Titchfield History

 

I first of all I must apologise for not presenting this in person and would like to thank Peter Mills for chairing this meeting in my place.

2018/19 Season has been very busy and productive for the Society.  Attendances at meetings have been consistently above those of previous years and bearing in mind our total membership is just under 80 at the present time, attendances of 60 + at the meetings is remarkable.  This must reflect the hard work put in by Ros Seaward in researching and arranging our speakers.  I will mention at this stage that Ros is standing down after a number of years and her place is being taken by Amanda Laws.

I would personally like to thank Ros for her support she has given to me as chairman………(present flowers)……….

During the summer we had several social events, the most memorable probably being our visit to Bucklers Hard, where on a very fine summer’s day we were well received and entertained on a conducted tour by Lady Mary (Lord Montague’s sister) who is a member of their History Society.  This has resulted in the Beaulieu History Society paying a return visit to us in September.

Our picnic in the Abbey, was in fact held in the Great Barn this year as a change, and again a fine summer’s evening with a good attendance including representatives from Beaulieu’s research team and guides.  Towards the end of last year, the Committee were invited to hold a meeting on HMS Victory, this being organised by Sean Searight.  A very entertaining conducted tour by the Master in charge was followed by sampling of Navy Rum in the wardroom.

Whilst mentioning Sean Searight we must thank him and Ken Groves for their work in researching and producing ‘The Titchfield Emblem’ which as you know has been adopted by the history society and looks as if it will be used more widely within the village going forward, including on new entry signs being erected on the roads  into the village.  We promoted the flags and bunting at the Church fete and it was very well received with a number of orders taken.

The Committee has been working hard on ideas and other projects, Bryan Dunleavey has designed a new website which you are all welcome to interact with, research data will be added to this website in time.  The Historic Houses project has investigated several properties including the Old Vicarage and St Margaret’s, this project is ongoing.

I would at this stage to remind members of the Summer events this year.  Our trip to Winchester on Thursday 25^th July is now full unless you wish to make your own way there, so I would just need to know for venue entry numbers.  With regard to lunch before we make our way to the College, the Hospital do not do that sort of food, however John Ekins has visited ‘The Bell’ pub which is very close and they have said they would supply a buffet for us at £5 per head.  This would be a nice idea for us all to stay together, however they do other pub style lunches, or you can bring your own picnic to have in the Hospital grounds etc.  I will be in touch shortly to find out who of you would like to be included in the buffet, or you can email me.

The picnic in the abbey on the evening of 20th June will be attended by Bishops Waltham Society, so it would be nice to have a good attendance and support from ourselves.  Members with guests are welcome.  It’s a fun and entertaining evening.  If the weather is inclement, we will be meeting again at the Barn.

Bishop’s Waltham have given us a return invite to join them in August on the evening of Wednesday 7^th, to picnic in the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace with a tour of the palace and exclusive access to the Museum.  Again, it would be nice for us to support this event with a good attendance.  If you feel you would like to attend this event, with no obligation, can you please put your names down so that we have an idea of numbers to give to Bishop’s Waltham.

As mentioned previously the Beaulieu History Society are visiting us in September with a tour of the Abbey, Barn and Church.

Finally, I would like to thank the officers and members of the Committee for their continuing support and input which makes my life as chairman considerably easier.  And thank you all for making the History Society a successful group.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Due to the difficulties of fulfilling the coffee rota and responsibility of organising this every month, it has been decided by the committee to trial a new format for our meetings.

Firstly, the meetings will commence at 7.00p.m. allowing members time to socialise with refreshments prior to the meeting which will start at 7.45p.m.  The speaker will then make the presentation followed by questions with no intermittent break.

This format has been adopted by other organisations and seems to work.

In order to facilitate this, we are hoping to engage a couple of people to organise and serve the refreshments, this will impose a small cost upon the Society and in order to help cover this the visitors charge will be increased from £2 to £3.

The above is being put forward as a proposal by the committee, however for it to be implemented it needs to be put to a vote at this meeting.  It is proposed to review this again at the end of the year.

