History of Brading

There is evidence, from skeletal, artifactual and structural remains, that the area of the Isle of Wight currently within the Civil Parish of Brading has been home to humans continuously through Stone, Bronze, Iron Ages and recorded history, right up to the present day. Tumuli, - burial mounds for tribal chieftains - can still be detected, despite heavy agricultural impact, along the ridge of the Downs; and the impressive 1900-year-old remains of the Roman Villa in Morton is still here for all to visit. Brading first gained prominence as one of the principal towns of the Island through its siting at the head of a substantial sheltered harbour whose tidal waters reached as far inland as the rear of the present day Bugle Inn in the High street. Roman vessels plied between South Coast ports and Brading harbour and, later, King Alfred the Great's new-born Navy repelled a Danish Viking invasion fleet off the entrance to the harbour.

Almost a thousand years ago the Normans recorded, in the Domesday Book, their recently acquired possessions in the area of Brading Parish. These included the Manor of Whitefield, which had '3 Mills', Rowborough Farm, old Nunwell, the site of which can be found in Bloodstone Copse, and Brading itself. A few years later, in 1135, the Oglander family had established itself at (old) Nunwell and since then has remained in residence in Brading for nearly 900 years. At about the same time the Church of St Mary the Virgin, now the Parish Church, was built in a form still traceable in the fabric of the present day edifice.

Brading's pre-emininence in the Island was recognised by King Edward I in 1279 when he took a lease on 'Brading, in the Manor of Whitefield' and, six years later, granted 'Ye Kynges Towne of Brerdynge' a Royal Charter to hold a weekly market and an annual Fair. In 1548, King Edward IV granted a new charter to the town to hold a second Fair each year. He also presented the town with the gun, which is currently kept at Nunwell Coach House, to fight the French who frequently tried to establish invasion beach-heads on the Island! One such attempt was famously repelled by the Militiamen of Brading defending Writleston Manor House, together with Hill Farm, on the hill above Carpenters Road to the North of the Town.

Gradually, the harbour silted up and, by 1594, the western extent of the harbour was dammed by the wall which runs from St Urian's Copse, past the end of Wall (Quay) Lane to the rising ground at Carpenters Road. The mud flats to the West of the wall were drained and a sluice was let into the wall to allow the Eastern Yar to flow out to the sea but preventing high tides from re-flooding the drained land. Shallow draft ships continued to enter the modified Brading harbour and tie up alongside the wall or quay at the end of Quay (formally Wall) Lane.

Further attempts in the early 17th century to dam off, drain and claim more land for agriculture failed when the inadequate embankment was breached by tide and storm. No more attempts were made for another two centuries. Meanwhile, the remaining harbour progressively silted up; only shallow draft vessels could come alongside the quay, mainly at high tide, and Brading slipped into steady decline from its position as a busy Island seaport to that of a quiet rural farming community. The only event of national note in Brading over the next two hundred years was that King Charles I gave 'Y e Kynges Towne' to the City of London as security for a loan!

The decline in Brading's fortunes was partly arrested by the coming of the railway and the position of the Town as a junction on the Ryde to Shanklin (and later, Ventnor) line. This junction connected the main line to branch lines to the Cement Works at the quay end of Wall (or Quay) lane, St Helens and finally, in 1881, when the embankment was completed, extended the line from St Helens to Bembridge.
During the last 120 years, Brading has grown in population, together with the necessary dwellings, schools and places of worship, to its present size of some 900 households of over 1900 inhabitants. However, the main employments of its breadwinners now lie outside the parish and in the larger towns of the Island and the adjacent mainland. Many of the essential small shops of previous years; butchers, bakers, greengrocers, fishmongers, ironmongers, outfitters, shoemakers ('cordwainers') etc., have gradually disappeared and the premises given over to supplying the tourist trade or have simply become private dwellings.

Nevertheless, Brading still remains a lively, flourishing community with 'Overners' (Immigrants from off the Island) integrating harmoniously with Island families which stretch back to Domesday and beyond.

The styles of buildings found in and around the Town and Parish of Brading today mainly reflect the fashions of successive decades throughout the last 200 years. The exceptions are those properties of wealthier owners; Nunwell, Writleston, parts of Brading the Experience complex; remains of the Domesday properties such as Rowborough and Whitefield and, of course the Church - are prime examples.