In 1852, Alfred Tennyson left the noise and smoke of town life and rowed across the Solent with his wife and servants to Farringford, his new home, on the Isle of Wight. Another famous Island resident, Queen Victoria, was a fervent admirer of the Poet Laureate's work and made him Baron Tennyson of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, in 1884.

Tennyson grew to love life on the Island and became a prominent member of society during his 40 years at Freshwater, donating land to St. Agnes Church and inviting many famous friends, such as Lewis Carroll and Charles Darwin, to stay with his family. Every day, Tennyson would walk across the down near his home breathing in the sea air that he described as being "worth sixpence a pint".   The down was named for Tennyson and is one of the most significant downland sites in Britain.

After his death in 1892, a Maltese Cross statue was erected on the down where Tennyson would walk, at the highest point 147 metres above sea level. The inscription reads, "In memory of Alfred Lord Tennyson this cross is raised, a beacon to sailors, by the people of Freshwater and other friends in England and America".