Newport (town, Isle of Wight)

Newport (town, Isle of Wight), county town of the Isle of Wight. Newport lies in the centre of the island, at the head of the estuary of the River Medina and about 5 km (3 mi) south of its mouth into the Solent at Cowes. Newport is the administrative centre of the island; the town has a Crown Court, St Mary's district hospital, and Isle of Wight College. Newport has been the island's agricultural market and commercial focus since Saxon times. Newport's river docks now serve pleasure craft, and the town is a base for tourists. Newport may have been the Roman settlement of Medina, and a Roman fort originally stood on the site of Carisbrooke Castle on the outskirts of the town. Charles I was imprisoned at Carisbrooke Castle between November 1647 and October 1648, before his trial and execution in London. His daughter Elizabeth died a prisoner in the castle in 1650. Parkhurst, a top-security prison, is situated on the edge of Newport. Population (1991) 25,033.