National Gazetteer (1868) - Godshill

GODSHILL, (or Appuldercombe) a parish in the liberty of East Medina, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 5 miles S.E. of Newport, its post town. The place is ancient, being noticed prior to the Domesday Survey. The land was part of the demesne of Lyra Abbey, in Normandy, and was the site of a small priory erected here in the reign of Henry III. The parish includes the hamlets of Appuldercombe, Round, Rookley, Sandford, Stenbury, and Wroxall. The first-named was long the seat of the Worsley family, who built the noble mansion now the seat of the Earl of Yarborough. It has four fronts of the Corinthian order, and in the hall are some beautiful Ionic columns of porphyry. It contains a good collection of ancient sculptures and paintings, and is surrounded by an extensive park. The village of Godshill is one of the neatest in the island, and is surrounded with interesting and beautiful scenery.

The living is a vicarage annexed with the chapelry of Whitwell to that of Niton, in the diocese of Winchester. The church is a handsome cruciform structure, dedicated to All Saints. It contains monuments and tombs of the Leigh, Worsley, Fry, and other families, some of which are much defaced, and the inscriptions nearly obliterated. There are almshouses founded by some of the Worsley family, and endowed with £12 a year. The Wesleyans and the Bible Christians have places of worship. There is a grammar school called Andrew's, having an endowment of £2.7 annually, and two National schools.

ROOKLEY-WITH-WEEK, a tything in the parish of Godshill, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 3 miles S.E. of Newport.

ROUD, a tything in the parish of Godshill, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 6 miles S. of Newport.

SANDFORD, a tything in the parish of Godshill, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 5 miles S.E. of Newport.

STENBURY, a tything in the parish of Godshill, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 6 miles S.E. of Newport.

WEEK, a tything in the parish of Godshill, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 2 miles N.W. of Ventnor.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]