling Downs.
 * Fairfield - located above St Austell station, opposite the library.
 * Mount Charles - tournaments were held here in the 1800s and 1900s.
 * St Austell football field - there were many tournaments held in the St Austell football field as soon as it was built. Note that this replaced the use of Fairfield (which is relatively close by).
 * The Public Rooms were used for Cornish wrestling tournaments and challenge matches.
 * West Hill School playing fields associated with West Hill School, were used for wrestling tournaments.

Many famous Cornish wrestlers came from St Austell including Jacob Halls, James Bullocke, Samuel Rundle, Joseph Menear, Philip Hancock and Thomas Stone. Others who were successful in Cornish wrestling in the United States include Thomas Eudy, John Tippett and John H Rowett.

St Austell was at one time well known for a couple of techniques:
 * Hancock Slew: This was also spelt Slue. This throw was invented by Philip Hancock (who was from St Austell). It involves grasping the ropes of the jacket and using these to propel your opponent over your shoulder. It is a very dangerous throw and is now called the Flying Mare.
 * Lock Arm: At the end of the 1800s the St Austell wrestlers were renowned for this throw, which involved locking the opponent’s arm with your arm, so as to make them vulnerable to a range of throws.

Currently there is a Cornish wrestling club, open to the public, which meets every Monday from 7pm to 9pm above the St Austell rifle club, by the football club opposite Poltair School.

Speedway
Speedway racing first took place a venue called Rocky Park, under the name "St Austell Gulls". The sport was a hit during various years, between 1949 and 1963 at the Cornish Stadium. The sport returned to the area in the late 1990s, in the Clay Country Moto Parc, located at Old Pound, Nanpean.

The club operated as the St Austell Gulls for four years, until the club changed ownership, and moved up a league to the Premier League, re-formed as the Trelawny JAG Tigers, until site owners Imerys Minerals Ltd ended the lease. Speedway has not been held in Cornwall since. Many attempts have been made to re-introduce the sport, but none have got past planning permission. The two highest-profile bids were at Par Moor Motor Museum and St Eval Raceway. The owner of the land for the Par Moor bid confirmed that he would rent the land for speedway but locals objected. The St Eval bid failed after residents expressed fears about noise.

Stock car racing
Stock car racing, promoted by 1950s Kiwi Speedway star Trevor Redmond, ran side by side with speedway on numerous occasions. Numerous championships were run here, including the 1972 BriSCA World Championship for Formula 2 cars, won by Jimmy Murray from Northern Ireland. It closed its doors in 1987.

Greyhound racing
A greyhound racing track was also opened at the Cornish Stadium and traded from 1958 to 1986. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club) and was known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks.

Football
St Austell Football Club was formed on 17 September 1890. In 1908 the club won its first trophy: the Cornwall Charity Cup. The club achieved some success in the late 1920s and 1930s, winning the Senior Cup and Charity Cup twice. In May 2009, the team won the Senior Cup with a closely fought 3–2 victory over Saltash United.

Rugby and tennis
Tregorrick Park is the home of St Austell RFC, St Austell Tennis Club and Cornwall Table Tennis Centre. St Austell RFC play in the Tribute Western Counties West league and the club supports two senior teams, a ladies team and 14 youth teams covering most age groups. Founded in 1963 St Austell RFC has played at the Tregorrick Park ground since their move from Cromwell Road in the 1980s to make way for the Asda supermarket.

Tregorrick Park also hosts a gym, sports hall, squash courts, bar, function room and holds local events such as firework displays and schools cross country competitions.

Cricket
Wheal Eliza cricket ground is the home of St Austell Cricket Club, and is also used for Minor Counties matches. The club supports four senior teams, a ladies' team and youth teams. Facilities at Wheal Eliza includes two playing fields with their own changing room facilities enabling the club to hold two competitive matches every match day. The club also has a pavilion, scorebox, artificial and grass nets.

Baseball
In 2017, the St Austell Claycutters baseball club was established to compete in the South West Baseball League. While the team are named and associated with St. Austell, all outdoor training and home games are held on the sports fields at Fowey River Academy in Fowey.

Golf
There are three 18-hole golf courses located around St Austell; St Austell Golf Club, Carlyon Bay Golf Club, and Porthpean Golf Club. St Austell Golf Club is the only one that has a driving range as well as being the oldest of the three, being founded in 1911, with Carlyon Bay being designed a year later in 1912. There used to be a 9-hole course known as St Austell Bay but since 2014 this has been turned into a 36-hole football-golf course known as Cornwall Football Golf.

Notable people

 * Alfred Leslie Rowse (1903–1997), a British historian and writer, educated in St Austell
 * John William Colenso (1814 - 1883), first Bishop of Natal
 * John Nettles (born 1943), actor, raised in St Austell
 * Jonathan Crowther (1794 – 1856), Wesleyan Methodist minister, born in St Austell
 * Mary Corinne Quintrell (1839–1918), English-born American educator and clubwoman, born in St Austell
 * Paul Rapsey Hodge (1808–1871), English-American inventor and mechanical engineer, born in St Austell
 * Steve Baker (born 1971), British politician, born in St Austell
 * Vaughn Toulouse (1959–1991), British singer; founding member of Department S, raised in St Austell

title: St Austell


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title: User talk:198.169.140.30


text:
Bats (disambiguation)

Bats are flying mammals.

