The Square

A Memory of Nether Wallop.

I was the village policeman, 1986-1991. I used to stand on the bridge in the photograph on the days of a wedding to ensure the newly-weds could get out onto the main road without waiting, and to help guests leave 'in convoy' where necessary so as to follow each other to the reception. Weddings often attracted guests 'from the city' who would invariably still be driving around an hour later, having got lost 'in the country'!

On a sadder note, I would do the same on the occasion of a funeral at St Andrews to allow the chief mourners to be on their way without any hold-up.

Each year, the square was the scene of the church bazaar, I would invariably look after the bric-a-brac stall, the leftovers I'd take back to the beat house for collection by the dustmen. They must have wondered why I cleared out an entire attic every year.....

Nether Wallop was used as the location for Miss Marple’s home village of St Mary Mead in the BBC TV adaptations of Agatha Christie’s crime novels in the 1980s and 90s that featured Joan Hickson as the eponymous amateur detective. The arrival of the 'Miss Marple' BBC crew saw the Square adorned with a glass-fibre Butter Cross. Times were that the old red telephone box was a contemporary scene filler, but when it was spirited away and replaced by a yellow monstrosity it had to be disguised.

I made the glass-fronted parish notice board fixed to the wall of the village hall that would be directly behind the photographer, arranged and approved by Fred Mouland, then Chair of the PC.

Memories!