Niton
| Niton | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 The White Lion, Niton | |
| Location | |
| Island: | Isle of Wight |
| Grid reference: | SZ507765 |
| Location: | 50°35’13"N, 1°17’6"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,142 (2001) |
| Post town: | Ventnor |
| Postcode: | PO38 |
| Dialling code: | 01983 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Isle of Wight |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Isle of Wight |
Niton is a village on the Isle of Wight, near Ventnor with a thriving population of 1,142 in 2001, supporting two pubs, several churches,a pottery workshop/shop, a pharmacy and 3 local shops including a post office. The post office houses a café which serves as a local meeting place.
Geography
Niton village is split into two halves by a break in the inner cliff large enough to house the main road through Niton. Upper Niton lies in a hollow and is set around a crossroads.
The lower part of the village, below the inner cliff is often known as Niton Undercliff, and was a small fishing hamlet until the 19th Century. This part of Niton flourished in the Victorian era due to the popularity of Ventnor as a health resort, and many mansions and holiday cottages were built here.
The road on the Undercliff continues east from Niton towards Ventnor. The Undercliff at Niton includes the most southerly point of the Isle of Wight, St Catherine's Point and St Catherine's Lighthouse.
The source of the Eastern Yar is in the parish, a little to the north of the village.[1]
The village shares a parish council with neighbouring Whitwell.
Niton lighthouse
St Catherine's Lighthouse was bombed in Second World War, receiving a direct hit on the boiler house that killed three lighthouse keepers. The lighthouse itself was only slightly damaged, its lens only being chipped; the same lens is still used today.
Parish Church
The parish church is St John the Baptist.
Radio
Marconi used Knowles Farm in Niton as a location for radio experiments when he was living on the Isle of Wight in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In January 1901, he transmitted radio signals a record 186 miles from his transmitter station at Knowles Farm at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight to his Lizard Radio Telegraph Station at the southern tip of Cornwall. There is a stone at Knowles Farm into which is cut the inscription, "This is to commemorate that Marconi set up a wireless experimental station here in A.D. 1900". While in Niton, Marconi stayed at the Royal Sandrock Hotel[2] in Undercliff.
A ship-to-shore radio station was established in 1900 and Niton Radio (callsign GNI) was maintained as a coastal radio station well known to yacht masters - including being featured in a British Telecom International information film - until it finally closed, along with the rest of the coastal radio network, in 1997.[3]
Surfing
Niton has a reputation as a notoriously dangerous spot for surfboarding because it has a powerful rip current and a rocky landing await the surfer who attempts to tame Niton's powerful shore break.[4]
References
- ↑ "River Yar Trail - Source to Sea". WightCam. http://www.wight-cam.co.uk/WightCAM/HTML/2002/020531-thumbnail.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
- ↑ The Royal Sandrock Hotel no longer exists.
- ↑ Coastradio reference site
- ↑ http://wightsurfhistory.co.uk/?s=niton
