Newport – IOW

a) The Red City map of Newport
Newport lays Land-Locked in The Centre of the Isle of Wight, yet twice a day The Tidal River Medina breathes The Sea deeply into Sea Street and its brick-red core.

Up St.Catherine’s Down the River Medina springs from the white chalk cliffs in the South of the Isle of Wight.

On the hill between the two rivers, where the land rises, stands the Church Minster. For at least 800 years  a church has stood on this sacred place.

Designed by John Nash 1811. At street level the ‘rusticated arcade’ of 5 arches transforms Newport into Italy.

Percy Stone’s three bronze lions crouch at the corners of the triangular plinth of The Monument, above them stand three bronze figures.

Pyle street’s multi story carpark looms like the Egyptian temple of Karnak. Its vast dark entrance and blank facade outstares The Church Minster.

Newport was named ‘Medina’ by the Romans, probably from the Saxon word ‘Medene’ meaning middle.

In Medieval times the town of ‘Medina’ was re-named ‘The New Port of Carisbrooke Castle’.

Castle Road splits into High Street and Pyle Street which run either side of the central Church Minster.

High Street ends at Holyrood (Holy Road) and Quay Street, which both lead to Sea Street and the New Port. 

The River Medina’s High and Low Water Marks are currently being mapped by the Ordinance Survey team.

Newport lays Land-Locked in The Centre of the Isle of Wight, yet twice a day The Tidal River Medina breathes The Sea deeply into Sea Street and its brick-red core. The river almost severs the island in half as it travels Northwards towards Cowes and the Solent. Its only tributary is Lugley Brook and it is at the ‘confluence’ of these two rivers that the place we call Newport was founded in the Stone age, around 2.5 million years ago.In the 1920’s at least 64 hand-axes and 16 Levallois flakes from the Palaeolithic were found and In 2006 the BBC reported “School children have found prehistoric stone tools and Elephant teeth at Great Pan Farm, Newport”.
On the hill between the two rivers rises The Church Minster. For at least 800 years a church has stood on this sacred site. It is civically recognised as the main Anglican church on the Isle of Wight.

The Old Literary Institute was designed by John Nash 1811, its three central windows are divided by Tuscan pilasters, while at street level the ‘rusticated arcade’ of 5 arches transforms Newport into Italy.
Unveiled in 1903, two years after the death of Queen Victoria, Percy Stone’s three bronze lions crouch at the corners of the triangular plinth of The Monument; above them stand three bronze figures. Stiff-leaf foliage in the Art Nouveau style and a Gothic tabernacle with narrow gabled niches is crowned by a spirelet.
Not usually known for their architectural value, as Architectural Record noted, “In the Pantheon of Building Types, the parking garage lurks somewhere in the vicinity of prisons and toll plazas.” Subjected to the heavy and shifting loads of moving vehicles, they must bear the associated physical stresses. The earliest known multi-story car park was opened in London in 1901.
Pyle Street’s multi story carpark looms like the Egyptian temple of Karnak. Its vast dark entrance and blank facade outstare the Church Minster.