Bats may also refer to:

Film and television

 * Bats (film), a 1999 American horror film
 * The Bats (film), a 1999 American animated short film
 * "Bats!", episode from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (season 4)
 * "Bats", a Series B episode from the television series QI (2004)

Music

 * The Bats (South African band)
 * Bats (Irish band)
 * The Bats (New Zealand band), a rock band
 * "Bats!", a song by The Bronx
 * The Bats, a short-lived American band formed by Jon Brion in 1982
 * The Bats, an early 1980s San Francisco area rock band related to The Sorentinos

Other uses

 * Bats people, a small Nakh-speaking community in the country of Georgia
 * Bats language, the language spoken by the Bats people
 * Bats, Landes, a commune in France
 * Louisville Bats, a minor league baseball team

People with the surname

 * Joël Bats, a former French goalkeeper and international footballer
 * Rob Bats, Dutch politician

title: Bats (disambiguation)


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Seaton, Devon

Seaton is a seaside town, fishing harbour and civil parish in East Devon on the south coast of England, between Axmouth (to the east) and Beer (to the west). It faces onto Lyme Bay and is on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. A sea wall provides access to the mostly shingle beach stretching for about a mile, and a small harbour on the River Axe estuary.

The population of Seaton parish at the 2011 census was 8,413, whilst the Seaton and Beer Urban Area (which includes Colyton) had an estimated population of 12,815 in 2012. There are 3,300 homes in the parish, of which approximately one third are of single-person occupancy. The majority of those persons are of pensionable age.

History
A farming community existed here 4,000 years before the Romans arrived, and there were Iron Age forts in the vicinity at Seaton Down, Hawkesdown Hill, Blackbury Camp and Berry Camp. During Roman times this was an important port although the town's Roman remains have been reburied to preserve them. In Saxon times Seaton was known as Fluta or Fleet, the Saxon word for creek. The town of Fleet was founded by Saxon Charter in 1005 AD. The first mention of Seaton was in a papal bull by Pope Eugenius in 1146.

Seaton was an important port for several centuries, supplying ships and sailors for Edward I's wars against Scotland and France. In the 14th century heavy storms caused a landslip which partially blocked the estuary, and the shingle bank started to build up. In 1868 the arrival of the railway reduced the use of the harbour.

In 2013 Laurence Egerton, a metal detector enthusiast, found a collection of some 22,000 copper-alloy Roman coins. The "Seaton Down Hoard" is one of the largest and best-preserved collections of 4th-century coins ever found in Britain.

The church on the edge of town was built in the 14th century, with a squat tower dating from the 15th century.

Railway
Seaton was served by the Seaton branch line, opened in 1868, from Seaton Junction on the Salisbury to Exeter main line. The railway was successful and considerably assisted in the development of Seaton as a holiday destination. The line had one of the world's first concrete bridges, built over the River Axe in 1877.

With the increase in car ownership in the 1960s, usage of the line declined, and with many other Devon branch lines, it closed in 1966. The nearest railway station now is at Axminster, seven miles away.

Part of the trackbed was purchased in 1969 to construct Seaton Tramway, which opened in 1970 and links Seaton with Colyford and Colyton.

Holiday resort
In the 19th century Seaton developed as a holiday resort, which it remains to this day. A Warners holiday camp opened in 1935 close to the station, encouraged by the ease of travel. Seaton lost its largest holiday camp at the beginning of 2009.

Many of the town buildings are Victorian, including a notable collection of large houses at Seaton Hole, but the town also has notable buildings from the 1930s and later periods. Seaton Town Hall, now used as a theatre, was completed in 1904.

Recent history
The area to the east of the retail area to the River Axe (mainly floodplain) has been the subject of a regeneration plan formulated in 2003 and approved in detail in 2009, despite local opposition. As of early 2011, the level of the site has been raised above flood level using a million tons of sand brought in by sea. A large Tesco supermarket and filling station have been built on one half of this site: the other half is to be offered for residential development. A Jurassic Coast Discovery Centre has also been erected nearby, being completed in 2016. A further residential development is planned along the riverside.

As of October 2019 work has begun on a £200,000 skate-park.

Transport
Seaton is just off the A3052 road which starts at Exeter to the West and Lyme Regis to the East.

Seaton's nearest railway station is at Axminster (around 7 miles away) on the West of England line linking Exeter to London Waterloo.

Some of the bus services in the town are provided by AVMT Buses who run services to many of the nearby towns and villages including Axminster, Branscombe, Sidmouth, Colyton, Beer & Lyme Regis. Stagecoach operates services to Exeter via Sidmouth and limited services to Exeter via Honiton, while Dartline operate limited services to Taunton which also run via Honiton.

Seaton is on route 2 of the National Cycle Network.

Geology
The coastal cliffs either side of Seaton have long been of interest to geologists. To the East are the characteristically red-coloured cliffs of Triassic age rocks assigned to the Branscombe Mudstone Formation, capped by younger rocks (Cretaceous) of the Upper Greensand Formation and finally by chalk. The Seaton Fault, which is visible at Seaton Hole at the western end of the beach, is responsible for the presence of significant chalk cliffs extending to Beer Head. In common with much of this coast the cliffs in this area are prone to landslip and collapse, such movement restricting coastal development and presenting a hazard to those walking the coast.

Wildlife
The area around Seaton is rich in wildlife. The agricultural landscape supports areas of ancient woodland (often with displays of bluebells), important networks of hedges, unimproved grassland and springline mires.

Around Beer there are remnants of flower-rich chalk grassland, a rare habitat in Devon. The Axe Estuary, with its areas of grazing marsh, and the River Axe itself, are of international importance for their aquatic communities. To the east of the Axe lies the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs National Nature Reserve. This large area of coastal landslides and cliffs supports important woodland and grassland habitats and is of considerable significance for its geology. To the west of the Axe is a series of nature reserves, collectively known as Seaton Wetlands and including Seaton Marshes, Black Hole Marsh, Colyford Common and Stafford Marsh. Between them, these reserves include freshwater grazing marshes, intertidal lagoons, scrapes, ditches and bird hides, and are host to a diverse variety of birds and mammals.

Eurasian otters are present on the River Axe, and at the end of 2009 are being seen regularly on Seaton marshes/Colyford Common. Dormice are present throughout the area. To the west, near Beer, are man-made caves of importance for a diversity of hibernating bats, including the very rare Bechstein's bat. The Axe Estuary and its marshes are important for wintering wildfowl and waders, such as Eurasian curlew and common redshank, while in the summer butterflies and dragonflies abound. In 2007, an Audouin's gull was seen here – the fourth British record of this bird.

