Isle of Wight seaside resorts and how esplanades became built

One of the main features of our seaside holiday resorts is the esplanade. It is interesting to see how these came to be built.

Fishing villages came before holidays were even thought of. The fishermen would pull their boats up to their seaside cottage wall. The Brannon engravings show this at Shanklin, Sandown and Ventnor in the 1820s.

Soon newer houses to accommodate visitors were built with their gardens reaching down to the sea. There would be a wall and gate onto the shingle and sand.

Sandown 1858 (Image: Brannon / IW Society)

Steephill Cove still looked like this until recently. Walls enclosed “boat parks” but the sea was undermining these in 2005, so a rock revetment was provided and the stone walls were raised.

At Ryde, the new pier built in 1814 encouraged visitors. A regular steam vessel service started in 1825.

Shanklin Chine in 1821 (Image: Brannon / IW Society)

Portsmouth was then within easy reach, and some naval officers preferred to make their homes on the Island.

By 1855 there was an Esplanade west of the pier and in 1856 an Esplanade was constructed eastwards almost to Appley.

Gradually the desire to walk along the seafront - to promenade - resulted in other local councils building substantial esplanades.

Ryde Eastern Esplanade 1858 (Image: Brannon / IW Society)

These also gave protection to the land behind them, preventing erosion by the sea.

Sandown and Shanklin had short stretches of sea wall by 1850, but the esplanades followed later, Shanklin Esplanade in the 1880s.

The railway from Ryde reached Shanklin in 1864 and Ventnor two years later.

This gave immediate impetus to the development of the towns and their seafront hotels. The healthy climate of Ventnor had been advertised from 1830.

Ventnor in 1861 (Image: Brannon / IW Society)

At Ventnor the engraver Alfred Brannon was able to show the start of the new esplanade in 1861, but at the same time there were still boats unloading cargoes by horse and cart straight onto the beach.

Not having a railway, East Cowes was late in developing an esplanade.

A small section of land in front of the Barracks was given a sea wall, and promenade, in 1872.

The remainder of the East Cowes esplanade was not completed until 1924, being opened to great acclaim in the County Press 100 years ago.

It was built by the local council to provide employment for the many men out of work in the town at the end of the First World War. The Government had cancelled all their contracts to build ships for the Royal Navy.

The esplanade gives East Cowes a much loved amenity, a tranquil space for enjoyment by all.

Watercolour of Steephill Cove by Newman Smith (Image: Newman Smith)