The Freemantle Gate

by Rob Marshall.

This imposing gateway marks the edge of the Appledurcombe Estate, for many years the home of one of the Island's great families. For one of these it was the site of a family tragedy.

In the year 1545 when the Mary Rose sank at Spithead a French raiding force was in the offing. Fears of this kind of raid had been expected on the Island for years and seven years earlier in 1538 a new Captain of the Isle of Wight took over. This was Richard Worsely of Appledurcombe who succeeded his father in the post. He began his work as Captain in a thorough manner. He arranged for each parish to have its own canon ( a fawcet of iron or brass) and strengthened the Island militia (Home Guard). Regular practice was to be held to familiarise the force with its weapons.

It would have been expected for him to keep a stock of gunpowder handy at Appledurcombe in case of need and that this stock might from time to time get damp in storage.

One day when an inspection of the gunpowder stock revealed some which had deteriorated he ordered servants to take it to a room close to the Freemantle Gatehouse to dry it off. Unfortunately the adjoining room was being used as a schoolroom for his two sons John and George and the inevitable happened. The drying process went awry, the gunpowder exploded and many of those present, including the two boys perished in the conflagration that followed.