Old Bursledon memories
Here are memories of Old Bursledon and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Old Bursledon or a Old Bursledon photo.
Home From 1962-1974
This was my home from approximately 1962 to 1974. My parents ran the shop and the Post Office during this time. The days were very long as they ran the shop during the day and in the evenings they made deliveries to the local villagers. They opened every day of the week with half days on Wednesday and Sunday. The views from the back of the house looked over to the Hamble River and on a clear day you could see the Isle of Wight. It had a large garden.
The Fox And Hounds
This is how I remember "The Fox". I walked past it twice a day from 1966 to 1971 on my way to and from school. I remember the seats outside made from large beer barrels and the licencee's name, J. Taylor?, above the door. I also remember the Lone Barn being constructed from bits of old timber that arrived on lorries. Christine (nee Thompson)
1960s 1970s
My mum cleaned at the Vine for the mid 1960s into the 1970s and we would go with her in the school holidays. I used to stock the shelves with bottles of beer. The draught beer was poured straight from the barrels kept in the celler behind the bar. Billy and Molly Ellis were the publicans.
Choir
I sang in the church choir from about 1970. Douglas Paine and then Harry Wilson were the vicars. Happy memories.
Visits by The Family
I can remember that my family visited the Fox and Hounds frequently earlier than this date, but this was the first date I was legally allowed to partake of the amber fluid. I can remember the old artifacts, like biscuits from the Crimean War that hang from the rafters. Various pottery, clay pipes etc., a marvellous cross section and history of the river Hamble and the area. I was so sad when later in life I had migrated to Australia and subsequently visited in the 1970s and 1980s to see that the artifacts had been removed and quite frankly the whole ambience of the place had changed. It had become commercial. Now I do not blame the owners or the management, it was just a sad reflection on my part of a Britain that was no longer there, of childhood memories and feelings for history which seemed to be had been absorbed into the modern era.
A SPECIAL DAY
I have fond memories of the church as I got married in May 1973. I will never ever forget the beautiful atmosphere inside.
I keep saying I will go back and visit it but I do not know if it still open and being used, can anyone tell me?
Kind regards
PAULEEN
Houseboat ML106 - 1926-36
Between 1926-36 my grandfather's family lived on an ex WW1 motor launch, known as the ML106, which was moored off Bursledon. My aunt recalls that they were the only ML moored mid river between the bridges, certainly in the early days. "We were moored fore and aft and facing down stream. We had 2 pontoons, 2 dinghies and later on a small motor boat that Dad acquired so that we could cruise up and down the river. When we first moved to Bursledon ML106 was moored in what was then Deacons shipyard on the roadside, not between bridges, and then I guess a couple or years later moved between bridges."
As children, my father Nick and his sister Pat used to row ashore daily with their cat Tom to get the papers and milk from the local store, and post letters. One day they left the cat behind ashore by mistake, but cat Tom swam out to the boat unperturbed. ... Read more
Dodwell Lane. Walks Along Dodwell & The River Hamble.
A group of us children would often after church on a Sunday go for a walk home 'the long way'. Yes, walking then was just wonderful. Our trek often took us along the river to the farm, before Ho- moor. We would look at the pigs in the stys and then make our way to the woods of Ho-moor, often detouring through the woods and down by the Ferney's pond. I should mention the stop at the Dowsett House to see the lovely twin girls. Mr Dowsett being the Forrester of Ho-moor would often show us a lovely pheasant or partridge in a coop. These woods were very popular at chestnut time as one could easily fill a shopping bag with large chestnuts and go home and roast them. There were many paths over fields and through woods and of course along the river, we knew them all, it's sad to think a lot of them are now obsolete. One we particularly liked was off Dodwell Lane opposite the... Read more
Old Reading Room, Ploverfield
I think you need to get a bit further back in history to find anything about the Old Reading Room which you describe as "High Trees", Long Lane. In the thirties my parents rented Ploverfield Lodge Cottage which stood at the entrance of the driveway leading to Ploverfield, at that time owned by a family named Oliver. The Reading Room, as I remember it a wooden building with a corrugated roof, was included in the rental and we had it as a playroom. My father who was an expert model maker was repairing a model of an East Indiaman called Rienzi and partitioned off about a third of the hall with a chicken-wire fence for this very large model where he could work in peace. We had the rest - and soon became the most popular kids in the village. Christmas and birthday parties were terrific because we could rampage as much as we liked. The owner of Ploverfield, I think he was a Captain Oliver, died about 1937-8 and... Read more
Old Reading Room
Does anyone have any info or memories of the Old Reading Room at High Trees Long Lane Bursledon ? I cannot find anything about it.
