Binstead is about two kilometres from Ryde in the northeast of the island and has expanded into a large housing estate that has lost many of its small shops due to the lack of trade. There are two churches here The Methodist and the Holy Cross and also Quarr Abbey.

There is one primary school and two recreational fields and also a public common. The village has some lovely vies of Spithead and is in a lovely part of the island which is known for its stone quarries the stone of which was used in the building of both Winchester and Salisbury cathedrals.

Binstead Church Photographs kindly contributed by Ann Barret, Isle of Wight Ann's Page

The church was built by the Abbot of Quarr and the church has retained its Norman chancel which contains some windows from the 14th century . The old south doorway has been made into a gate to the churchyard and a bearded man is seen sitting on the head of a strange creature is above it.

The graveyard contains the grave to a smuggler which has a scene on it depicting him fleeing the revenue men, but he was shot when he got back to his ship by the officers.

Obviously somebody did not shout "the coast is clear" which is a saying that originated with the smugglers. It meant that the "Coast was clear of Revenue men" and not as some think that it is safe.

Farewell, sweet Binstead! take a fond farewell
From one unused to sight of woods and trees,
Amid the strife of cities doomed to dwell,
Yet roused to ecstasy by scenes like these;
Who could for ever sit beneath thy trees,
Inhaling fragrance from the flowery dell.

Wrote Horace Smith the author of Ode to an Egyptian Mummy in the porch of the church when leaving the island wrote the above.

All that remains of old Quarr Abbey which was consecrated by Henry de Blois in 1132 is a section of a ruined wall by a farmhouse wi th lancet windows and a bellcot near the end of a lane. The new Abbey was built by French monks is 1904 with pure red brik walls and turrets and has a continuous line of arches to the east and west and is the most striking building to be found on the island.