Gunville is a small settlement on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. It largely comprises housing, although there are also a small number of shops, a couple of charity shops, some retail warehouses, a snooker hall, Methodist Church and a fishing lake. The settlement seems to date from some time after 1800, although the vast majority of the buildings currently standing in Gunville date from after 1900.
The village lies south of Forest Road (A3054), joining to the larger settlement of Carisbrooke. It is approximately 1.25 miles (2.01 km) west of Newport and chiefly lies along a one mile (1.6 km) stretch, either side of Gunville Road (B3323). It encompasses Alvington Manor View, The Bramleys, Gunville Crescent, Spring Walk, Pineview Drive, Taylor Road, Gunville West, Chapel Close, Broadwood Lane, Park Close, Forest Hills, Arthur Moody Drive, Ash Lane, Ash Close and The Hollows.
In the past, the centre of the Island was made up of a number of small and distinct villages, such as Newport, Carisbrooke, Gunville, Clatterford, Shide, New Village, Barton's Village, Bellecroft, Pan, Hunny-Hill and Fairlee. As time went on, Newport and Carisbrooke have largely engulfed and absorbed all of these villages except for Gunville, although even for Gunville there have had to be concerted efforts to keep the name alive, with many people preferring to refer to it as a part of Carisbrooke. In 2009, the Council actually replaced the Gunville signs with those of Carisbrooke, taking it off the map completely. However, after complaints from local residents, the Gunville signs were returned.[1]
In fact, the Newport conurbation has become so large, that there is no visible break whatsoever between, Newport, Carisbrooke and Gunville, with the only separation being the old historical boundaries. There has been some argument as to where the dividing line between Carisbrooke and Gunville actually lies. In 2009, a new sign was erected showing that Gunville started at the point where Priory Road becomes Gunville Road, at the junction with School Lane. This was the view held in a Newport Parish Council meeting of 2009.[2] But, most people accept that in the past, the starting point of Gunville was the old railway bridge which allowed trains to run under the road, half a mile further to the North.[3] However, this railway bridge and its track have long been demolished, after the railway itself closed in 1953, leaving nothing to visually separate the two villages (See below). But the Gunville sign has now been moved further north to the junction of Alvington Manor View and Gunville Road, virtually the spot where the old bridge used to be.