Memories of Hampshire
Swanwick Shore
This shows Swanwick Shore Road about 1 mile away from Sarisbury Green at the bottom of the hill. The road came off the A27 roughly opposite the Red Lion Inn at Lower Swanwick and followed the shore of the River Hamble through Moody's Boatyard. At spring tides, this road was often covered at this point at high tide. My aunt and uncle lived in a houseboat at the end of the road - about 150 yards from the point where the road disappears around the bend to the left. They moved there in 1958 and I lived with them from Jan 1968 until June 1970. I walked along the road everyday to and from either the station at Bursledon or the bus stop for buses to Woolston or Southampton opposite the Red Lion.
I Lived on Mtb234, by John Dowsett
My parents bought this boat from a Mr and Mrs Bailey who had purchased it at Government auction and converted it into a houseboat. The Baileys later moved to Bursledon. When Dad and Mum got the boat the bows were turned to the sea, this was changed when she was put up on stocks for cleaning and now faces the shore. My life as a young lad revolved around this boat and the River Hamble, I have nothing but fond memories of adventures and fun, and often think of all my family and friends. I believe she was sold for preservation in 1980. I moved to Australia in 1966 with my wife Maureen, I would love to find out where my old home now lies.
Houseboat Mtb234
My aunt and uncle, Mr and Mrs Arthur Dowsett, moved to Lower Swanwick in 1958 when my uncle retired after working for many years as a signalman for BR. They bought a houseboat, a converted motor torpedo boat, mtb234, which at that time was moored at Swanwick Shore, a little way along from Moody's Boatyard. I spent some time staying with them during school holidays and from Jan 1968 until June 1970 I lived with them while studying at Southampton University. It was cold in winter and hot in summer, but was a fascinating place to live and a real experience! By the time I left in 1970, there were only 2 houseboats left, whereas in 1958 there had been a whole row of them moored along the foreshore. The boat itself had quite a history to it, having been the flagship of the fleet that sailed out of Lowestoft during the Second World WAr in the charge of Commander Peter Dickens DSO, MBE, DSC who wrote the book 'Night Action -... Read more
Houseboats in The Picture of Bursledon Bridge
In the photo are several houseboats and yachts moored up to the bank on the LHS of the picture; I used to live on the large white motor torpedo boat (originally called 'Hippocampus') which can be seen between the wreck and the large wooden, armour plated 'LCS' ('Landing Craft/Support'), when she was moved from the River Hamble to the River Itchen in 1974. I renamed her 'Whimsical Macgoffley'. She was built in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, at the J. Samual White Shipyard, launched in 1944, and was one of six MTBs (numbered S-5 to S-10) and manned by the Polish Navy. (Her number was S-8 during WW2 and she was eventually returned to the Royal Navy as HMTB 427 at the end of the war). She was 'up for disposal' by the Admiralty on 18th December 1945 and sold sometime after that date to a Mr. A. Aitcheson. In 1949 she was on the berth shown in the photo which was at 'Deacon's Boat Yard', downstream from Bursledon... (Awaiting moderation, read more soon)
Bursledon, The Hospital
I do not think this ever was a hospital in the usual sense. I am pretty sure it was a house called Brixedene (Brixedone?) in Blundell Lane, owned and lived in by a family called Thistlethwaite. During the war it was a children's home, although I do not know anything about who it was run by and I think after the war, perhaps after the introduction of the NHS in 1948, it was taken over and used as a convalescent home with some connection to the Royal South Hants Hospital. I may not have all the facts right, but one thing I do know - there was never a hospital in Bursledon. Any hospital treatment meant a trek into Southampton to the South Hants Hospital - in St Mary's I think.
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