BONCHURCH.
Formerly this was one of the most romantic scenes in the island, but has lately been converted into a fashionable village. Amidst a profusion of new houses, more or less tasty in their style—a villa, called EAST DENE, and the neighbouring old CHURCH, are all that will here particularly call the stranger from the carriage-road.
In the year 1834, this beautiful spot was advertised to be sold off in small lots for building 18 or 20 villas!—a circumstance much regretted by the admirers of the peculiar scenery of the Undercliff, which was exhibited here in its utmost perfection. Nearly the whole of the land is now disposed of; some of the houses were built for the purpose of letting lodgings; one has been opened as a first-rate Hotel; but the greater number are private residences,—and certainly it must prove a most enviable retreat for families or invalids during the winter months. It is impossible for any spot to be better adapted for a number of houses being built in a comparatively small compass: for the whole of the ground is so romantically tossed about by the sportive hand of Nature,—presenting here a lofty ridge of rocks, there a woody dell adorned with a purling stream or a limpid pool, that most of the houses are completely hid from each other's view.
From the bad taste which too generally prevails—we mean the vanity of glare—the affectation of elegance,—so frequently carried out at the expense of all propriety, we were not without apprehension that many of the gentry at Bonchurch would also neglect the essential rule, that the peculiar character of every scene demands an APPROPRIATE STYLE in building and decoration; for it avails little to have ivy-mantled rocks and mossy cliffs, the sunny knoll and the shady glen, with their groves and streams,—if the Genius of the spot be not consulted, and HARMONY made the rule of every innovation and improvement. In a word, it is too often in building as in dress, that many persons resort to show and refinement as the surest means of attracting the world's admiration for their superior taste and rank! But in justice to the Gentlemen who have located in this fairy-land, we must acknowledge that they for the most part avoided (as far as was possible), disturbing the natural beauties of the place, and have studied to make their happy retreats ...
"Smile with charms
Congenial To the Soil, and all its own:
For Ornament
When foreign or fantastic, never charmed."
The most delightful residence at Bonchurch is called East Dene: the beauty of its locality is unrivaled; the exterior of the house in a chaste style; and the interior fitted-up and furnished at a great expense in the antique mode of the 16th century.
THE PARISH CHURCH OF BONCHURCH ISLE OF WIGHT
The Tourist should certainly visit the old Church, which stands near the shore, and not far from the road, though concealed from it by a lofty ridge of the fallen cliff: it is of simple construction, but beautifully canopied by a grove of magnificent elms, and is supposed to have been built in the 11th century,—which is taken as a proof that this part of the Undercliff was certainly in a state of repose at the time of its erection; and has undoubtedly remained so ever since. Still, we cannot question for a moment, but this spot must have been in some previous age (judging from analogy,) subjected to the same catastrophes which we have witnessed even in our own time in its immediate neighbourhood at East End. There is also a new Church, of a neat design, beautifully nestled amongst the rocks in the higher part of the village.
As Rock, in this part of the island, constitutes the chief source of picturesque effect, it would be an omission not to point out two crags which have gained quite a celebrity for their age and beauty: the first is Hadfield's Look-out, boldly rising from the road; the other a prominence in the face of the upper range of precipices, called the Pulpit Rock: the former has generally the appendage of a flag-staff,—the latter a rude cross, in unison with its name.
The road through the valley of Bonchurch presents a most enchanting scene: shaded by noble trees; and edged by bold rocky knolls,—and a small pellucid lake and stream, beyond which appears a romantic tract of broken ground and wild brushwood, backed by the venerable grey land-cliff and the lofty brow of St. Boniface Down. On emerging from this beautiful spot, we have on our right a genteel residence called ST. BONIFACE HOUSE, situated close at the foot of the high down which gives the name; built in a very chaste rural style; and embellished by some noble trees, and a sparkling rill.
We now open a general view of the fast-improving town of ...