Eversley, Hampshire

The Marlow family of publicans

My great-grandfather was Samuel Marlow and a publican at the time of his marriage in 1897. His father was William Marlow and my family tree research has led me to the White Hart in Eversley Cross where there were two succesive landlords of these names.

I can't help wondering if one of these gents posing in the Francis Frith view of the pub might be one of the Marlow landlords!

Eversley, 1971 - 1983

Dear Jan,

I have found this website quite by chance!

I first moved to Eversley with my family as a child (aged 6) in July 1971. My mother became the sub postmistress and we lived in the purpose build, red brick 5 bedroomed house in The Street (between the White Hart and the river bridge) It was built in 1952 by Mr and Mrs Leversuch. The post office and sorting office formed 2 floors on the ground floor.

Ethel Martin (a real character) had been the postmistress before my mother. Ethel was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Leversuch. I remember meeting the Leversuchs as a child although they were extremely old even then. Ethel and her husband Basil (both no longer with us, alas) moved to Lodge Grove in Yateley where we used to visit them.

The post office (later Riversdale House from 1981) no longer exists. My parents sold it in 1982, 18 months after it to ceased to be a sub post office. It was demolished in 1996/7 and 2 'executive' homes now stand on a plot which was just less than an acre.

As the younger son of a village sub postmistress, I knew a lot of people in the village and have very fond memories (and I good memory) of the many characters and houses in the village.

In recent years, I met Lady Sarah Berry, who until 1980, lived with her husband and children in Warbrook House (now a conference centre) Her husband, a Tory MP, Sir Anthony Berry, was killed in the Brighton bomb attack in 1984.

I could go on for hours with memories of Eversley!

I lived for 18 months until April 1983 at Bakers Farm House, again in The Street although by this time, my parents had moved to Knowl Hill, nr Twyford in Berkshire.

Kind regards

Giles Myhill
gilesmyhill@hotmail.fr

New Inn Eversley/Finchampstead Border

My great grandfather,Henry Berriss was publican of the New Inn (on the Eversley/Finchampstead border) now known as the Tally Ho. I would be very interested to hear from anyone with stories of their family ancestors who stayed at this pub in World War One and who can confirm the regiment based there or any other stories related to this pub.

My father visited a Leversuch family in Eversley

I have no personal memories of Eversley but my father Percy Norman Pearson born 1910, who died 2003, talked fondly of holidays spent in Eversley with an aunt whose surname was Leversuch when he was a child/young man. He was living in Southampton at the time.

I have just started researching my family tree so am intrigued to find out more about Eversley and whether there are any people called Leversuch who might be able to shed any light. I could not find Leversuch as one of our family names though I have just discovered that my great great grandmother's sister Grace Burtt Pain married a James Leversuch. He was born c1807 and I wondered if one of his relatives was the aunt my father referred to.

Anyway this is a long shot but just thought I would try. Many thanks, Jan Pearson

Wokingham and Bracknell Photographic Memories

This picture shows a pond considerably bigger than that which remains today; beyond lies The Lamb public house. Today with a reduced pond and an enlarged green, there exists an excellent cricket pitch, all of which remains in full view of the much larger pub and restaurant now named ‘Le Toad and Stumps’.

Petersfield - A History & Celebration

The cenotaph in the High Street commemorates those who died in battle but whose remains lie elsewhere. It is of unusual and classic appearance; it was designed by the architect Harry Inigo Triggs, who had travelled and studied in Italy. The detailing is borrowed from the eight blank panels in the Medici chapel in Florence; on these panels are carved the names of the town’s dead of the First World War. (Plaques were added after the Second World War commemorating the 54 young men who died on duty away from home during that conflict). After much deliberation over an appropriate location for the town’s memorial, it was erected by the mason Andrew Perryman of Dragon Street in its present position early in 1922 - a position in the Square was discounted. In the wake of the war, under the auspices of the Housing Act of 1919, the country set about building ‘homes fit for heroes’. The first of these were built in Noreuil Road, which was named after a little village of some 100 inhabitants near Arras in France. Petersfield had adopted the village to help with its reconstruction, and a letter thanking the town for gifts of parcels of clothing and coloured wall maps to brighten the schoolroom was signed by J Nicholai, the schoolmistress at Noreuil. The Electricity Supply Act of 1919 gave rise to an application by Dr R J Cross, Mr T A Crawter and Mr C W Seaward, who wanted to form a company to supply electric light to Petersfield. The plan was for a generator on land located to the rear of the Volunteer Arms (now Meon Close), with a frontage on Frenchmans Road. (Note that the company was only to supply electric light, not power). With houses having only 40-watt lamps, it is unlikely that a supply greater than 20 kilowatts would be required. Tom Crawter’s house, Clare Cross, was the first house in Petersfield to be lighted by electricity. Nevertheless, there was enough power to supply the Electric Theatre with the town’s first film shows. The first cinema stood at the corner between Chapel Street and Swan Street - in fact, the demolition of the Swan public house made way for the Electric Theatre. That first cinema was replaced by the Savoy Cinema in 1935, and is now a nightclub.

Petersfield - A History & Celebration

And now to the greatest mystery: who were the people who raised the tumuli or burial mounds on Petersfield Heath during the Bronze Age some 1,000 years after the Stone Age? Today, Petersfield is home to one of the most numerous collections of Bronze Age burial mounds in England. Unfortunately, the planting of conifers on the mounds in Victorian times and the mixed tree growth of the last 50 years has successfully camouflaged the outline of the tumuli and largely hidden them from the casual view (see page 11). To create mounds like this would have required the labour of many people, and they appear to have been built over many years, if not centuries. So where did these people live? Why have they left us no clues to tell us where they came from? Did they come from miles around to bury the ashes of their dead princes here? Were they nomads carrying the remains from a fair distance to a sacred spot or a clearing in the forest? Or is it possible that someone may yet find their habitation site here within the town itself? In all probability we shall never ever know the answer, and the mystery will remain for all time.