Lift the Lid Logo small

< Previous

Next >

Participating groups include: Freshwater and Totland Archive Group, Dark Wight Skies, Vectis Astronomical Society, Totland Parish Council, Island Planetarium, The Hooke Society, AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), Dimbola Museum and Gallery. 

Special thanks to: Jan Cave, Gareth Wyre, John Howe, Helen Wood, Hilary Benns, David Filby, Vince Fennell, Steve Blamire, Helen Gibbs, Alan Benns, Caroline Dudley, Janet Haire, Liz Wason, Tony Isaacs, Paul Bingham, Mike Kelleway, Brian Curd, Roger Dace, Mark Handle, Michael Blanford, Richard Grogan, Paul England, Rosemary Stanley, Richard Smout, Linda Scurr.

Click images to see them full screen

Totland and Freshwater Archive Group
A beacon had been on The Tennyson Downs since the 14th century that had formed part of a communication network across the country in the event of an invasion. This half-size replica was installed in 1977.
The first lighthouse was built on the cliff top in 1785. However its position meant it was often obscured by fog.
A larger lighthouse of white granite was built on the outermost stack of The Needles and lit for the first time on 1st January 1859.
The lighthouse was automated in 1994. Today the light is produced by three small LED bulbs.
Rosemary Stanley
‘I’ve been researching my family history and I found an ancestor called Thomas Colrein who was a lighthouse keeper at the old Needles Lighthouse until 1832. He died in suspicious circumstances, either pushed or thrown off the edge of the cliff. At the time lighthouse keepers would often be excise men as well.’
Dimbola Museum and Gallery, home of Julia Margaret Cameron
Photography comes from the Greek: light writing.
Camerons great-niece described her ’dressed in dark clothes, stained with chemicals from her photography, (and smelling of them too)’. In her studio ‘where family and friends and even tourist were liable to find themselves . . . posing as Geraint, or Enid, Launcelot, or Guinevere...”
Gelatin Dry Plate Camera.
Brian Curd - Vectis Astronomical Society
The Isle of Wight Observatory
An application for Dark Sky Park status for the South West corner of The Isle of Wight was made in 2019 by AONB (area of outstanding natural beauty), CPRE (Council for the protection of rural England), VAS (Vectis Astronomical Society)
Totland Parish Council
Plans for a community mosaic project.
Totland Parish Hall
Vince Fennell
The lifeboat station was in use from 1885 - 1924.
Liz Wason
’My husband’s aunt bought the lifeboat house in 1926 and it has been the most wonderful thing to share and have the use of. ’
‘Built in 1870 with money raised by the local Sunday school children . . . it had a slipway going down to the water’
‘In 1915 the station was equipped with the Island’s first steam lifeboat’
‘I remember the look on my husband face when we organised a surprise 60th birthday party for him at the lifeboat house . . . . and the sound of voices singing happy birthday echoing all around the cliff top’
’The light on the sea is beautiful . . . sometimes you can see the mainland … We often watch the rain as it travels from Swanage to Bournemouth to New Milton, but it doesn’t reach us.’
The name Totland is derived from tout land meaning: look out.
Paul Bingham - Isle of Wight Natural History and Archaeological Society
‘Local man John Dover measured the weather on the Island for over 40 years using the Met Office standard systems and equipment of the day’.
‘Dover measured sunlight with a Campbell Stokes recorder set up on the roof of his house in Totland’.
‘He measured rainfall with a rain gauge and temperature with thermometers set inside a Stevenson screen’
‘ . . . and an Anemometer to measure wind speed.’
Mike Kelleway
‘I grew up around here so I was aware of the rocket testing site from being a very young lad. I began work at the site in 1968, which was after the development the Black Knight programme and at the start of the Black Arrow’
The Black Arrow was a three stage satellite vehicle with Prospero sitting on the top. I was responsible for the calibration of all the equipment.’
‘It was a very remote place to work and sometimes the weather, especially in winter, was terrible. There was no real secrecy about the place being a rocket testing site but we were a small team, a close knit community. We all used to meet in ‘The Broadway’ down the road here. At the time the technology we had was pretty much up with everyone else . . ‘
The Prospero satellite was designed to study the effects of space environment on communication satellites. It was launched in 1971 and operational until 1973. Annual contact was stopped in 1998, but radio transmissions from Prospero could still be heard on 137.560 MHz in 2004.
Due to the condition of the chalk strata an underpinning project started in April 2010 to stop the lighthouse falling into the sea
Before automation in 1994 the lighthouse was staffed by a three man crew operating a 24-hour watch, serving one month on and one month off.
Tony Isaacs
Boatman, Needles Complex manager, lighthouse milk delivery, ferrying for the needs of the lighthouse, tourist trips . . .
... badminton player, diver, tea maker…
Paul England - Island Planetarium
’The earth is rotating on its axis and it’s that rotation that gives us the movement of the night sky.
‘Cassiopeia and Cepheus on one side and The Plough on the other, turning around The Pole Star.’
‘We go around the sun about 1 degree each day and that means the stars are drifting westwards through the year, at about: 4 minutes a night, half an hour a week, 2 hours a month. In 12 months it makes 24 hours. The arrangement of stars we see in the sky tonight will be the same that we will see in 12 months’ time.’
’As we move towards summer we begin to see the Milky Way. We can see patterns like the Swan or the Northern Cross, Quilla the Eagle and Lyra the Harp. The stars Vega, Deneb and Altair make up The Summer Triangle in the night sky.’
Roger Dace - The Hooke Society
‘Robert Hooke was born in Freshwater, Isle of Wight in 1635. He became Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society, London in 1662.’
‘In 1665 he published the book ‘Micrographia’ based on his drawings of fossils, insects and cells using a microscope.’
‘Hooke built and used some of the first telescopes and observed the rotation of Jupiter and Mars for the first time.
His drawings of the Moon’s Hipparchus Craters turned out to be extraordinarily accurate.’
Claire Speight and Kae Carlstedt-Duke
Preparing the letterpress blocks for the poster artwork
Poster for The Great Light and Dark Show

Supported by

Arts Council England
Artswork Logo
Arts Award 2
IW AONB logo