Cowplain memories
Here are memories of Cowplain and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Cowplain or a Cowplain photo.
1st School
My first school around 1969, 5 years old.
I still remember there being railway sleepers in the play ground, and we each had a hook to hang coats and PE bags on, mine was a rabbit.
Lucky for me my nan lived very close so I used to go there for dinner and didn't have to eat school dinners.
A good friend Andrew Gent started school with me, we were in the same class all through infant and junior school and also went to Hartplain senior together, I have not seen or heard of him since can anyone help?
The Tram Shed Cowplain 1960
We used to meet outside the old tram shed where Waitrose is now, Can anyone remember the company who owned it?
SPOTTED COW
My grandmother lived in Idsworth Road. When I was a small boy we used to drive down from Scotland for summer and Christmas holidays. Seeing the pub sign was a cause of great excitement for a 4 year old because it meant we were nearly there.
At that time Idsworth Road was not tarmacced and the surface was very rough. My dad used to sit me on his knees and let me steer the car round the potholes.
Cowplain Shops
Like David, I remember Carters' Sweet Shop. I was a regular customer in the early to mid 1970s, when I attended Padnell Infants and then Padnell Junior School. Mr Carter handed it over to his daughter, who I think was called Alison, but the shop eventually closed in the early 1980s.
I also remember the fishmongers van which used to park once a week on the corner of Kings Road in front of what I think was then the Post Office.
And there was a toy/model shop, which later became Coxons Gift Shop, a couple of shops to the left of Pinks in the photo. My brother used to buy his football stickers in there (in the days when they weren't even sticky; you had to glue them in!). And was there a toy shop on the corner of Durley Avenue (near Carters) at some point?
Like Robert I cannot remember there ever being plants in the plant pots. They much have gone by the early 1970s.
Cowplain in The Early 1960's
I lived as a toddler in Kings Road, Cowplain, between 1958 and 1963, in the days when it was a cul-de-sac. These photographs really bring back memories. If I'm not mistaken, the small building on the right of the Spotted Cow was a doctor's or dentist's surgery - I remember trembling there waiting to get injections as a 5 year old.
One shop on the main road I remember was a sweet shop near the corner of Durley Avenue (?) - I believe the owner was a Mr Carter and the shop may have been named after him.
One memory of Kings Road was the ice cream van that came around every afternoon. A small cone cost 4d, a large cone was 7d and on special days you could get a 99 cone for 9d. Between 2p and 4p in today's money! I used to walk to school to Cowplain Infants School on Hartplain Avenue, along with most other kids, in a stream that... Read more
Cowplain in 1958
I lived in Cowplain until 1963 and have just written a book set in Cowplain in 1958. Although it's an adventure story for young readers it is set accurately in the village at that time and will appeal to older readers who remember the village as it used to be. I would love to share memories of the village since I am writing another book, also set in the village at that time. See 'The Padnell Prowler' at Lulu.com
Past Owner
My great grandfather, Henry Waight bought this pub when he retired from the Royal Navy. He ran it until he died in 1927. Two of his sons, Sid and Frank helped out behind the bar. He also owned three shops opposite. I'd love to see any older photos of it.
Phone Box
I was born in Kings Road in 1964, and have fond memories of Cowplain.
My parents still live there but I have moved to the other side of the world (New Zealand).
The phone box in the picture was used to phone would be girlfriends, as the home phone was not very private, many a 2p coin was lost in there.
I don't remember the concrete plant pots having plants in they were filled with concrete at some stage.
I do remember Martins newsagents just past Pinks in the photo and then a Bank on the corner of Kings Road.
Its great to see the photos, I wish I could jump in and revisit good OLD Cowplain.
Nursery School in Cowplain
I remember going to a nursery school when I was 4 years old, it was run from a house, I think, in Springvale Road in Cowplain and the teacher was a Mrs Gartner or Gardener, I'm not sure. If anyone went to that nursery school could they let me know. Then I went to Padnell Road infants school when I was 5. I now live in Australia so I am keen to get some information from someone else from that era. My name is Deborah Pavy
Memories of Hampshire
Baptist Church
The building with a clock tower on the right was the old Baptist church. It was knocked down in the early 1960s in order to widen the road (which was of course the main Portsmouth to London road in those days) and was replaced by the modern baptist church about half a mile further north along London Road (between Avondale Road and Billet Ave).
The Heroes
This is the original Heroes pub (double-fronted building on left of photo), named after the soldiers returning from the battle of Waterloo who set up camp at Waterloo having marched from Portsmouth docks on their way to London. It was near the junction with Hambledon Road and this photo is looking north. When the pub was knocked down, its replacement was build about 300 yards further north. Must have been round about 1960?
End of an Era
The Heroes is boarded up and for sale in this photo. I suspect it was demolished soon after. Every one of the buildings in this photo was demolished in the 1960s to be replaced by the soulless Wellington Way arcade and adjacent shops.
The 1960s
All these gleaming new box-like buildings had replaced the lovely Victorian and Georgian architecture seen in some of the slightly older pictures here. Ironically, Woolworths, seen here on the right, is the only one of these founding tenants to have remained in the same building ever since .... until this week!
Grace And Bernard Larking
I am trying to find out exactly where in Denmead my great uncle and aunt lived from the forties to the seventies. The wooden bungalow was called Forest View and had a very large garden. They kept bees and every year when the honey had been bottled they had a party always referrd to " the bee do". Does anyone remember them?
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