About this web

The Isle of Wight is a small island (23 miles by 12 miles) off the south coast of England, look for Southampton and go south.  It is the red spot on the map to the left. I live in the village of Shalfleet, which is in the west of the Island between Newport and Yarmouth. There are pages about the village and its historic church included in this web.

The web displays cards from my collection and cover the whole of the Isle of Wight, although emphasis tends to be on the western part of the Island. Many of the cards come from the collection of my late father, George Holden, but I am constantly adding to them. 

I also included a series of feature articles from my collection of Isle of Wight books, magazines and other papers, but these have been removed because of misuse.

My first page (produced in early 1997) was 'Island Gateways' which featured pictures of the arrival ports. This was produced in the early days of scanners, the first one I owned was hand held and virtually impossible to use. This was followed by a page about Freshwater, which has now been considerable upgraded and shows a historic tour of the village.

The web underwent a major upgrade in the summer of 2005, the home page became a clickable map and an alternative index page Round the Island, which shows clickable thumbnails was introduced. Regular updates, including re-scans increasing the size of the pictures with the advent of Broadband, have been carried out and new cards added when obtained.  A page directory has been included at the foot of each page to make navigation easier. 

Cards and pictures shown are from my own collection. On the few occasions (such as on the Freshwater page) where they are not,  they are attributed. Old postcards are sometimes poorly produced and grainy, I've done my best to scan them. If you click on most small  pictures, you will see a larger picture. Cards are difficult to date. I've used that on the card where I consider it realistic (on one card I have the card was sent some 30 years after it was produced!) or are my estimate. In some cases I have left them undated.

If you find any problems or wish to contact me please email me.

18 August 2010