Attractions
Seaton Tramway offers a 3 mile ride through the Axe and Coly valleys to Colyford and Colyton. It runs alongside the Axe estuary, giving panoramic views of the nature reserves and the estuary wildlife.Seaton tram station, opened in 2018, includes a fully enclosed facility featuring a four track layout, Claude's Diner and a gift shop.

Pecorama,2 miles west of Seaton at Beer, is a tourist attraction by the model railway manufacturer Peco. It includes the Beer Heights Light Railway and numerous model railway layouts.

On 26 March 2016 the Seaton Jurassic Centre opened in the town. This was a time travelling experience telling the story of the natural heritage of the Jurassic Coast past and present. The attraction closed in September 2021, but has a current planned reopening under the name Jurassic Discovery, now operated by Seaton Tramway. The soft play and cafe area opened at the new centre in March 2024 with the rest of the building planned to launch later in the year.

Industry
Its position next to floodplains and hemmed in by hills on either side means expansion is difficult and has hampered growth of local employment. In 2010 redevelopment of a large portion of the town commenced with new business sites providing a surge in non-seasonal employment.

Media
Local TV coverage is provided by BBC South West and ITV West Country, received from the Stockland Hill TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Devon, Heart West, Greatest Hits Radio South West and East Devon Radio, a community based station. The town is served by the local newspaper, Midweek Herald which publishes on Wednesdays.

Between 1976 and 1990, the town was home to the Independent Broadcasting Authority's Harman Engineering Training College, which trained broadcast engineers.

Twin towns
Seaton is twinned with Thury-Harcourt-le-Hom in France.

title: Seaton, Devon


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Ventnor

Ventnor is a seaside resort town and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, 11 miles from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. The higher part is referred to as Upper Ventnor (officially Lowtherville); the lower part, where most amenities are located, is known as Ventnor. Ventnor is sometimes taken to include the nearby and older settlements of St Lawrence and Bonchurch, which are covered by its town council. The population is 5,567 according to the 2021 Census

Ventnor became extremely fashionable as both a health and holiday resort in the late 19th century, described as the 'English Mediterranean' and 'Mayfair by the Sea'. Medical advances during the early twentieth century reduced its role as a health resort and, like other British seaside resorts, its summer holiday trade suffered from the changing nature of travel during the latter part of the century.

Its relatively sheltered location beneath the hilly chalk downland and south-facing orientation towards the English Channel produces a microclimate with more sunny days and fewer frosts than the rest of the island. This allows many species of subtropical plant to flourish; Ventnor Botanic Garden is particularly notable.

History
While Bonchurch and St Lawrence both have churches dating back to the Norman era, the area in-between that became Ventnor was unremarkable until the 19th century. In Anglo-Saxon times it was known as Holeweia, which by the 12th century had become Holeweye, or hollow way (although possibly the name derived from the Holy Well spring on the downs). By 1617 its name appears as Ventnor, probably named after the family name le Vyntener.

There are indications of Bronze Age settlement, with burial mounds on the nearby downs, and excavations have evidenced small scale settlement in the area during both the Iron Age and the early Roman period. These include middens and palaeoenvironmental deposits at Binnel Bay, Woody Bay, St Catherine's Point and Rocken End. The Isle of Wight was the last part of England to be converted to Christianity, and Saint Boniface is believed to have preached locally in the 8th century. During the 13th century, the area was covered by the manors of Holloway and Steephill, both belonging to the Lisle family.

A 1992 archaeological survey found evidence of a medieval settlement at Flowers Brook, which was referred to in a 1327 subsidy roll as Villata de steple. This area was subsequently incorporated into two farms, with some cottages on the site demolished in 1834. Ventnor watermill, on a site just north of the current cascade, is first mentioned in 1327, was destroyed by fire in 1848, rebuilt by 1853, and demolished in 1875.

In the early nineteenth century, in addition to the mill, Ventnor consisted solely of a few fishermen's huts by the cove, a couple of inns, and a farm. In 1804, it was described by John Britton as a "hamlet...formed by a range of neat cottages chiefly inhabited by fishermen, open to the sea in front, and backed by woods and the high downs". The area was divided between the parishes of Godshill and Newchurch. In 1820 both of the manors (Holloway was then known as Ventnor Manor) were sold to John Hamborough and other building speculators. The spur for expansion was the publication in 1830 of the second edition of physician James Clark's book: The influence of climate on disease. This identified the microclimate of Ventnor and the Undercliff as ideal for people with chest complaints ("nothing along the south coast will bear comparison with it", Clark enthused), at a time when consumption (now known as TB) was a common cause of death.

Thereafter Ventnor developed very rapidly into a town, with numerous hotels and boarding houses targeting sick visitors, particularly during the winter, and a wider range of shops than would be expected for a town of its size (by 1891 it had four chemists). In 1844 Parliament passed an Act "for better paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving part of the parish of Newchurch, called Ventnor, and for establishing a market therein". However, not everyone was enamoured with the fast-growing town: in 1845, after recounting the positive reviews of others, writer John Gwilliam complained of the "intolerable" summer heat and the chalk dust about the town, concluding that to live there would "be one of the greatest punishments that could be inflicted upon me in the Isle of Wight".

In 1853 the first newspaper on the island, the Ventnor Mercury, was launched (it continued publication until 1985). In 1869 Dr Arthur Hill Hassall opened the Royal National Hospital for Diseases of the Chest in St Lawrence, and many local buildings date from the 1860s, by when the current commercial centre of the town was already substantially developed. The later nineteenth century also saw development aimed at wealthier holidaymakers from Britain and Europe, as British seaside resorts generally became very popular.

