View source for Niton

{{Short description|Village on the Isle of Wight, England}}
{{Other uses}}
{{distinguish|Knighton, Isle of Wight}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = England
| official_name = Niton
| civil_parish = Niton and Whitwell
| coordinates = {{coord|50.58687|-1.2849|display=inline,title}}
| population = 2,082
| population_ref = ([[2011 United Kingdom census|2011 census including Little Atherfield and Puckaster]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11126992&c=PO38+2PU&d=16&e=62&g=6402069&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1445251789203&enc=1|title=Civil Parish population 2011|access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>
| unitary_england = [[Isle of Wight]]
| map_type = Isle of Wight
| lieutenancy_england = [[Isle of Wight]]
| region = South East England
| constituency_westminster = [[Isle of Wight West (UK Parliament constituency)|Isle of Wight West]]
| post_town = VENTNOR
| postcode_district = PO38
| postcode_area = PO
| dial_code = 01983
| os_grid_reference = SZ507765
| london_distance = 
| static_image_name = The White Lion in Niton.JPG
| static_image_caption = The White Lion, a pub in the village
}}
'''Niton''' is a village and former [[civil parish]], now in the parish of [[Niton and Whitwell]], on the [[Isle of Wight]], England. It is west of [[Ventnor]], with a population of 2,082. It has two [[public house|pubs]], several [[church (building)|churches]], a pottery workshop/shop, a [[pharmacy]], a busy volunteer-run library, a medical centre and two local shops including a [[post office]]. The post office includes a pub and café that serves as a local meeting place. The village also offers a primary school with a co-located pre-school and nursery.

==Geography==
[[Image:View over Niton.JPG|left|thumb|300px|Panorama over Niton]]
Niton village is split in half by a break in the inner cliff of the Undercliff, through which passes the main road. Upper Niton lies in a hollow and is set around a crossroads.

The lower part of the village, below the inner cliff and above [[Reeth Bay]], is known as Niton [[Undercliff (Isle of Wight)|Undercliff]], and was a small fishing hamlet up until the 19th century. This part of Niton then flourished in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] times due to the popularity of [[Ventnor]] as a health resort, and many mansions and holiday cottages were built there.

Mount Cleves House was originally constructed in the late 1700s, and substantially remodelled in the early 1800s. Its residents included a Mr Kirkpatrick who owned the Isle of Wight Bank at the time and the owner of the Mortimer Foundry in Newport.<ref name=nhle>{{NHLE|num=1209276|access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref>

The road along the Undercliff continues east towards [[Ventnor]], but a major landslip in February 2014 has closed it to vehicular traffic between Niton and Ventnor, although it remains open for walkers and riders. The Undercliff at Niton includes the most southerly point of the Isle of Wight, [[St. Catherine's Point]] and St. Catherine's [[Lighthouse]]. That is also where the [[Navtex]] transmitting station is located.

The source of the [[Eastern Yar (river), Isle of Wight|Eastern Yar]] is in the parish, just north of the village.<ref name="River Yar source">{{cite web |url=http://www.wight-cam.co.uk/WightCAM/HTML/2002/020531-thumbnail.htm |title=River Yar Trail - Source to Sea |publisher=WightCam |access-date=2009-06-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423021454/http://www.wight-cam.co.uk/WightCAM/HTML/2002/020531-thumbnail.htm |archive-date=2009-04-23 }}</ref>

Niton together with [[Whitwell, Isle of Wight|Whitwell]] is a [[civil parishes in England|civil parish]].<ref name="statistics">{{cite web |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/geographic_area_listings/downloads/EnglishParishes&WelshCommunities_N&C_2004.xls |title=English Parishes & Welsh Communities N&C 2004 |publisher=www.statistics.gov.uk |access-date=2007-05-03}}</ref>

==History==
Prehistoric lithic implements dating to the lower [[Paleolithic|Palaeolithic]] constitute the oldest evidence of occupation of the area by hominids at some point in the early to mid [[Pleistocene]]. These are namely [[Acheulean]] handaxes, that have been discovered on the Undercliff coastline beneath the village. Later prehistoric findspots show evidence of [[Mesolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] activity.

[[Bronze Age]] [[round barrow]]s are situated at several points on [[St. Catherine's Down|St Catherine's Down]]. These were used as burial monuments and perhaps territorial markers by Bronze Age communities. The historical parish boundary with [[Chale]] to the north follows these barrows, tentatively suggesting this is an ancient boundary between neighbouring communities that has persisted. Further Bronze Age evidence has been found at St Catherine's Point.

Close to Niton is the sheltered and remote [[Puckaster]] Cove, which was once proposed to have been used by Greek and Phoenician traders during the Bronze Age.<ref name="Adams 1877">{{cite book|last1=Adams|first1=William Henry Davenport|title=Nelsons' hand-book to the Isle of Wight|date=1877|publisher=Oxford University|url=https://archive.org/details/nelsonshandbook02adamgoog|quote=Cotentin Peninsula trade Isle of Wight.}}</ref> Although this is not widely accepted and little evidence exists to support the claim.

