WIGHT, Isle of. This island, on the southern coast of England, in the British channel, is for most purposes a portion of the county of Southampton, or Hampshire. It is separated from it by a channel varying in breadth from two to six miles. In this channel, though it contains no harbour of importance, there are many places of perfect security, where ships may ride at anchor. The best of these is Spithead, the great rendezvous of the British fleet in time of war; but in most other parts the ground is good, and the vessels are well sheltered from storms. The entrance to this arm of the sea from the west is by the Needles, some lofty rocks, five in number; but two of them are nearly covered at high water. These obtained their name from one which rose to the height of 120 feet, resembling that implement of industry. It was undermined by the waves, and at length, in 1764, fell down with a concussion that was felt at the distance of many miles. The group has now an impressive appearance, especially when the agitated sea breaks on their sides. The passage between them is generally free from danger.

The island∙is divided into two hundreds, indicated by the principal river, and called East and West Medina. East Medina comprehends fourteen parishes, and West Medina sixteen. The whole land is calculated to be 105,000 acres, of which 75,000 are under the plough, 20,000 are devoted to pasture, and the remainder is either waste or woods, or the sites of towns or villages, or occupied by roads and rivers. It is said to have been formerly covered with woods, but to have been in a great measure denuded by its vicinity to Portsmouth, and the great demand of that naval arsenal for timber.
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The face of the country may be rather described as undulating than as hilly, though there is a range of hills, or rather downs, running from east to west through the island, with a few points of considerable elevation. There is a great variety of rural scenery, adorned with a great diversity of foliage; and though there are few or no woods, yet, as the fields are enclosed within hedge-rows, among which fine trees, and especially stately elms, grow most luxuriantly, these, added to the beauty of the verdant fields, present to the eye of the traveller a succession of most pleasing prospects. The two sides of the island present each a peculiar character. The northern side is marked by every thing that is rich, lovely, and picturesque; the southern, or the part called the Back of the Island, abounds in bold wild rocks, precipitous projections, ravines, fearful chasms, and other features of the imposing, and a few even of the sublime. In some parts these opposite characters are greatly mingled. There is a peculiar scenery on the south side of the island, which is so striking to all strangers as to require a special notice. It is a continued sinking of a tract of land, about seven "miles in length, and from a half to a quarter of a mile in breadth. This singular district consists of a series of terraces, formed by fragments of rocks, chalk, and sandstone, which have been detached from the cliffs and hills above, and deposited upon a substratum of white marl. This whole undercliff, for such is its common name, is completely sheltered from the north, north-west, and west winds, by the range of lofty downs or hills of chalk or sandstone which rise boldly from the upper termination of these terraces, on elevations varying from four to six and seven hundred feet in height. The two extremities of the range are indeed higher, as St Boniface Down is 800 feet above the level of the sea, and St Catherine’s Hill on the west nearly 900 feet. The protection afforded by this mountain barrier is greatly increased by the very singular and striking abruptness with which it terminates on its southern aspect. This in many places consists of the bare perpendicular rock of sandstone; in others of chalk, assuming its characteristic rounded form, covered with a fine turf and underwood.

The chief industry of the island is applied to its agriculture. The soil is for the most part clay, with a mixture of loam, and in some parts of a very cold and tenacious kind; it is however generally fertile, and the meadows produce very great crops of hay. The grain sown, whether wheat, barley, or oats, yields good crops, and affords more corn than is needed for home consumption; and hence much flour is exported. As the harvest is ready to be gathered earlier by a few weeks on the island than in the neighbouring counties of Dorset and Hants, the labourers from them flock to reap the corn, and return sufficiently early to reach their own homes, and there also to assist in the harvest-work. The manures of the island, besides what the farm-yards and stables supply, consist of sea-weed, marl, and lime, the latter of which is copiously supplied from the chain of calcareous elevations which has been already noticed. There is little foreign trade, though a great number of ships of all nations have intercourse with the towns of Cowes and Ryde. Vessels from America, bound in search of a market, especially during war, commonly touch at the former place to ascertain the state of the different markets, and to communicate with London for intelligence to direct their destination. Between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth is the great rendezvous of outward-bound ships from London; and in war large fleets of East and West India ships are there collected to wait for convoy. The demand for fresh sea-stores is consequently very great, and the supply of it very advantageous. Fowls, live sheep, milch goats, milch cows, pigs, and potatoes, are cheaper than in the Thames; and most outward-bound vessels trust to obtaining such provisions at the anchorage of the Motherbank or Spithead. During the long hostilities, by this description of trade the wealth of the island increased very rapidly; and though, since the return of peace, these sources of prosperity have been much curtailed, yet others have opened or been extended. Ryde, as well as Cowes and several other spots, have become places of great resort for sea-bathing, and have gradually acquired all the accommodations to be found in the more ancient bathing places on the shore. Of late, too, it has become the point of union for the vessels and members of the Royal Yacht Club, who have built a house at Cowes, and made that place the resort of some of the most distinguished persons who take pleasure in maritime adventures and expeditions. The population of the island at the enumeration of 1831 was found to consist of 17,205 males, and 18,226 females. The chief town, Newport, at that period, contained 4081 inhabitants. The other towns are, Brading, with 2277 persons; Cowes, in the parish of Northwood, the population of which parish was 4491; and Ryde, in the parish of Newchurch, whose inhabitants were 4928.

The town of Newport returns two members to the House of Commons, as before the reform act, by which the boroughs of Newton and Yarmouth were disfranchised. The freeholders of the island used to vote for the members of the county of Hampshire, but they now elect one member for the island.