The first pier from 1860 was washed away. Breakwaters were built in 1863, and by the following year, a steamer service to Littlehampton connected with trains to London. In 1866 the Isle of Wight Railway reached Ventnor, and in 1870 the iron Royal Victoria Pier was constructed. Subsequent storm damage delayed the full establishment of steamer services until 1888 when they were carrying 10,000 passengers from Bournemouth, Southsea, Sandown and Shanklin. The railway ran a non-stop train from Ryde to Ventnor, named 'The Invalid Express' for the consumptive patients; one train famously completed the journey in a little over twenty minutes. Ventnor became known as 'Mayfair by the sea' for the number of wealthy Londoners who were visiting. In 1887, Bartholomew's Gazetteer described Ventnor as "one of the most popular of English health resorts", with the parish then having a population of 5,739.

By the early twentieth century, Ventnor was a flourishing resort town, with several newspapers, a scientific institute, an extensive library, assembly room, pavilion, various sporting clubs, several churches, an annual regatta and carnival, and a new municipal park. In 1901 its population exceeded 6,000.

The physical fabric of the town was not affected by the First World War, although local businesses suffered from the suspension of the summer and winter resort trade, and its war memorial commemorates the local men who died in the fighting. Ventnor and St Lawrence became receiving centres for wounded soldiers. The summer holiday visitors returned in the 1920s, although the winter health trade never resumed. The town reached its zenith in the 1930s when steam packets operated between Southsea and the town's pier. The Art Deco Winter Gardens opened in 1936/7. The relatively small sandy beach was ideal for bathing, and Victorian era hotels in the town's suburbs and near the sea, such as the Ventnor Towers Hotel, remained popular with tourists.

During World War II, the Isle of Wight became a heavily defended restricted area. The radar station at RAF Ventnor was attacked several times during 1940, and the town itself was also bombed, and again in 1942. By the end of the war 120 buildings in the town had been destroyed and nearly 1,500 damaged, with sixteen fatalities. The holiday trade disappeared and was slow to return during post-war austerity. Nevertheless, by the early 1950s the number of tourists warranted 46 trains scheduled to run between Ventnor and Ryde every summer Saturday.

By the 1960s, the British seaside holiday was facing competition from cheap foreign package tours and the rising popularity of motoring. The railway line to Ventnor West closed in 1952 and to Ventnor station in 1966. The pier, damaged by fire and the elements, had fallen into disuse and was finally dismantled in the 1990s. By the 1980s, according to author Michael Freeman: "The town entered the twilight era that characterised so many English seaside places...[with] crumbling public facilities, boarded up shops, faded lodging houses and hotels, not to mention unemployment". During more recent years, there have been some signs of a renaissance, as its strongly Victorian character came back into fashion, with development of the Haven, re-opening of the Winter Gardens, some new shops and restaurants, a lively cultural scene, and the growth in short break travel.

Governance
Ventnor is within the Isle of Wight parliamentary constituency, with local services provided by the unitary Isle of Wight Council. Ventnor comprises part of two of the council's thirty nine wards, with Wroxall, Lowtherville and Bonchurch taking in the very eastern side of the town, as well as Bonchurch and Upper Ventnor, and Ventnor and St Lawrence covering the town centre and western part of the town, including the Esplanade, as well as St Lawrence. Prior to 1974, the town had its own Urban District Council (formed in 1894), merged into South Wight District Council during that year, as a second tier beneath the Isle of Wight County Council. The district council was abolished in 1995 when the unitary authority for the island was created. Since 1994, a conservation area has covered much of the central area of the town.

Ventnor has a town council that manages various local services, including the park, four car parks, public toilets, and allotments. The Council is responsible for local byelaws, and is consulted by the Isle of Wight Council on matters such as planning and transport. The Town Council has eleven councillors covering four wards, with Ventnor West having six of the councillors, plus separate wards for Bonchurch & Ventnor East, Lowtherville, and St Lawrence. Its coat of arms, displayed on welcome signs by roads into the town, shows Hygeia, the ancient Greek goddess of health, adopted in 1890 to reference its importance as a health resort, surrounded by wild roses referencing the garden isle.

The 'Our Place' project in 2014, led by the Town Council working with residents and local public and private sector providers, identified the priorities for the town as being improved health and wellbeing, a renewed and refreshed economy, and enhanced community capacity. The Council's Strategy Plan, developed in 2016 against the background of reduced funding from Isle of Wight Council for local services and the transfer of new responsibilities to the Town Council, focuses on the need for community inclusiveness, co-operation, influence and sustainability, in order to build the capacity to respond effectively to economic and social challenges.

Geography
Ventnor is on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, an island in the English Channel about 2 mi off the coast of Hampshire, at 50.6°N, -1.21667°W. It is 11 mi by road south-south-east of the island's county town Newport, and about 100 mi south-west of London. Its coastline is dominated by cliff scenery, with the town rising up the steep south-facing terraces between Ventnor Bay and St Boniface Down, which, at 241 m, is the highest point on the island. The town itself extends from the seashore up to the slopes of the downs, with its commercial centre being 45 m above sea-level; the urban area is contiguous with the neighbouring settlements of St Lawrence to the west and Bonchurch to the east.

There are nearby Sites of Special Scientific Interest at Ventnor Downs, St Lawrence Bank, Rew Down, and the Bonchurch Landslips, as well as the coast west of the town that forms part of the island's largest SSSI between Steephill Cove and Compton Chine. The downs are part of the Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Ventnor beach is one of the island's principal if smaller beaches; there are also small beaches at Bonchurch and Steephill. The Isle of Wight Coastal Path runs through Ventnor. The town has no river, although there are tufa-depositing springs along the downs feeding streams that flow the short distance to the sea, such as one through Cascade Gardens, and another through the park that becomes Flowers Brook.

The tides along the coast are strong, with a tidal range of around 3 m. Three miles off the coast, there is a parallel ridge under the sea rising to within 15 m of the surface; tidal flows forced between it, and the island have carved out a deep channel known as 'St Catherine's Deep'. Offshore there are 71 recorded sites of shipwrecks, and three air wrecks classified as Military Remains Protected Places. The notable Clarendon wreck occurred just along the coast near Blackgang Chine in 1836, which prompted the building of St Catherine's lighthouse.

