Sometimes it happens that little snippets of interesting local history escapes our notice.
Some may call it useless information, others call it knowledge.
We start with some crude icons carved on the stone of a barn wall. This particular one is of a sailing ship.
It is in fact a sign showing the building is a safe place to stow smuggled contraband.
There are a few of these markings sighted around the village of Brighstone. The village used to be one of the villages in the back of the Wight involved in this pastime.
Another carving on a wall happens to be on the St Agnes thatched church in Freshwater.
This however is definitely not involved with any Holy smuggling antics, but the date on the stone of 1694 marks the date of the house from which the stone was reclaimed upon demolition.
When the church was originally built, people recycled more than we supposed eco-friendly persons do today.
The demolished Freshwater residence from which the stone came had happened to be the once home of Robert Hooke who lived in Freshwater - the well known inventor and scientist and contemporary of Isaac Newton.
Hidden along the inaccessible old Blackgang highway, set into a stone wall, is an old decorative drinking fountain, now slowly in a forgotten and advanced level of decay.
This was originally installed for travellers, compliments of Niton resident Thomas Letts (1803-1873), the stationer who was well known for inventing the famous Letts diary.
A little known story lies behind the doors of a house in Alexandra Gardens in Ventnor. Lavinia Smith and her niece ran a boarding house there.
During the 1940s they concentrated on taking in Jewish students from Germany.
What the Alexandra Gardens lot was doing was getting them out of Germany, in advance of the future Holocaust.
The house in Alexandra Gardens was a present to Lavinia and her niece from Joe Lyons thanking them both for many years of service, for managing his J. Lyons corner house tea rooms.
In the lead up to the Second World War they had agreed with Joe to undertake the task of the undercover rescue of students, in the guise of overseas study all funded by Lyons himself, and also backed by some influential Jewish businessmen.
But many of the students never returned to Germany. Some stayed in England and some went to Switzerland.
Railways nearly always feature in Island history, so we will end with a mention of the first railway to close - the Ventnor west line as it was known.
The railway line from Shanklin to Ventnor upon entering Ventnor station had a long tunnel.
But so did the Ventnor West line, stretching from the outskirts of Whitwell to St Lawrence.
Today the tunnel lies forgotten and hidden from view, deep among overgrown trees and foliage, a reminder of the past grand architecture of the railways.
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