Brading Research.
Please feel free to download that which you require.
In common with the rest of this site the "pics "are as good as we can get em' so this may take a little time to download.
We will add to this page as & when we get more info'.
Chronology
Undated Stone age and bronze age dwellings at Morton
100 BC Iron age settlements by Brading Roman villa
AD 1 Birth of Christ
43 Romans invade Britain
150 Brading Roman villa built
158 Present Roman villa site developed
300/370 Roman/British villa at its height
410 Romans withdraw
530 Jutish invasion of Kent under Cerdic ancestor of King Alfred progenitor of the English royalty
661 Ethelward king of Sussex incorporated the Island into his kingdom
668 Caedwaller king of the West Saxons subdued the Wight
704 Bishop Wilfred sent his nephew to baptised the new converts. IW. last pagan part of Southern England.
897 Danes attacked nine of Alfred's ships in Brading haven
998 Danes master of Island and ravage towns and villages
1022 King Canute visited the island
1066 No resistance on the isle of Wight to Norman conquest (the Oglanders of Brading a part of Norman invasion)
1086 Brading? listed in Doomsday Book. Nunwell, Rowborough farm & Witfield (3 mills)
1180 William Fitz Stur of Gatcome founded the town of Brading (at west arm of Haven where meets great north road to Solent).
Brading church built (? On sight of chapel in manor of Whitfield.? On sight of first baptism.? By old preaching cross.) Rectory farm provided opposite west end of church.
1200 De Aula (Hollis) family established at Yaverland Manor
1242 Jordan De Sancto Estachio, first known rector of Brading (presented by the prior of St Helens having the advowson - the gift of the right to choose the vicar of St Marys Brading).
1279 Brading within the manor of Whitfield, leased to the king.
1285 Edward the first granted Brading its first charter (from this time Brading known as "Ye Kynges Towne") & charter to have a weekly Market & annual fair.
1292 First draining of the southern Haven Yarbridge built
1295 Roger "the parson of Brading." (and addition to the church list)
1302 Edward the first granted the manner of Wytfield to his daughter Mary during her lifetime, this included the town of Brading.
1340 The French attack and raze Woolverton (St Urian's copse).
1349 Bubonic plague periodically hit population.
1350 A court leet dealing with the town's disputes established Brading Town affairs run by the bailiffs with thirteen jurats (Municipal officers like Aldermen).
1377 Newport, having been destroyed, Brading again the main town of the Isle of Wight
1388 Fee farm rents collected from the whole town as usual, or for the king.
1441 John Cherowin, constable of Porchester, oldest tombe in Brading church
1482 John Oglander had south chapel built on the church. North chapel built by Hawles(Hollis) family, rival landowners)
1488 Lord Woodvile's force of of Wight soldiers wiped out by the French (the only survivor being a small boy from Brading)
1500 The earliest of the Brading bailiff's records, from this date
1502 The house now known as the wax museum built by William Squire.
1522 Old Nunwell accidentally burnt down. Oglanders buy Nunwell.
1510 Thomas Oglander murdered by Thomas Hawles. (Saint Urians copse.)
1520 William Howlys (Howles/Hollis) tomb in northeast chapel of Brading church.
1521 Capella S. (St Urie) tithes been paid to Howlys family
1522 Thomas Howlys of Yaverland second wealthiest on the of Wight. Worth £60
1540 Money bequeathed for the repair of church bells.
1545 French fleet at Spithead. Sinking of the Mary Rose.
1548 Edward IV. gives new Brading charter and additional annual fair granted for every Wednesday and a fair twice a year on the 1st. May and 21st September plus two days.
1549 Edward IV. gave the Town its gun. "John an Robert Owen made this pece".
1552 The royalists spikes the Brading field piece.
1562 German Richards drained the north marsh of Brading haven
1573 Two men fined for not frequenting Brading church
1585/1655 Bull baiting at its height. Says Sir John Oglander
(no butcher allowed to slaughter a Bull without it being baited).
1588 Armada in sight. Brading cannon on the cliff in readiness.
1594 Yarbridge to Richards sluice drained, cut off channel to town.
1594 The date of the oldest of the present set of church bells.
1620 Sir Hugh Middleton's abortive attempt to drain the whole of the haven.
1620 The town markets at its height (see list of town officers).
1645 Charles the first gave Brading to the City of London as loan security.
1669 Oldest of the ledger stones in the centre isle. (Two members of the Knight family of Languard.)
1793 Tomkins etchings of Brading.
1797/1805 Legh Richmond, curate in charge of the parish wrote "Annals of the Poor", citing the case of "Little Jane"(Squib".)