The local coastline needs active shoreline management, with one of the longest stretches of naturally-developing soft cliffs along the British coast. Many are now protected by rock armour, large grey boulders imported from Somerset, or east of Ventnor by concrete tetrapods, all part of a £1.6 million programme of sea defence work completed in the 1990s. The coast here is also part of the South Wight Maritime Special Area of Conservation, with subtidal reefs that provide important habitats for marine species.

Ventnor is the seventh largest town on the Isle of Wight, with a population of just under 6,000. The nearest town is Shanklin, nearly four miles to the north-east, and the nearest villages are Whitwell and Wroxall, both less than 3 mi distant.

Geology
The local geomorphology defines the town. The Isle of Wight has complex geology of folded layers of sedimentary rocks (Greensand, chalk, and Gault clay), with Ventnor itself situated on the Undercliff, which is the largest urban landslide complex in North West Europe. According to the council's Shoreline Management Plan, the "medium to high sandstone, clay or chalk debris cliffs...are important for their geomorphological, ecological and entomological interest".

A significant area is built on the Gault clay, known locally as 'blue slipper', which when saturated allows the rocks above to suffer from landslip. The ground is notoriously unstable, and there are indications that the area is becoming less stable as the support provided by the lower slopes is slowly eroded.

The Shoreline Management Plan aims to protect the shoreline from erosion that would otherwise reactivate relic landslides along the Undercliff. The council believes that cliff protection works at Wheelers and Monks Bays "appear to have significantly reduced the occurrences of landslide re-activations". Nevertheless, the periodic movement has destroyed buildings over the years, led to cracking of local roads, and disrupted utilities. In 2011 a vent opened at the former bus stop in Ocean View Road. A nearby Site of Special Scientific Interest is known as the Landslip. In 2014, after storms and heavy rain, a landslip caused the road between Ventnor and Niton to collapse.

The local area is an important one for fossils; the Compton Chine to Steephill Cove SSSI is a nationally important site with notable invertebrate assemblages.

Climate
Ventnor and the Isle of Wight have a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The Met Office maintains a weather station at Ventnor Park. Because of its coastal location, Ventnor currently holds the British record for the warmest night for the month of June: 22.7 C in 1976.

According to the Tourist Board, the Isle of Wight is one of the sunniest places in the UK. Ventnor competes with Eastbourne to be considered the sunniest, both with about 1888 hours of sunshine per year, and averaging five hours of sun a day, peaking at eight hours during the summer. The town is sheltered from north winds behind St Boniface Down, and consequently has its own microclimate. This enables the Botanic Garden to grow species that would not survive outside elsewhere in the UK.

Wildlife
The climate and habitats in Ventnor support species that are rare in the UK, including some that are particularly associated with warmer and more southerly locations and are not established in much of the rest of the country. The town has the largest and oldest British colony of common wall lizards; whether these are a relict native population or were released in the 1920s is debated. A wall specially designed as a habitat has been built at the Botanic Garden, and small tunnels for the lizards installed beneath a local road.

The Isle of Wight is one of the principal British refuges of the once ubiquitous UK red squirrel population. They are relatively shy and most likely seen in wooded areas away from the town.

Ventnor downs support a small herd of feral goats, introduced in 1993 to control the growth of holm oak trees, and managed by the National Trust. Although not native to the UK, holm oak was introduced from the Mediterranean; the Victorians planted it widely in Ventnor, which has the largest holm oak wood in Northern Europe. This is described in the Isle of Wight Biodiversity Action Plan as a "remarkable and extensive area of recent secondary woodland", and is gradually becoming colonised by other Mediterranean species including large white helleborine, yellow birds nest, the large fungus Amanita ovoidea, and the oak rustic moth. The holm oak stabilises the land, but is invasive, its further spread limited by the goats.

The only significant remaining UK population of Glanville fritillary butterfly, one of Britain's rarest, is found along the southern coast of the Isle of Wight including Ventnor. According to the National Trust, the "downland above the town is immensely rich and important for butterflies... of top national importance". The coastal downs west of Ventnor are also one of few locations in the UK where Field Cow-wheat can be found.

Early gentian can be found on Rew Down, just north-west of the town. It is a rare species in the UK first recorded in 1883 at this site and recognised as internationally important by EU Habitats Directives. This down is also noted for pyramidal orchids and the once-endangered adonis blue butterfly.

Ventnor's subtidal reefs provide important habitats for marine species, for some of which the Isle of Wight is the eastern limit of distribution, representing the transition zone between the Gulf Stream from the south-west and cooler North Sea waters. These include the rare seaweed Gracilaria bursa-pastoris (or shepherd’s purse seaweed). The local coastline attracts bottlenose dolphin, basking shark and other cetaceans, as well as being an important area for fish species, including rays.

Ventnor Botanic Garden
Ventnor Botanic Garden was founded in 1970 by Sir Harold Hillier and occupies the 22-acre site of the former Royal National Hospital for Chest Diseases. The warm and sunny microclimate allows plants that are usually too tender for mainland Britain to grow. Its collection comprises worldwide temperate and subtropical trees and shrubs, organised by region, notably from Australia and New Zealand but also from Japan and the Mediterranean. Plants nevertheless have to be selected to tolerate the shallow alkaline soil and salt winds. Echium pininana is a tall species of flowering plant in the borage family Boraginaceae, native to La Palma in the Canary Islands, but grown in the Botanic Garden and in local gardens.

The Garden has a temperate house, and a visitor centre renovated in 2001. The Garden claims to be Britain's hottest garden and to have developed the 'Ventnor Method', presenting plants in association with each other as they are seen in the wild. Its species of puya plants from the Andes are part of the National Plant Collection, and almost unique in Britain for being grown outdoors. Its Palm Court was planted in the late 19th century, and some of the current trees may be the originals.

