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Havant
Havant maps
Historic maps of Havant and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Havant maps
Havant area books
Displaying 1 of 22 books about Havant and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Havant
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Havant.
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St. Faiths
I was christened in this church in 1959. I was 13. I was a member of the church youth club that used to meet in the church hall in The Pallant every week. We played snooker, & table tennis, together with running a Sunday league football team. The guiding light then was the Rev. David Slater, who also played in our team with us, despite the need to wear spectacles at all times.
I remember the beautiful church, and I remember being allowed to take a brass rubbing, of a figure to the left of the altar, which I was able to proudly show my teacher at Purbrook Co. High School. This was probably in 1960.
I have very happy memories of the church, not least some of the great sermons, and not least, after Sunday morning communion service, when many people gathered at the Church Hall for a cup of tea and a hot buttered bun.
Wartime Havant
Preston Watson was the wine and spirit merchants of the town. The premises consisted of a fine three-storey house with shop, a large coach house and two or three other houses on both sides of The Pallant that were used for mineral water production, bottling and storage. One of my favorite memories is helping to bottle and label cider, taken from large hogsheads. In recent years these premises were demolished and the modern Waitrose super market stands where the old house and shop were. During the war, the firm was allowed to retain its Morris Commercal lorry for deliveries. Accompanying Mr Jack Shoesmith, the proprieter, and his sons on these runs all over the south Hampshire area was one of the pleasures I looked forward to.
School Days in War-Time Havant
In the early 1940s I went to Manor House School. It was run by Dr and Mrs Wallace, and occupied the former Rectory in South Street (the site is now covered by a housing estate and the motorway to Portsmouth). Some of the names I remember at school were Sam Butt, Ray Tribe, Dinkie Bartholamew, Lewis Strong, R? Conyers (all more senior to me), Thelma Bugg, Jennifer England, John and Stuart Shoesmith, the Brown sisters (Janet and Mary), the Al Arabi brothers, Martin Beeston, John Wilson, Nick Stokes and Denise Wilkinson. Fr Williams was one of the best teachers I have ever had: absolutely inspiring. Madame Worrell, the doughty French Mistress, was a familiar sight around town riding her massive tricycle. You didn't argue with Madame Worrell. During this time the area around Havant and Hayling Island experienced frequent attacks from the Luftwaffe (bombers and flying bombs) and many a night I spent sheltering in the cellar of our home at 31 East St listening to the sounds of screaming... Read more
Hampshire memories
The Watermeadows of Warblington
Just to the southeast of St Thomas a Becket church there are some lovely watermeadows reaching almost to the sea shore. A small beck, or stream, runs N-S down one side. One summer's day in 1942 or 43, I went on a picnic there with the Shoesmith family of North Streey, Havant. The sun shone, the larks sang high in the cloudless sky. It was one of those unforgettable magic days of childhood, when everything was fresh and perfect, and the war was half forgotten. With my companions, John, Stuart and Angela Shoesmith, I played in the stream while Mr Jack and Evelyne Shoesmith made our picnic tea, seated on rugs on the lush grass. Somehow, one of us found a baby animal, which we assumed was an otter. It seemed quite friendly, and we took it into the water, thinking it would be in its element. But it didn't seem very keen, and Jack Shoesmith gently took it from us and released it back into the wild whence it... Read more
Farlington The War Years
We moved to Farlington after being bombed out of Stanley Avenue in Portsmouth.
My first school was Bedhampton where most of the lessons were in the Airaid Shelter! I then went on to Manor House School at Havant where I stayed until the death of Mrs Wallace and the closure of the school.My education was completed at Havant Secondary School which I left in 1953.
I have many wartime memories of Farlington,seeing the Gliders going out for the Normandy landings,sitting on the front doorstep watching the battle of Britain with a sky full of vapour trails,the trains going past loaded with Tanks and Guns and the American Servicemen parked up on the A27 in their tanks,trucks and jeeps waiting
to go to Normandy.
My brother died of pneumonia aged 4years and is buried at St.Andrews Church,also my sister was married at the same church.
Rowlands Castle Brickworks
Rowlands Castle Brickworks originally established during the 1880’s, and must have been the biggest employer at the time, next to agriculture. Not all the workforce came form Rowlands Castle, but from local villages in the surrounding area, the site itself was a large sprawling layout, the clay pits took up most of the land. During its hay day as many one hundred people were working there, the work would have been hard manual labour, before electrification that relieved some of the hard work; there is evidence pottery production in the area going back to the Romano-British period.
Most of our family had work at the brickyard in the past; there was factory work in the local towns which of course these paid more. My Uncle Frank and Geoff were there along with my cousin Dave Jacobs, my Uncle Douglas also worked there for a short time driving the Lorries. Dad worked there as lad, before joining the Navy. One of his first jobs was barrowing coal from the wagons... Read more
North Street, Emsworth And The Silver Family.
I was born into the Silver family at Palmer Cottage, 25 North St in 1928 and attended the Council School and then Manor House School Havant in the mid 40s until joining the Grenadier Guards in 1946. I was the Drum Major of the local Army Cadet Force serving with "Crusher" Crosby, Phil Collins (Westbourn), Ray Tribe (Bear Hotel Havant). Old council School pals: Nobby Wooden, Fred Heath, Eric Marshal, John and Roger Silver, John and Joyce Windybank and at Manor House, Ann Williams, Dinkie Bartholamew, Ray Tribe, Dave Hewitt (Waterlooville), Chum Cheeseman and Angels Eames nee Silver both of whom are my cousins and just missed one of Harry Stroud's daughters!!!!! Believe 25 North St is now a hairdresser's but part of the stables and cartsheds are still there. Oh yes, I was a choirboy for some years, Frank Wren the master, Bawtry Williams the organist and the Curate was the Rev King and the vicar Glenn. Some other choirboys were 2 x Priors, 2 x Eames and Markwick... Read more
