Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is about twenty-one kilometres from north to south, and thirty-seven kilometres from east to west. The island is approximately three hundred and seventy-six square kilometres in area.

A range of high chalk cliffs runs from east to west across the centre of the island, broken in the centre by the Medina, a river flowing due north. In the eighteenth century, the island north of the central chalk range was well wooded and a source of ship's timber for the Royal Navy. The island's cleared regions were used for sheep grazing and much of the population fishing. The Solent was a rich source of marine crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs and prawns.