Demography
Having passed 6,000 by the turn of the 20th century, Ventnor's population peaked at over 7,300 in the early 1950s. According to UK census data, the population of Ventnor parish was 6,257 in 2001 and 5,976 in 2011, with a 2016 ONS estimate of 5,837, indicating a trend of declining population of just under 0.5% per year. With an area of 0.980 sqmi, the population density in 2016 was 2,211 PD/sqkm. 51.7% of the population is female, with 16% aged 0–17 years, 53% aged 18–64, and 31% aged 65 or over. Mosaic analysis of the 2011 census classified 27% of Ventnor East and 39% of Ventnor West households as "active elderly people living in pleasant retirement locations", with 46% of East and 20% of West as "residents of small and mid-sized towns with strong local roots".

Population
In March 2011, Ventnor parish had 2,846 occupied households, each containing an average of 2.1 people, 66% being houses (detached 29%, semi-detached 22%, terraced 15%) and 34% flats (18% purpose built, 14% conversions, 2% in commercial buildings). However, there were a further 733 household spaces (about 20% of the total) with no residents on the 2011 census day. Of the households, 43% owned their home outright, 23% owned with a mortgage or loan, 20% were private rented, and 12% social rented. 26% had no car in the household.

Of residents aged at least 16 in 2011, 47% were married, 27.5% single and never married, 13.1% divorced, 9.7% widowed, 2.5% separated, and 0.2% in a same-sex civil partnerships. 57.7% were living as a couple, and 42.3% were not. 94.3% had been born in the UK (91.5% in England, 1.4% in Scotland, 1.2% in Wales and 0.2% in Northern Ireland), with 0.6% born in Ireland, 2.1% in the rest of the EU, and 3.0% elsewhere. 24.3% had no passport.

Age
In 2011 the average age of Ventnor residents was 47.3 years, compared with averages of 44 years for the island and 39 for England. The age distribution was as follows:

Economy
The English Indices of Deprivation 2010 identified the central area of Ventnor as being one of the 20% most deprived areas, with the economy dependent on low paid seasonal work from tourism, and challenges from child poverty, inadequate housing, and relatively high levels of disability and ill health. The 2015 Indices suggest that this relative position has worsened, with Lowtherville closer to falling into the 20%. In the sub-domains, central Ventnor scored particularly badly for employment, and Lowtherville for children in poverty. 9% of households in Ventnor East are without central heating, compared to an English average of 2.7%. An analysis published in 2014 suggests that the average annual income in Ventnor, at £27,978, is the lowest of any sub-area on the island.

Of the population aged 16–74, on census day 2011 24% were working full-time, 14% part-time, 16% self-employed, 5% unemployed, 5% studying, 4% looking after home or family, 6% long-term sick or disabled, and 24% retired. The most common occupational categories were health and social (15%), wholesale and retail (14%), accommodation and food servicing (14%), and education (11%). However, of those in employment, 64% worked full-time and 36% part-time.

The town has many hotels and cafés, open seasonally to support the tourist trade. The main retail centres are the town centre (principally the High Street and Pier Street) and the Esplanade. There is an industrial estate on the site of the former station in Upper Ventnor, and a local shellfish industry near the Haven. Ventnor also has a small shipbuilding company.

Regarding its retail sector, an IOW Council Retail Assessment (based on a 2009 health check) concluded: "Although the town has a good mix of local and tourist focussed retail and leisure provision, the high level of vacant units and charity shops gives the impression of a poor quality of retail provision. It suffers from a relative lack of public transport accessibility." It recommended that "planning policies focus on protecting...local convenience and specialist comparison goods, such as antiques and vintage items".

Arts and culture
Ventnor is recognised as having a lively arts scene for a town of its size, with several annual arts events, venues for theatre and independent film, and active arts clubs.

Ventnor Fringe Festival has been held annually since 2010. This is an open arts festival taking place in venues across the town, similar to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on a smaller scale. Previous acts include Liam Bailey, Marques Toliver, Johnny Flynn and Vincent Moon as well as theatre companies such as Paines Plough. The Fringe coincides with the Ventnor Carnival and, since 2012, the Isle of Wight Film Festival.

Ventnor Carnival is a traditional town carnival, held in the middle of August, with carnival floats, marching bands and drinking. The carnival started in 1889 and claims to be the second oldest carnival in the UK. From 2016 there has been an annual Ventnor Day to celebrate the town, since 2017 organised on the same day as the Round the Island Race, with music, entertainment and stalls promoting local community groups.

Between 2005 and 2008, Ventnor hosted the Isle of Wight International Jazz Festival, with headline acts including Maceo Parker, Humphrey Lyttelton and Cleo Laine. Between 2011 and 2016, Isle of Arts was an annual festival held in the town, with acts including Rich Hall, Sandi Toksvig, Alan Davies and Phill Jupitus. Isle of Arts ended after 2016, because of the costs of the event. However the range of the Ventnor Fringe has since been expanded, and now runs concurrently with the Ventnor International Festival, with acts visiting from around the world.

Ventnor does not have a mainstream cinema, but there is a local film club that arranges showings of international films. There have also been outdoor film screenings during the summer Fringe. Ventnor Arts Club occupies a former bank in the town centre, and arranges live broadcasts of opera, ballet and theatre performances as well as music events.

Each July, Isle of Wight Arts holds a free open studios event across the island, with a wide range of local artists and craftspeople opening their homes and studios to the public.

Landmarks
Ventnor's landmarks arise from its natural environment, its Victorian heritage, and its tourist appeal past and present. Although modest in altitude at 241 m, the chalk St Boniface Down is 1/2 miles north of the town. The downs have a thick layer of acid flint gravels, with dry heathland vegetation. The town's small beach of reddish chert sand and pebbles of flint and chert, with Ventnor Haven to the east and the prominent Spyglass Inn at its western end, will be familiar to many visitors. It is backed by an esplanade, which was created in 1848, now fronted by pubs, cafes, shops and restaurants. The gnomon on the esplanade was presented to the town by Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1851. At its eastern end is Ventnor's pumping station, a £14 million project completed in 2002 as part of 'Shifting Sands', a joint initiative between English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. It is disguised as a bandstand and viewing platform.

