Island Life Magazine Ltd December/January 2018 | Page 52

Local history
A Victorian
Christmas
By Julia Courtney
It might sound just like
an unusual name for a
traditional village pub
– but in fact, The Three
Bishops Inn in Brighstone
commemorates three
Rectors of the parish
who went on to become
Bishops in the Church of
England.
They were the 17th century hymn
writer Thomas Ken; Samuel
Wilberforce, son of famous anti-
slavery campaigner William
Wilberforce, and George
Moberly, later Bishop of
Salisbury.
Before coming
to Brighstone,
Moberly was
a successful
and influential
Headmaster
of Winchester
College and
during his years
there, he and
his wife Mary
Anne produced
a truly Victorian
family of 15
children. But in
1867, at the age
of 63 he decided it
was time to move on,
and accepted the living
of Brighstone. Although by
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now several of his children had
careers or spouses and sadly one
daughter had died as a young
adult, a substantial number of the
Moberlys remained to settle in the
Brighstone Rectory: as daughter
Annie noted, ‘Our crowd is a great
excitement to the village’.
Although the people of
Brighstone were mainly ‘Dissenters’
- that is, chapel-goers, rather than
members of the Church of England
- they were nevertheless friendly
and welcoming.
To the newcomers from the
mainland, Brighstone was strange
territory, a lonely village lying
on a wild, dangerous stretch of
coast avoided by shipping, and
with only the occasional ocean
steamer visible on the horizon.
But there were compensations.
In September 1867, the family
admired ‘a most glorious sunset
over the sea. The colouring was
magnificent, and a long golden
glistering path of glory lay on
the sea, with St Alban’s Head just
visible in a bright mysterious haze.
The pools in the rocks and the
sands had turned crimson and
purple’.
Also they were enchanted
by ‘the Isle of Wight
luxuriance of flowers’,
including a nine
foot-high fuchsia
tree and ‘myrtles
[which] climb to
the top of the
house.’ They
learned that it
was a tradition
for the Rector
to burn a
myrtle log every
Christmas.
The Christmas
holidays of
1867 brought an
additional 12 family
members as visitors
to the Rectory, causing
Mary Anne Moberly to
declare “the house must