Welcome to the web site of Wroxall Parish Council

We hope you enjoy finding out more about our village

Wroxall is a community of some 1900 residents nestling in the downs in the south-eastern part of the Isle of Wight, about two miles north of the sunny resort of Ventnor. We are on the B3327 road. Wroxall Parish Council was formed in 1984; before then the village was a ward of Ventnor. We have a shop, a post office, primary school, community centre and a pub, that can be the starting or finishing points for glorious walks to or from Ventnor, Shanklin, Whitwell or Godshill.

The Manor of Warochelle is mentioned in the Domesday Book and the name seems to have mutated through Wrockshale to Wroxall over the years. The land round about was in the ownership of the Worsley family from Lancashire. James Worsley was a page to King Henry VII and was knighted and appointed Captain of the Isle of Wight when Henry VIII came to the throne. James married Ann Leigh, heiress to the Appuldurcombe estate. They built the 18th Century baroque mansion Appuldurcombe House and in the 19th Century Lord Yarborough of Appuldurcombe was in residence.
Hitherto Wroxall had been a small agricultural settlement, but the arrival of the railway from Shanklin to Ventnor in 1866 saw the start of a change. Many of the cottages in the village centre were built for the workmen who built the railway, including the tunnel that took it under St Boniface Down to Ventnor. As the village grew, some of the stone was used to build St John’s Church, opened in 1875 (the tower dates from 1911). Ecclesiastical parish status came in 1907. The Junior and Infants School was opened in 1873.
Appuldurcombe House stood empty from 1909, but was later used for a variety of purposes before English Heritage took on responsibility for its maintenance and part restored it.

Farming still goes on around Wroxall, but the community is diversified with commuters travelling daily to and from Ventnor, Shanklin and Newport, retired residents and others who work in some of the small enterprises found in the village. A new primary school was built in 1986. The railway closed in 1966; so today we rely on Southern Vectis bus route 3 (Newport-Wroxall-Ventnor-Shanklin-Ryde) that operates half-hourly through most of the day. Visitors come to Appuldurcombe House to see Capability Brown’s ornamental gardens or the owl and birds of prey centre. Just north of the village is the Isle of Wight Donkey sanctuary. Holiday cottages and bed-and-breakfast are available locally.

The Parish Council has eight members and meets on the second Monday of each month in the Methodist Church Hall, High Street, at 19.00. The public are very welcome to attend meetings. The Parish Clerk is
Michael Taplin, Flat 1, 10 Hope Rd, Shanklin PO37 6EA
01983 862810 E-Mail [email protected]