Just west of the beach is the Ventnor sign on the cliffs at La Falaise, with the town's name in 13 ft white concrete blocks. It was erected between the wars and intended to provide a landmark visible from the sea, replacing the chalk letters that were damaged in 1992. Just along the coastal path is Flowers Brook, a stream flowing through a small coastal meadow and recreation ground. In 2015 the meadow was earmarked for the coastal substation of a tidal energy generation scheme, but the scheme was suspended in 2017. A short distance further west is Steephill Cove, a hamlet and small beach that is inaccessible to motor vehicles, which has cafes and self-catering cottages.

Ventnor Park, on the western side of town, was awarded 'Park of the Year' at the 2016 South and South East England in Bloom Awards. It has a bandstand, small aviary and stream, a putting green open seasonally, outdoor gym, and live music on Sunday afternoons during the summer. The land was originally owned by the Hambrough family, and leased to the town in the 1880s. Other public open spaces include Cascade Gardens, with its former mill stream and small waterfall, which were laid out in 1903. Below is a paddling-pool on the esplanade with a model of the Isle of Wight that children can play on.

RAF Ventnor is a former radar monitoring station atop St Boniface Down, and is now used for civilian and air traffic communications antennae. It also contains bunkers that were part of an early warning network, later converted into nuclear shelters during the Cold War as part of the ROTOR programme, now sealed and inaccessible. There is a memorial plaque nearby at the site of the 1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident, after which new regulations were introduced to improve air passenger safety.

Ventnor Exchange is an arts centre that opened in 2014 in the old Post Office building on Church Street. It organises the annual Ventnor Fringe Festival, supports emerging artists, and runs creative workshops for young actors, artists and writers. The winter gardens is an Art Deco building, dating from 1936, which was designed as a result of a competition in 1935 and built on the site of the vicarage. It was closed in 2011, then refurbished and re-opened as a cafe/restaurant and entertainment venue in 2014.

Along the coast, other notable landmarks include Blackgang Chine, the UK's oldest theme park, which opened in 1843. Its first attraction, still on display, was the skeleton of a whale washed up on an island beach the following year, The powerful lighthouse of St Catherine's is five miles away, at the southernmost tip of the island.

Ventnor Town Hall survives but was converted into flats in 1994.

Transport
Surrounded by hills, with no railway connection, no roads within the County's Strategic Road Network, and only two year-round bus routes connecting to other towns, Ventnor is relatively isolated from the rest of the island.

Access by road
Historically Ventnor was difficult to reach by road, along narrow and steep tracks. In the mid-nineteenth century the three routes were, from the east, through Bonchurch via the steep White (now Bonchurch) Shute, from the north, via Old Shute described by Michael Freeman as "a precipitous descent", and from the west by a steep shute connecting Whitwell with St Lawrence. The modern routes respectively via the Leeson Road, Ocean View Road, and Whitwell Road, as well as the route to Niton along the Undercliff (closed to vehicles since 2014 following a landslip) were all created in the later nineteenth century.

History of the railway
Railways reached the town in 1866 from Shanklin and Wroxall, and in 1900 from Merstone and Godshill. Ventnor railway station was the terminus of the Isle of Wight Railway (later the Island Line), and it brought many visitors to the town. Ventnor West railway station was the terminus of the Isle of Wight Central Railway from Cowes through Newport. Both stations suffered from being away from the town centre, requiring an onward road journey for travellers.

Ventnor West station was closed in 1952, before the closures ordered by Dr Beeching. Ventnor Station was closed in 1966, as part of a plan that also saw the remaining Ryde-Shanklin line electrified. Thereafter the town suffered economic decline from which it has not fully recovered. More recently the local MP has asked about the feasibility of extending the Island Line to Ventnor.

Between 2004 and 2010 a 'rail link' bus by Wightbus ran from St Lawrence and Ventnor to Shanklin, facilitating the journey to and from Ventnor.

Bus services
Southern Vectis run buses on route 3 and 6 from Ventnor to destinations including Newport, Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin and Niton. Additionally Island Minibus service run the local number 31 route which connects Ventnor to Bonchurch Village, the Botanic Garden and esplanade. Previously operated by Wightbus, the link to the esplanade was restored in 2011 after many years, despite suggestions that this would be impractical.

Pedestrianisation
As of 2018, the Town Council is consulting about the possibility of pedestrianising part of the High Street and/or the Esplanade.

Education
Education on the Isle of Wight is provided by local education authority-maintained schools, and independent schools. As a rural community, many of these schools are small, with average numbers of pupils lower than in many urban areas. In 2011 schools in the Isle of Wight were re-organised from a three-tier to a two-tier primary and secondary system, with pupils at state schools changing schools at age eleven. The former Middle Schools were closed.

Ventnor now has one secondary, one primary and one special school:

 * The Island Free School (secondary);
 * St Francis Catholic and CofE Primary School Academy;
 * St Catherine's School, a special school for pupils with speech and language difficulties.

Of the adult population in 2011, 25% had no qualifications, slightly higher than the English average of 22%. 24% had degree-level qualifications, compared to 27% in England.

Ventnor's library was founded as the Ventnor and Bonchurch Literary and Scientific Institution in 1848, moving into its current building in the High Street two years later. It has been part of the county library service since 1940. Nearly a third of residents are active members of the library, which also offers a music collection and open access computers, and a venue for both educational and cultural events.

The town has a small heritage centre and museum, in a local shop purchased by the Local History Society in 1987. The museum's collection and archive documents Ventnor's growth and popularity during Victorian times.

Religious sites
Ventnor has churches of several Christian denominations. St Catherine's Church is one of two Church of England parish churches, dating from 1837 and financed by John Hamborough. The other is Holy Trinity Church, dating from 1860-2, which is constructed in a Gothic Revival style with a tall spire. The cost of building Holy Trinity was met by three sisters who disliked the evangelical nature of the original parish church. There is also a third Church of England place of worship, St Alban's, which is anglo-catholic and was built in 1923.

