Winchfield, Hampshire

Hartley Wintney.

I have very happy memories of staying with my grand-parents in Hartley Wintney right next to the common aged 5yr-7yrs. My grand-father kept chickens and we were allowed to feed them and collect the eggs. Did anyone know my grand-father? His name was William James Benwell?

Born in the village

I was born in the village in a nursing home, that was in January 1949, just up from the old police station on the opposite side of the A30. Then I grew up in 13 Mildmay Terrace with my mother, father, grandmother and grandfather, their name was Alfred and Hilda Denton. When I was about 4 we moved to 7 Weir... [more]

Living in

When I moved to live on the Cricket Green with my parents in 1947, the previous tenants were called Bacon, and for many years afterwards, people would say "Oh you live in Bacons' old house" - my mother would seethe!  My brother Richard was born in 1948 and our younger brother Patrick arrived in 1950, always doing his own thing, and... [more]

elvetham house

This not exactly a memory but I have a copy of a book called Elvetham which was a privately printed account of Queen Elizabeth's visit there in 1591 & presented to Her Majesty by the Earl of Hertford in commemoration of her visit. I wondered if anyone could tell me anything about this? My family lived at Dogmersfield for some... [more]

A Canadian in Wartime

My father must have arrived in Church Crookham around 1942. About a half dozen Canadian officers were quartered in an extremely 'modern' house, called The White House. My father, a young Captain, always spoke of that house with something approaching awe. For some reason, the sanitary fixtures fascinated him: wash basins in individual bedrooms, something unknown in North America. His bath... [more]

Claremont - Aldershot Road

The house on the right hand side of this picture was called Claremont.  We lived
there in the early 60s.  There were two cottages to the side.  In one of those cottages lived a girl called Elizabeth Holland, she used to babysit us.  They had the most wonderful vegetable garden.  We had fires in all the rooms, but also had paraffin... [more]

Chalk Pit & the Hunt

Julian's hunt story is almost right. I was living at the Chalk Pit at the time, and still do. It was about 1981, on a Saturday lunchtime, when the hunt came over the top, but it wasn't on Boxing Day.  The hounds were chasing Hares.  The leader of the hunt knew there was a main road so directed the hunt across... [more]

Bad day at the hunt

The chalk pit at Odiham looks much the same today as it did over 100 years ago, except that most of the buildings are no longer there. An old story I heard in the The Bell Pub, mentioned the local hunt gathering in the Bury Square on boxing day some years ago. They left in the direction of the Chalk Pit... [more]