Isle of Wight The oldest records that give a name for the Isle of Wight are from the Roman Empire: it was then called "Vectis" or "Vecta" in Latin, "Iktis" or "Ouiktis" in Greek. From the Anglo-Saxon period Latin "Vecta", Old English "Wiht" and Old Welsh forms "Gueid" and "Guith" are recorded. In Domesday Book it is "Wit"; the modern Welsh name is "Ynys Wyth" ("ynys" = island). These are all variant forms of the same name, possibly Celtic in origin. It may mean "place of the division", because the island divides the two arms of the Solent. The Isle of Wight is
Geology of the Isle of Wight the north of the monoclines the Paleogene sequence is deformed into a gentle syncline, the Bouldnor Syncline. Geology of the Isle of Wight The geology of the Isle of Wight is dominated by sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous and Paleogene age. This sequence was affected by the late stages of the Alpine Orogeny, forming the Isle of Wight monocline, the cause of the steeply-dipping outcrops of the Chalk Group and overlying Paleogene strata seen at The Needles, Alum Bay and Whitecliff Bay. Rocks of Devonian, Triassic and Jurassic age are known to be present in the subsurface of the island from