Our Lady and St Wilfrid's Catholic Church, dating from 1871, was destroyed by fire in 2003 and rebuilt in 2015. There is also a Baptist Church in the town centre, opened in 1875. The Methodist community meets in the hall of the Catholics.

In the 2011 census, just under 60% of the population defined themselves as Christian, about 30% as having no religion, with about 9% declining to answer and very few people identifying with other religions.

Sport and recreation

Ventnor Cricket Club has several active teams, and plays on its ground just east of the Botanic Garden. Its pitch is unusual in that it is not flat but situated in a bowl, rising toward the boundaries. This has prevented them in being promoted beyond Division Two in the Southern Premier Cricket League.

Ventnor Rugby Club runs two men's teams, and plays at its ground west of the town on the Whitwell Road.

Ventnor Football Club is adjacent to the rugby club, with the grounds housing the Ventnor Men’s & Rew Valley youth teams.

There is a riding school and equestrian centre north of Ventnor on the road to Godshill.

Rew Valley Sports Centre, in Upper Ventnor, adjacent to the Free School and St Francis Primary school, is available for the local community to use outside of school hours.

Ventnor has a bowling club, with a ground just north of the town centre. Ventnor Golf Club has the oldest course on the island, founded in 1892. The course on the high downs north-west of the town centre has views over the English Channel. The putting green in Ventnor Park is open during the summer.

Ventnor Tennis Club has four hard courts just north of the town centre. The town also has an angling club with a clubhouse at Wheeler's Bay.

Ventnor skatepark, at the eastern end of the esplanade, is currently closed following vandalism to the ramps. It is seeking funding to get the ramps repaired and re-opened.

Ventnor beach, with its mix of sand and shingle, is popular with both locals and visitors. Adjacent is Ventnor Haven with a fresh fish shop and a fish and chips outlet. The Isle of Wight Coastal Path runs along the esplanade, and the beach is dog-friendly from October through April. Recreational diving is popular offshore, owing to the number of shipwrecks.

The Isle of Wight has been named as the best place in the world for cycling by Lonely Planet, and Ventnor is on the route of the annual randonnée.

Notable people
Residents of the town are known as Ventnorians.

In history
Resident at Osborne House in East Cowes, Queen Victoria visited Ventnor on the recommendation of her physician Sir James Clark. Its Royal Hotel was so named after enjoying her patronage in 1855.

Ventnor's popularity during the Victorian era attracted many writers. Charles Dickens spent the summer of 1849 in Bonchurch and wrote part of David Copperfield there. He described Bonchurch as "the prettiest place I ever saw in my life, at home or abroad". Thomas Babington Macaulay spent some of 1850 at Madeira Hall, where he wrote part of his History of England. Elizabeth Missing Sewell lived in Ventnor and founded St Boniface Diocesan School. Pearl Craigie spent many summers there, and leased St Lawrence Lodge.

The poet and critic Algernon Charles Swinburne spent his childhood in Bonchurch and his family grave is there. John Sterling purchased Hillside in 1843 and died of TB the following year aged 38. Canon Edmund Venables lived in Bonchurch between 1853 and 1864; in 1867 he compiled A Guide to the Undercliff. The Russian writer Ivan Turgenev stayed in Ventnor during 1860 and is reputed to have started Fathers and Sons there. Karl Marx rented a house at 1 St Boniface Gardens for the winters of 1881-2 and 1882-3, having written to Engels after his first visit that "this island is a little paradise”. John Leech, caricaturist, lived in Hill Cottage, Bonchurch Shute.

Other notable 19th-century residents include William Campbell Sleigh, lawyer and politician, and diplomat and MP Edward Eastwick, both of whom retired to and died in Ventnor. The admiral Earl Jellicoe also retired there. The organist and composer Edwin Lemare was born and spent his early childhood in Ventnor. The composer Edward Elgar and Caroline Alice Elgar spent three weeks on honeymoon there in 1889.

In the 20th century, Alfred Noyes, poet and playwright, lived in Ventnor from 1929 until his death in 1958. The author Henry De Vere Stacpoole lived in Bonchurch from 1930 until his death in 1951. American businessman John Morgan Richards owned Steephill Castle from 1903 until his death in 1918. The actor Sir John Martin-Harvey owned the Cottage in Bonchurch; Lady Harvey established the adjacent home for nurses.

Contemporary

 * The band the Bees are from Ventnor. The band Champs are from Niton, just outside of Ventnor.
 * The actor Brian Murphy was born in Ventnor.

Media and artistic references

 * Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, published in 1862, has a chapter set in Ventnor's clifftop cemetery.
 * The 1969 film Battle of Britain recreated the 1940 bombing raid on RAF Ventnor, using models of the radio masts.
 * The 1973 film That'll Be the Day, starring David Essex, Rosemary Leach and Ringo Starr, was partly filmed on the island including in Ventnor.
 * The 2011 novel The Guitar Man, by Maurice Taylor, is set in Ventnor.
 * An independent film Death in Ventnor was made by David George in 2009.
 * A 2016 edition of BBC's Countryfile featured Ventnor downs and the Botanic Garden.
 * Ventnor is the subject of an edition of Mark Steel's in Town broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2018.
 * The music video for the 2018 Alessi's Ark single DLD (Door Light Dream) was filmed on the Undercliff and in Ventnor.

Other places named after Ventnor

 *  Ventnor is a seaside area on the north of Phillip Island, off the southern coast of Australia.
 * Ventnor City is a coastal city in New Jersey adjacent to Atlantic City in the US.
 * Ventnor, Eastern Cape is a farmstead in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
 * Ventnor, Ontario is a hamlet in Ontario, Canada, near Cardinal.
 * Ventnor, Queensland is a locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia

title: Ventnor