Clatterford, Isle of Wight

Clatterford
Village
The ford at Clatterford
Clatterford
Clatterford
Location within the United Kingdom
OS grid referenceSZ4810187794
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNEWPORT
Postcode districtPO30
Dialling code01983
UK Parliament

Clatterford is a small village bordering Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight. It is located in the civil parish of Newport and Carisbrooke,[1] and the ward of Carisbrooke and Gunville.[2] It was the site of the Island's only paper mill, which ran in the 18th century.[3]

Name

The name means 'the ford with loose stones or pebbles, loose-stone ford', from Old English clater and ford. The ford was across Lukely Brook, a tributary of the River Medina.[4][5]

  • ~1150: Claterford
  • ~1200: Clatreford
  • 1289: Claterford
  • 1331: Clateruorde
  • 1708: Clatterford[4]

History

Big foundations of Roman masonry have been found there, with traces of a Roman road.[6]

There is a Roman villa in the village.[7]

There are 9 listed buildings in Clatterford.[8]

Paper mill

The Isle of Wight's only paper mill was established in Clatterford in 1710, probably by Isaac Tipps, a papermaker from Carisbrooke. It was in an area known as Rack Close, near to Froglands Farm. The earliest reference to the mill is in The Deliniator of the Isle of Wight, by James Clarke, 1829:[3]

In the beginning of the last century, when the emigrations from the Palatinate to America were so in general, a paper-maker, who was one of the emigrants, came to the Island, and erected a small mill, near Clatterford, in the year 1710, for the manufacture of paper. The speculation, however, did not succeed, and in few years it was abandoned. Vestiges of the mill, pond, ? are still remaining, and the house is known to this day by the name of paper-mill.

On 22 April 1711, Isaac Tipps was recorded as Palantine, an 18th century term for a German immigrant, and married to Christian Rutter.[3]

There are no traces of the mill. A survey found that there were structural remains in the stream, but were of a later date of the mill. There is also evidence of a fulling mill on the site of the mill in the early 17th century. In 1618 it was described as "decayed". The last record was in 1708.[3]

The water source for washing the paper was required to be "pure" (no leaves, weed or particles of sand and silt). Three springs were used.[3]

The quantity would have been around 1 to 2 tons per year.[3]

In 1832, the Hampshire Telegraph reported a cottage burning down on the grounds of the mill:[3]

On Sunday last, about three in the afternoon, a cottage, called Paper Mills, occupied by a poor widow and her family, at Clatterford, was observed to be on fire entirely destroyed.

References

  1. ^ "Newport and Carisbrooke (Isle of Wight) parish map - SWC". Saturday Walkers Club. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
  2. ^ Club, Saturday Walkers. "Carisbrooke & Gunville (Isle of Wight) ward map - SWC". Saturday Walkers Club. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "18th century Paper Mill on the Isle of Wight". www.iwhistory.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
  4. ^ a b Mills, A.D (1996). The Place-Names of The Isle of Wight. Shaun Tyas. ISBN 9781900289009.
  5. ^ "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  6. ^ "History of Clatterford, in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire | Map and description". A Vision of Britain through Time. 2026-02-10.
  7. ^ "Clatterford Roman Villa, Newport and Carisbrooke - 1009390 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  8. ^ "Map Search | Search the List: Map Search | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-02-10.

50°40′48″N 1°19′12″W / 50.68000°N 1.32000°W / 50.68000; -1.32000