Kelly's Directory (1886) - Binstead

Binstead is a parish, in the rural deanery of North-east Medina, archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight and diocese of Winchester, situated about 6 miles east-north-east from Newport, and a mile west from Ryde on the coast. The church of the Holy Cross is a building of stone in the Early English style, with chancel, nave, north aisle, added in 1876, and bell turret with 1 bell. The register dates from the year 1710. The living is a rectory, gross yearly income £100, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester, and held since 1881 by the Rev. George Vallis Garland M.A of Trinity College, Cambridge. The Wesleyans have a chapel here. A cemetery containing about an acre, with mortuary chapel, was formed in 1856; the land was presented by John Fleming esq.: it is under the control of a burial board of 9 members. In this parish are the ruins of Quarr Abbey, founded in 1132 by Baldwin de Redvers, afterwards Earl of Devonshire: a farm house and outbuildings have been built out of the remains and on the site of the ancient abbey; at its eastern portion the ruins of a building exist, presenting a window, three arches and a doorway: a barn has been made out of what once was the refectory. Quarr Abbey House, the seat of Lady Cochrane, is a handsome stone building. The trustees of John Fleming esq. are lords of the manor and chief landowners. The soil is loam and clay: subsoil, clay and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, beans and oats. The area is 1,206 acres of land and 236 of water and foreshore; rateable value, £4,356; the population in 1881 was 813.

[Description(s) from Kelly's Directory of the Isle of Wight (1886)]