What is "steephill"

Steephill is a hamlet near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, previously the location of a Victorian country estate with a castle-style mansion, Steephill Castle, which was demolished to build bungalows in the 1960s. Steephill itself now forms part of the suburban development westward from Ventnor.

Steephill Cove, on the coast some 400 yards to the south, has several kiosks and self-catering cottages. Fish can be bought beneath a sign which states "Wheeler and Sons; Fishermen since the 1500s". The cove is accessible only on foot; it is about 200 yards from Undercliff Drive, and is on the Isle of Wight Coastal Path directly adjacent to Ventnor Botanic Garden.

Steephill was the location of a country estate since the time of Hans Stanley, governor of the Isle of Wight, who built there in landscaped surroundings a rustic-style house called The Cottage during his first term of office 1764-1768. After his death the estate was purchased by Wilbraham Tollemache. It was his favourite residence until his death in 1821, after which the estate was sold in 1828 to John Hambrough, who built Steephill Castle in 1835 on the site of The Cottage.

Its next owner was John Morgan Richards, an American businessman who bought it in 1903. His daughter, the novelist Pearl Mary Teresa Craigie (pseudonym " John Oliver Hobbes") lived near the Castle from 1900–1906, writing a number of her works there.

The Castle was auctioned after Richards' death after World War I. It then saw service as a hotel with the Holiday Friendship Association (with a period as a school during World War II) until 1959, when upkeep and fire safety issues made this use increasingly unviable. Unused, its condition deteriorated thereafter, until a demolition order was obtained in 1963.

Steephill is a historic home located at Staunton, Virginia. It was built in 1877-1878 in the Gothic Revival style, and remodeled in 1926-1927 in the Georgian Revival style. The central portion of the house (the "original" house) is a 2 1/2-story, three bay, brick structure slightly recessed from the wings. The central section has a standing-seam metal gable roof with three gabled dormers. Flanking the central block are two, two-story wings.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.