Yarbridge Battery (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Brading.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Isle of Wight.
1974 county of Isle of Wight.
Medieval County of Hampshire, Isle of Wight.

OS Map Grid Reference: SZ604863
Latitude 50.67358° Longitude -1.14560°

Yarbridge Battery has been described as a probable Artillery Fort.

There are no visible remains.

Description

In the Cowdry engraving entitled "The Encampment of the English Forces near Portsmouth", a gun battery is visible at Yarbridge covering the causeway that gives access to the Bembridge peninsula. Armed men are shown with two guns behind two ramparts that are arranged to form a wide salient angle. Towards Sandown, at Morton, there is a timber peel or circular wooden stockade, again containing armed militia. There is no reason to doubt the truth of these two features as other fortifications have been included accurately in the engraving. Today there is a conspicuous flat topped ridge of hard Upper Greensand stone to the south of the The Mall where it descends to the crossroads traffic lights at Yarbridge. This can be explained as a natural feature, where the road has caused erosion on the north side to form a small gorge. However, it would also give a vantage point for a gun battery allowing a certain amount of elevation over the causeway. (Martin 2006)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Rob Martin, 2006, Minor Fortifications of the Isle of Wight
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- BL Royal MS. 18. D.III, f.18 British Library reference

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Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
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