Steephill

Steephill Castle c 1910

Steephill is a hamlet near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, previously the location of a Victorian country estate with a castle-style mansion, Steephill Castle, which was demolished to build bungalows in the 1960s. Steephill itself now forms part of the suburban development westward from Ventnor.

Steephill Cove, on the coast some 400 yards to the south, has several kiosks and self-catering cottages. Fish can be bought beneath a sign which states "Wheeler and Sons; Fishermen since the 1500s". The cove is accessible only on foot; it is about 200 yards from Undercliff Drive, and is on the Isle of Wight Coastal Path directly adjacent to Ventnor Botanic Garden.

Steephill was the location of a country estate since the time of Hans Stanley, governor of the Isle of Wight, who built there in landscaped surroundings a rustic-style house called The Cottage during his first term of office 1764-1768. After his death the estate was purchased by Wilbraham Tollemache. It was his favourite residence until his death in 1821, after which the estate was sold in 1828 to John Hambrough, who built Steephill Castle in 1835 on the site of The Cottage.^[1]

Its next owner was John Morgan Richards, an American businessman who bought it in 1903. His daughter, the novelist Pearl Mary Teresa Craigie (pseudonym "John Oliver Hobbes") lived near the Castle from 1900–1906, writing a number of her works there.^[1]

The Castle was auctioned after Richards' death after World War I. It then saw service as a hotel with the Holiday Friendship Association (with a period as a school during World War II) until 1959, when upkeep and fire safety issues made this use increasingly unviable. Unused, its condition deteriorated thereafter, until a demolition order was obtained in 1963.^[2]

References

1 2 "Steephill Castle, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, the residence of John Morgan Richards, Esq.; a handbook and a history", John B Marsh, privately published by Dangerfield Printing Company, 1907 (Internet Archive ark:/13960/t6g168955)
↑ "The Forgotten Castle", David Paul, round-the-island.co.uk (originally pub. in Wight Life, August/September 1973 - retrieved from Internet Archive, 10 July 2013)

Settlements on the Isle of Wight

Towns	Brading Cowes East Cowes Newport Ryde Sandown Shanklin Ventnor Yarmouth

Civil parishes	Arreton Bembridge Brighstone Calbourne Chale Fishbourne Freshwater Gatcombe Godshill Gurnard Havenstreet and Ashey Lake Nettlestone and Seaview Newchurch Niton and Whitwell Northwood Rookley Shalfleet Shorwell St Helens Totland Wootton Wroxall

Other villages and hamlets	Adgestone Afton Afton Park Alum Bay Alverstone Alverstone Garden Village Apesdown Apse Heath Barton Bathingbourne Bierley Binfield Binstead Blackgang Blackwater Bonchurch Bouldnor Borthwood Bowcombe Branstone Brook Carisbrooke Chale Green Chessell Chillerton Cranmore Cross Lane Culver Down Downend Easton Egypt Point Elmfield Fairlee Five Houses Foreland Fields Forest Side Freshwater Bay Great Thorness Gunville Hale Common Hamstead Haylands Hillway Horringford Hulverstone Hunny Hill King's Quay Kingston Knighton Limerstone Little Atherfield Little Thorness Littletown Locksgreen Lowtherville Luccombe Marks Corner Mersley Merstone Moortown Morton Mottistone Nettlecombe Newbridge Newtown Ningwood Ninham Niton Undercliff Norton Norton Green Nunwell Oakfield Osborne Parkhurst Pondwell Porchfield Princelett Puckaster Puckpool Quarr Hill Queen's Bower Rew Street Rookley Green Roud Rowridge St Lawrence Sandford Seagrove Bay Shalcombe Shide Staplers Steephill Steyne Cross Thorley Thorley Street Thorncross Totland Bay Upper Ventnor Wellow Westridge Whippingham Whiteley Bank Winford Wootton Bridge Wootton Common Yafford Yarbridge Yaverland

See also	List of places on the Isle of Wight List of civil parishes on the Isle of Wight

Coordinates: 50°35′27″N 1°13′24″W / 50.5907°N 1.2233°W / 50.5907; -1.2233

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