Newtown Old Town Hall

Today, Newtown Old Town Hall is owned and protected by The National Trust. But it has not always been so fortunate!

Indeed, it has been rebuilt at least once and, were it not for the foresight of the infamous 'Ferguson Gang' in the 1930s, this tiny, historic building would now be in complete ruins.

According to William Page's A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5 (1912), pp. 265-268, the ancient town of Newtown (originally known as Francheville) was once an important borough returning two members of Parliament. Today, however, all that is left as evidence of such time is the tiny town hall.

Built in 1677, it is unusual in that the seaward wall is completely blank with no windows at all (perhaps to protect from prevailing winds). The sheltered, eastern wall, however, has large, arched windows, as shown above.

Note: no windows on the west wall

2010 Opening Hours

The Old Town Hall will be open to the public from 14th March 2010 to 27th October 2010 on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:00pm to 5:00pm (last admission 4:45pm). It will also be open on Good Friday and Easter Saturday. From 4th July to 31st August it will be open Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays - i.e. every day except Friday and Saturday.

Inside the quaint little building you will find a very long, solid oak table around which important meetings would have been held, plus a huge dresser and other ancient pieces of furniture. Copies of important ancient documents are also on display and, on the ground floor, a very interesting exhibition reveals the secrets of the mysterious 'Ferguson Gang' who, 75 years ago, purchased the then ruined town hall, restored it to its former glory, then gave it to the National Trust.

Newtown itself stands on the edge of Newtown Creek, a large, natural harbour surrounded by marshland. The National Trust owns all the land around the Creek, offering it as a nature reserve to the nation.

Newtown Creek at low tide

There are some wonderful walks to be enjoyed here for free .... and don't forget, the fabulous New Inn at Shalfleet is only half a mile away!

Newtown Old Town Hall is just one of several interesting sites on the Isle of Wight that are owned by The National Trust. For details and pictures of others, simply CLICK HERE to return to our National Trust main page.

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SBI!