page_title: List of places of worship on the Isle of Wight
section_title: Overview of the island and its places of worship
hierarchical_section_title: List of places of worship on the Isle of Wight / Overview of the island and its places of worship
context_page_description: As of 2019 there are about 130 places of worship in use on the Isle of Wight, England's largest island. A wide range of Christian denominations are represented, and Muslims have a mosque in the island's main town of Newport. The diamond-shaped, 146-square-mile island lies in the English Channel, separated from the county of Hampshire by the Solent. Its population of around 140,000 is spread across several small towns and dozens of villages. Many of the island's churches and chapels are in the ancient ports of Yarmouth and Newport, the Victorian seaside resorts of Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor, and the twin towns of Cowes and East Cowes; but even the smallest villages often have their own Anglican parish churches and sometimes a Nonconformist chapel. Methodism has been particularly strong on the island for over 200 years, and two of England's oldest Roman Catholic churches are also located here.
  Sixty-one churches and chapels have been awarded listed status by Historic England or its predecessor organisations in recognition of their architectural and historical interest.
context_section_description: The Isle of Wight is situated in the English Channel off the south coast of England.  The Solent strait, generally 2–3 miles (3–5 km) wide, separates it from the mainland to the north.  The island measures 22 miles (35 km) from east to west and 13 miles (21 km) from north to south at its extreme points; in total it covers 146.8 square miles (380 km²).  The resident population was estimated to be 139,105 in mid-2014, a slight increase on the 138,400 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011.  Only seven towns have a population of 6,000 or more.  Ryde, whose population in 2011 was approximately 18,700, developed from two villages in the late 18th century: Lower Ryde, on the seashore, was for centuries a landing point for boats from the mainland, and this was formalised when a pier was built in 1814.  Upper Ryde, its inland neighbour, was connected to it in 1780, and rapid development ensued through the Regency and early Victorian eras.  Newport, the county town, is slightly smaller (population 17,200) but much older: founded c. 1180 as a "new port" for the island, centrally located on the River Medina, it retains its medieval grid pattern of streets (although the oldest surviving buildings are 17th-century).  Cowes and East Cowes, facing each other across the Medina estuary and connected by a chain ferry, have 14,400 and 7,800 residents respectively; they developed as industrial and port towns in the 17th and 18th centuries, and became fashionable residential areas in the 19th century.  Stimulated by the arrival of the railway in 1864, Sandown (population 7,200) developed as a seaside resort in the last quarter of the 19th century, and the ancient village of Shanklin grew rapidly at the same time, reaching an estimated population of 7,100 by 2011.  Ventnor (population 6,000) was already more developed by the time the railway arrived in 1866: early 19th-century visitors discovered the village's dramatic setting, and formal urban planning began in the 1830s.
  The island was converted to Christianity in the late 7th century, although sources differ as to who was responsible: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle identifies Wulfhere of Mercia, but Bede (writing in the 8th century) gives a date of 686 and  names Cædwalla of Wessex.  A series of parishes were later established, some very large and spanning the whole island from north to south.  By the time of the Domesday survey in 1086 there were ten churches on the island, and some chapels originally associated with the island's many manors became parish churches in their own right later in the Middle Ages.  Of the churches established in the Saxon era, only fragments remain: Arreton and Freshwater both retain structural features from that period.  Likewise, Norman churches survive only in parts, as at Shalfleet (the massive square tower), Yaverland (a "remarkable 12th-century doorway") and Wootton (where St Edmund's Church also has an intricately moulded Norman doorway).  More significant is the island's array of Gothic church architecture—particularly that of the Early English period.  Notable Early English work can be seen in the parish churches of Brading, Calbourne and Newchurch.  Decorated Gothic features survive at Arreton and Freshwater, and there are Perpendicular Gothic towers at Carisbrooke, Chale and Gatcombe, arcades at Brading, Brighstone and Mottistone, and porches at Arreton, Niton and Whitwell.
  The 17th century was a period of church restoration and some new construction. Yarmouth (1626) retains much of its original appearance; St Mary's Church at Cowes dates from 1657 but has been rebuilt; and rebuilding of older churches took place at Newchurch, Shalfleet, Shorwell and Godshill.   Monuments to prominent island families such as the Oglander and Worsley baronets and the Leighs of Godshill are another important feature of this era.  At several churches, though, church architecture and fittings of this era and of the 18th century was swept away amid Victorian restoration, and the island's stock of Anglican churches grew substantially in the 19th century in line with urba
caption: The Isle of Wight is situated off the south coast of England.
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