Yarmouth, Isle of Wight
| Yarmouth | |
|---|---|
 Yarmouth town centre |
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 Yarmouth
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| Yarmouth shown within the Isle of Wight | |
| Population | 865 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SZ356896 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | YARMOUTH |
| Postcode district | PO41 |
| Dialling code | 01983 |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Isle of Wight |
| Ambulance | Isle of Wight |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Yarmouth is a town, port and civil parish in the west of the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England. The town is named for its location at the mouth of the small Western Yar river. The town grew near the river crossing, originally a ferry, which was replaced with a road bridge in 1863.
Yarmouth has been a settlement for over a thousand years, and is one of the earliest on the island. The first account of the settlement is in King Ethelred the Unready's record of the Danegeld tax of 991, when it was called Eremue, meaning "muddy estuary". The Normans laid out the streets on a grid system, a plan which can still be seen today. It grew rapidly, being given its first Charter as a town in 1135. The town became a parliamentary borough in the Middle Ages, and the Yarmouth constituency was represented by two members of Parliament until 1832.
Until the castle was built, raids by the French hurt the town; in 1544 the it was reputed to have been burned down. Legend has it that the church bells were carried off to Cherbourg or Boulogne.
Yarmouth Castle was built in 1547, and is now in the care of English Heritage. It is effectively a gun platform, built by Henry VIII to fortify the Solent and protect island against any attempted invasion of England.
In St. James's Church there is a monument to the 17th-century admiral Sir Robert Holmes who was at Yarmouth. He obtained it in a raid on a French ship, when he seized an unfinished statue of Louis XIV of France and forced the sculptor to finish it with his own head rather than the king's.
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Wikipedia