Evidence of Roman and Iron Age occupation has been found at St Catherine's Point, which may have been the site of a Roman military outpost, most likely a beacon or signal station.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Roman Resource Assessment|url=https://www.iwhistory.org.uk/resourceassessment/iow%20Roman.pdf}}</ref> Some of these finds include [[midden]]s, with one containing the skeletal remains of a young girl.

On 1 April 1933 the parish of Whitwell was merged with Niton. On 1 December 1980, the new parish was renamed to "Niton & Whitwell".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/isle%20of%20wight.html|title=Isle of Wight Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=1 April 2023}}</ref> In 1931 the civil parish of Niton (prior to the merge) had a population of 868.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10068903/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Niton CP/AP through time|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=1 April 2023}}</ref>

==Niton lighthouse==
[[File:St Catherine's Lighthouse at Sunset.jpg|left|thumb|St Catherine's Lighthouse]][[St. Catherine's Lighthouse]] was bombed in [[World War II]], receiving a direct hit on the boiler house that killed three lighthouse keepers, Principal Keeper R T Grenfell, Assistant Keeper C. Tompkins and Assistant Keeper W.E. Jones.<ref name="trinityhouse">{{cite web|title=St. Catherine's Lighthouse|url=https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/st-catherines-lighthouse|publisher=Trinity House|access-date=22 October 2017}}</ref> The lighthouse itself was only slightly damaged, its lens only being chipped. 

Catherine's Lighthouse was automated in 1997 with the keepers leaving the lighthouse on 30 July.[1]

The 1904 optic remained in use until being removed as part of modernisation and safety works in 2021.<ref name="planning application">{{cite web|title=Isle of Wight Public Access|url=https://publicaccess.iow.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=QEY14PIQ07J00|publisher=Isle of Wight|access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref>
{{-}}

[[File:Niton,_IW,_UK.jpg|thumb|left|Niton village]]
[[File:Niton_(2),_IW,_UK.jpg|thumb|left|Niton, with St Catherine's Down behind]]

==Niton Church==
{{main|Church of St. John the Baptist, Niton}}

==Radio==
[[Guglielmo Marconi|Marconi]] used Knowles Farm in Niton for radio experiments, when he was living on the island in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In January 1901, he transmitted radio signals a record 186 miles from there to his [[The Lizard|Lizard]] Radio Telegraph Station at the southern tip of [[Cornwall]]. The farm has a stone into which is cut the inscription, "This is to commemorate that Marconi set up a wireless experimental station here in A.D. 1900". While in Niton, Marconi stayed at the Royal Sandrock Hotel, which no longer exists.

A ship-to-shore radio station was established in 1900, and Niton Radio (callsign GNI) was maintained as a coastal radio station known to yachtmasters.  It was featured in a British Telecom International information film.  It finally closed, along with the rest of the coastal radio network, in 1997.<ref name="intco">{{cite web |url=http://coastradio.intco.biz/uk/gni/close.htm |title=Coastradio reference site }}</ref> The [[Navtex]] transmitter at St. Catherine's Lighthouse is still in operation as of 2013 (Navtex is a shore-to-ship service). For the purpose of extended [[Shipping forecast]]s, the [[Met Office]] uses Niton as the name of the forecast area covering the Atlantic from FitzRoy, North to Irish Sea and East to Thames.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/marine-extended-outlook|access-date=21 July 2016|title=Extended Outlook}}</ref>

==Transport==
[[Southern Vectis]] bus route 6 serves the village on its way between [[Newport, Isle of Wight|Newport]] and [[Ventnor]].<ref name="Southern Vectis bus route 6">{{cite web |year=2008 |url=http://www.islandbuses.info/r6.shtml |title=Southern Vectis - bus route 6 |publisher=[[Southern Vectis]] |access-date=2008-05-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322093648/http://www.islandbuses.info/r6.shtml |archive-date=2008-03-22 }}</ref> During the summer, the ''Island Coaster'' also runs through the village.<ref name="Island Coaster">{{cite web |url=http://www.islandbuses.info/rx40.shtml |title=Southern Vectis Island Coaster |publisher=[[Southern Vectis]] |access-date=2009-06-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723141817/http://www.islandbuses.info/rx40.shtml |archive-date=2008-07-23 }}</ref>

==Notable people==
[[Penrhyn Grant Jones]], British Consul, China and Assistant Judge of the [[British Supreme Court for China]] grew up in Niton.

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Niton, Isle of Wight}}

{{Isle of Wight box}}
{{Settlements on the Isle of Wight}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Villages on the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:Former civil parishes in the Isle of Wight]]