1820 The corporation of Brading sent loyal greetings to king George the fourth.
1823 The new "National" school erected to replace the town hall rooms, now the youth club.
1830 Six Brading children sent to Canada to relieve the the rising population.
1832 The gun split when fired at the passing of the reform act.
1846 Nonconformists build "British" school in the Mall. Closed 1910.
1850 By this time Brading market became obsolete.
1864 Ryde to Shanklin railway opened.
1868 Bible Christians build Methodist church in New Road.
1881 Bembridge embankment & final marshes drainage completed.
1872 A letter ordering ,William Wadour, cordwainer, to quit his premises.
1877 Brading free library instituted.
1890 Town corporation dissolved, Town Trust set up in its place. (Which continues to administer the properties of the ancient borough.
1903 New town hall built on malt house site. Opened by Miss Oglander.
1907 We had our own "exchange". This was in "Culver cottage", New Road and in 1909 Telephone, we had "Trunk facilities", that is to say, we could communicate to the mainland. A Church hall built at rear of Town Hall.
1910 Town Trust sends loyal greetings to George the fourth on his accession to the throne. Brading Council School built, now Brading CE Primary School
1935 Brading church floodlit for the jubilee.
Early 1950s "National" school closed.
1989 St Marys New church hall opened.
From "Twelve hundred years in St Helens" by David Low & Sheila White
Copy of text in Bottom right - hand corner of above picture.
On 19 July 1545, the French landed on the Yar island and set fire to properties in an attempt to lure the English fleet out of Portsmouth to where the more moveable Genovese galleys could sink a few. King H. Would have none of it. Local militia drove the French off the Isle of Wight. All this was recorded pictorially in a wall painting in Cowdry House, near Midhurst. In 1722 an engraved copy of the wall painting was commissioned by an act of Parliament., In 1795, Cowdray House burnt down; the wall painting was lost, the House is now a ruin in Cowdray Park. The full 7' x 2' 6" engraving also shows the Mary Rose top masts leaning over just above the surface of the sea. A full-size copy print from the engraving is held in Newport (Isle of Wight) public record office.
Timeline
The Geology of Brading
The town of Brading sits in a gap in the main Chalk Ridge which forms the ‘backbone’ of the Isle of Wight. The gap has been carved over the millennia by the River Yar as it works its way to the sea. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Brading’s situation is that it is built over a greater diversity of underlying geology than any other town on the Island.
Morton, at the southern end of Brading is built on the 120 million year old Lower Greensand rocks, seen at Red Cliff, these rocks and the younger Upper Greensand and Gault Clay were laid down in a gradually deepening sub-tropical sea which teamed with ammonites and other marine life.
By Yarbridge the Chalk underlies you. The Chalk can be seen in the Cliffs between Culver Cliff and Whitecliff Bay, also in disused quarries to the west of the town. The Chalk is a rich source of fossils, such as sea urchins and sponges. It is also the source of the flint used in buildings.
A short distance before New Road turns into the High Street we cross over the divide between the Cretaceous Chalk and the (younger) Palaeogene rocks which underlay the northern part of the Island, representing a gap of about 25 million years. As you travel north up the High Street you cross successively younger clays and sands which can be seen in the cliffs at Whitecliff Bay. These were laid down in a warm shallow sea, which gradually silted-up to become a landscape similar to today’s Florida Everglades some 38 million years ago. Alligators and turtles would have lived there along with primitive members of the horse and pig families.
Brading overlies a diverse geology as it sits over the main anticline (upward fold in the Earth’s crust) and the underlying rocks are angled up almost vertically. It has also been recognised in recent years that a fault-line (split in the rocks),may have provided the weakness that the ancient River Yar cut into to form the gap in the Chalk ridge. The significance of the gap would have been readily recognised by the original settlers who founded the future town.
Compliments of Martin Munt.
Curator of Geology. Isle of Wight Council.
Brading Heritage Centre. For some Brading family histories & info. Some Brading "pics" et al. Email us from this site.
Also see this website pages:- "Worship", "Town Trust", "History" for some further info..
This "Map" is included for Schools, Students and the simply curious, to use as you will.
The oldest houses are constructed of solid chalk, stone and flint which bring their own problems. Very narrow High St., totally unsuitable for the traffic it is expected to service.
Very few shops, as most of the many have been allowed to be converted into private dwellings. Regrettably Brading is now a place to pass through rather than visit. This being a shame as we, more than most, have a lot to offer. Efforts by our Council and the newly formed charity "King's Town Association", are now being made to resurrect the appearance, economy and popularity of the Town by maximising our many assets.
Reference to the map on the "Business and Attractions" page may be helpful. NORTH is toward the top right-hand corner. The "Bull Ring" area is slightly above and to the right of centre.
