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Owslebury Bottom
Owslebury Bottom maps
Historic maps of Owslebury Bottom and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Owslebury Bottom maps
Owslebury Bottom photos
We have no photos of Owslebury Bottom, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Twyford| Fair Oak| Winchester| Bishopstoke| Eastleigh| Bishops Waltham| Cheriton| Weeke| Headbourne Worthy| Abbots Worthy| Hursley| Chandlers Ford| Itchen Abbas| Corhampton| Kings Worthy| Waltham Chase| Exton| Swanmore| Alresford| West End| Droxford| Crawley
Owslebury Bottom area books
Displaying 1 of 22 books about Owslebury Bottom and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Owslebury Bottom
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Hampshire memories
A Yokel's Tale
A Personal Recollection of growing up during the last days of the pedestrian era in rural England by Tom Thornton A Yokel's Tale My earliest recollection of my Thornton grandparents, Alice and Tom, dates back to my pre-school years, when my Mum and Dad occasionally visited them at May Cottages, Longwood Dean. They lived at the south end of a group of four tied Mock Tudor cottages which had steep brick steps leading up from the narrow lane to the heavy wooden gate which opened onto a long narrow garden sloping up past the house, probably about ¼ of an acre. In front of the house to the right and stretching 50 yards up to the hen house was Granddad's immaculate vegetable garden. To the left of the seemingly long gravel path was a beautifully manicured lawn with steep banks down which we rolled and tumbled on while the grown-ups had tea in the house and conversations that we were never allowed to hear. Children were required to be “seen and not... Read more
The Long Long Walk
My memory of Owslebury goes back to the hot summer of 1937. I lived in Bishopstoke at that time, being a lad of nine years old. My father had just bought our first car, not a posh one and looking back I doubt if it would pass an MOT of today. It was a little red Austin 7 Nippy that had long passed its sell-by date, but it made us the only family in our street that had wheels and gave us the chance to get away from the village to visit places like the New Forest, Lepe and a favourite evening run to Owslebury. We would sit on a grass island in the road that had a water pump close to the village pub. Dad would go in and return with port and lemon for mother and himself and lemonade with cheesy biscuits or a packet of Smiths crisps where inside there was to be found a little blue paper screw of salt. My sister and I would play around... Read more
The Volunteer Inn
Volunteer was built in 1703 and as far as we can find out, it possibly became a pub in 1840s. It ceased trading in 1973 when it was sold by the brewery to the Gray family. The Grays converted it back into a house.
We bought Volunteer in 2001 and it still looks much the same from the outside.
The door between the two windows (beneath the pub sign), used to lead into the Saloon Bar, which is now our study; the door was replaced some years ago with another window. We are currently renovating the property back to its former glory. Local people have told us various stories from years gone by when this place was a Pub!
Local research has shown that the Volunteer was owned by Benjamin Vokes in the 1840s until 1890s; he built the Public Bar which is to the right of the picture (can't be fully seen though in the picture). There was also a Jug & Bottle which was entered via... Read more
Twyford, Church of England School in 1965
I started Twyford, Church of England School in 1965 (until 1971) and this photo is exactly as I remember it was.
Schooldays
I remember the C of E infant/primary school. There was a boulder on the left, just inside the main gate, that was 'a spaceship' - many of us would listen to Dan Dare, 7.10pm Radio Luxembourg, and re-enact it there the next day. The head was Mr Fulford, who had a daughter at the school: Celia. She kept guinea pigs, and as just about all of us had some, I guess she wasn't too great at sexing them. Wonderful times!
When The Pond Froze Over
I was living at Bishopstoke and working as a lad at Cunliff Owen Aircraft during that cold war time winter when a friend that lived in Fair Oak told me that Fishers pond was frozen over and people were skating on it. I managed to borrow a pair of boots with skates on and with my sister and a few mates from work we made our way to the pond one Saturday afternoon.
The sight was spectacular when we got there. No snow, just a giant sheet of ice covering the pond completely from the inn into the misty distance. I can remember about thirty brave soles were out there on skates taking advantage of the freak weather and having such fun in those drab winter war time days. My friends and I soon joined them laughing and screaming as we slipped, slid and fell onto the ice. It was my first time but some of my friends could already skate for they did so at the rink in Southampton... Read more
My Memories
I remember the year of 1968 well, as it is when I left the village of Colden Common, although my Grandfather and Grandmother still lived there (On Main Road) up until their deaths. Colden Common in my time had no Scout Troop, so I had to go to Twyford to attend Scouts. Often the other boys in 'Common' would laugh at us, as we had still to wear short trousers. My other memory of 'Common' is when the Parish Hall (now demolished) used show the very latest pictures, due in part to the link with the picture house in Winchester (Theatre Royal). Other than that in my time in 'Common' we used to have to go to the school which was nearer Fishers Pond. To cross the road at the School for lunch (the dinner hall is now a private house) we required the Lollipop Lady Mrs Spratt to help us. To find out the very latest about Colden Common Football Club go to: http://coldencommon.proboards61.com
Although the committee... Read more
