Walk Along Stoneham Lane

A Memory of Eastleigh.

I remember North Stoneham Church from a favourite walk my family and I used to take of a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. We set out from Kelvin Road and made our way towards Stoneham Lane with the blacksmith's shop on the corner, and the Cricketers Inn just up the road. I seem to remember that a barrage balloon was set up on this corner during the war. A quiet stroll along the lane with little traffic other than an occasional Hants and Dorset bus, and on to the church with its one hand clock (still there when I visited it about 50 years later). We would then retrace our footsteps slightly and go along Green Grove to Southampton Road, thence making our way home from there via Derby Road or Arnold Road. With a brief look inside the church the walk took us I suppose an hour and a half. One further memory of Stoneham Church, there was an entrance to the farm or estate alongside the church, and if you hopped over the wall you could collect conkers from the mature horse chestnut trees. I remember taking my own son there in the 1960's when the trees were still there. I'm not sure that you can still collect conkers there, although when I last visited the spot in 2005/6 it didn't seem much changed.
A further memory I have from my time at Eastleigh County High School (1948-53), was of a half hour gym period being spent running along Chestnut Avenue, along Stoneham Lane, along Green Grove, and Southampton Road and back to school in Desborough Road, just in time to get changed and on to the next lesson. Mr Barry the gym master, used to accompany us on his bicycle.