Seaview, Hampshire

Seaview
Hampshire
Village centre, Seaview
Location
Island:	Isle of Wight
Grid reference:	SZ625915
Location:	50°43’12"N, 1°6’53"W
Data
Post town:	Seaview
Postcode:	PO34
Dialling code:	01983
Local Government
Council:	Isle of Wight
Parliamentary constituency:	Isle of Wight

Seaview is a small, Edwardian resort located on the north-eastern corner of Hampshire's great island, the Isle of Wight, overlooking the Solent.

The village is popular with tourists and is only a 15-minute drive from the town of Ryde, where most tourists reach the island by ferry or hovercraft. Together with Nettlestone, it forms a shared civil parish ('Nettlestone and Seaview').

The village

The seafront at Seaview

The High Street is perpendicular to the shore. On the seafront stands The Old Fort pub, a drinking spot popular with both residents and summer visitors. The Salterns Cottages used to house salt pan workers. One street is named Rope Walk, because long sections of rope for rigging ships were laid out there.

The well-known Priory Bay is approximately a ten-minute walk from the village. This stretch of beach can only be reached at low tide. It is filled with white sand and offers excellent swimming conditions. In addition, Seagrove Bay, between the village and Priory Bay, is quite popular. Some of the largest houses in the area are along Pier Road and Bluett Avenue, and this is partly responsible for the nickname "millionaires avenues". Further large period houses, now largely divided into flats, can be found in Ryde Road.

In 1870, Augustus Gough-Calthorpe, 6th Baron Calthorpe, had a French Renaissance style house, Woodlands Vale, built by Samuel Sanders Teulon. The nearby Calthorpe Road is named after the family.

Seaview has many holiday homes including some with sea views. This leads to a seasonal variation in the activity in the village - with many second-home owners visiting only in the summer months or holiday periods. There are two hotels, the Seaview Hotel and the Northbank Hotel. There is a pizza place, a Post Office, stationery shop, pharmacist, grocers and an art gallery.

No Man's Land Fort, formerly part of the coast defences and now a luxury residence, is visible in the Solent one mile from Seaview.

St Peter's Church the village's Church of England church, built in 1859.

Boating

The village is home to the Sea View Yacht Club, founded in 1893. In summer, the village hosts the Seaview Regatta, during which locals and tourists can take part in many traditional activities, such as the greasy pole where people line up and see how far they can slide along a pole covered in grease. Once they have slipped off, they drop into the sea below. There is also a diving competition and a firework display concludes the event each year.

The Solent as seen from Seaview

Seaview Pier

In 1877 the Seaview Pier Company was formed to build Seaview a promenading pier, and approval for a 350-yard-long pier was given by Parliament in 1878. The suspension pier was designed by Frank Caws, a Seaview-born engineer/architect then working in Sunderland in County Durham. The pier was finished in 1881, and was 1,000 feet long and 15 feet wide. There were four towers from which the pier deck was suspended.

In its heyday, the pier received passenger ferries from Portsmouth and other south coast towns. At the entrance to the pier was the Pier Hotel, which catered for holidaymakers.

The Pier was still in use after Second World War, but was destroyed in a storm in late December 1951.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Seaview, Hampshire)

• Old pictures of Seaview
• Seaview information