<P> The Isle of Wight (/ waɪt /; also referred to informally as The Island or abbreviated to IOW) is a county and the largest and second-most populous island in England . It is in the English Channel, about 2 miles (3.2 km) off the coast of Hampshire, separated by the Solent . The island has resorts that have been holiday destinations since Victorian times, and is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland and chines . </P> <P> The island has been home to the poets Swinburne and Tennyson and to Queen Victoria, who built her much - loved summer residence and final home Osborne House at East Cowes . It has a maritime and industrial tradition including boat - building, sail - making, the manufacture of flying boats, the hovercraft, and Britain's space rockets . The island hosts annual music festivals including the Isle of Wight Festival, which in 1970 was the largest rock music event ever held . It has well - conserved wildlife and some of the richest cliffs and quarries for dinosaur fossils in Europe . </P> <P> The Isle was owned by a Norman family until 1293 and was earlier a kingdom in its own right . The island has played an important part in the defence of the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, and been near the front - line of conflicts through the ages, including the Spanish Armada and the Battle of Britain . Rural for most of its history, its Victorian fashionability and the growing affordability of holidays led to significant urban development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries . Historically part of Hampshire, the island became a separate administrative county in 1890 . It continued to share the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire until 1974, when it was made its own ceremonial county . Apart from a shared police force, there is now no administrative link with Hampshire, although a combined local authority with Portsmouth and Southampton was considered, this is now unlikely to proceed . Until 1995 the island had a governor . </P> <P> The quickest public transport link to the mainland is the hovercraft from Ryde to Southsea; three ferry and two catamaran services cross the Solent to Southampton, Lymington and Portsmouth . </P>

When did the isle of wight become a county