Newtown, Hampshire

Description
Newtown, a former borough and an ecclesiastical parish in the Isle of Wight. The town, which is very ancient, stands on a creek of its own name, 1 mile S by W of the Solent, and 4 1/2 miles E of Yarmouth ; was originally called Francheville; belonged anciently to the Bishops of Winchester; received from Aymer, half-brother of Henry III., a charter which was confirmed by several kings ; passed to the Crown in the time of Edward I.; was destroyed by The Danes in 1001, and by the French in 1377 ; was rebuilt after the latter date under the name of Newtown ; never re-acquired its previous importance in consequence of its trade having been attracted mainly to Newport; retained sufficient importance in 1585 to be then invested with the privilege of sending two members to Parliament; continued to send them till the passing of the Reform Act in 1832, when it was disfranchised ; fell gradually and continuously, notwithstanding its borough character, into a state of decadence; is now so reduced as to comprise only a way-side inn, a small church, a town-hall of 1699, a farmhouse, and some cottages; and presents memorials of its former greatness in the names of houseless lanes at and near it, as Higli Street, Gold Street, Kay Street, Drapers Alley, &c. Population of ecclesiastical parish, 328. The living is a vicarage, united with Porchfield, in the diocese of Winchester, gross value, £145 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1837, incorporates a fragment of a previous old church, and is a high-shouldered building in the Early English style. Several large salterns are on the shores of the creek below the church. A good harbour is in the creek's mouth.