This report will be forwarded shortly to you all by email, however if you do not have an email address and would like a copy, please let us know.

Thankyou…Have a lovely enjoyable evening.    Marilyn Wilton-Smith

Titchfield History SUMMER EVENTS

Summer Outings 2019

MAY 21^ST – AGM & BIG QUIZ

The AGM meeting itself will be fairly short and this will be followed by a fun Quiz, so join us for this Social event.

THURSDAY JUNE 20^TH – PICNIC IN THE ABBEY

A fun event, you don’t have to book for this the Abbey is open exclusively to the History Society and their guests from 6.00p.m.  Bring your own picnic, (no barbecues).  There will be tours of the Abbey, and entertainment.  We will be joined this year by the Bishop’s Waltham Society, so let’s make them welcome.

If the weather is against us, I have arranged for us to have this event in the Great Barn, but hopefully we will have a glorious sunny evening in the beautiful Abbey grounds.

 

THURSDAY 25^TH JULY – TRIP TO WINCHESTER

(See email sent or separate sheet for full details of this event).

The cost of this outing is £30 per person this includes refreshments on arrival, entry fee to both venues, payment for private tour and coach.

Depart Titchfield 10.00a.m. – Southampton Hill
Arrive Hospital of St Cross – refreshments on arrival
12.30 ish – lunch –
2.00 p.m. – Tour of College
4.30ish – return to Titchfield

If you wish to book on the coach please email me on mwiltonsmith@gmail.com or ring on 01329 843822
Payment on or before the next meeting please.      Cheques made payable to Titchfield History Society

 

EARLY AUGUST – 7^th AUGUST – 6.30 P.M.

Picnic at Bishops Waltham Palace with access to the Museum.  This will be an early evening event as with our own picnic, and the Museum will be open for us to visit.  So we are aware of numbers could you please let us know your intention to come along.  A great opportunity for us to have exclusive access to this site.

 

 

 

 

Thankful for the great British mapping system, history society members managed to find their way to the community centre and listen to a talk about the history of Ordnance Survey.

The founding father of the Ordnance Survey is considered to be William Roy, who as a Scottish military engineer, was assigned the task to carry out surveys of the Scottish Highlands, a request sent out by George II after the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Surveying methods devised was by triangulation and Roy then used this method to carry out a triangulation connection, starting at Hounslow Heath, to connect to Paris in order to establish the true line of the Meridian. Greenwich was finally recognised as the prime Meridian in 1884.

The Board of Ordnance, a department of the MOD, on 21^st June 1791, purchased a Ramsden theodolite, and this entry in the purchase ledger of 373 pounds and 14 shillings, is recognised as the birth date of Ordnance Survey. The acquisition of this theodolite was necessary for the intending military survey work starting across the South, all in preparation for the threat from France at this time. As a result, in 1801 the first published map was produced and was of Kent. Most of the South was mapped by 1810 and by 1840 all but a few northern most counties and all of Wales was mapped.

By 1821, the Ordnance Survey was headed up by Thomas Colby, who remained at the head of the organisation for 27 years. He was instrumental in directing a revision of the maps to improve the quality of surveying. He and his team did have to spend some considerable time surveying in Ireland, for a valuation and taxation commission and so it was the Ireland maps that were all completed first. Bad winters and tensions with locals meant work didn’t complete till 1846.

Ordnance Survey offices back home at this time were in the Tower of London, but a fire in 1841 meant they had to move out, and a suitable place was located in London Road, Southampton.

The Land Registry Act of 1862, necessitated larger scales of 1”, 6” and 25” to the mile needing to be produced. The 1” scale maps started becoming ever more popular for public use as by 1909 there were 53,000 registered vehicles on the road.

In 1911, Charles Close, became head of OS, through till 1922 and therefore oversaw the OS through WW1 during which a staggering 33 million maps were produced, including vital maps for the western front.

The Davidson committee was established in 1935 and its role was to look at the future of the Ordnance Survey. It recommended a National Grid system and also that the entire country be remapped and to all the same standards by 1980. This was actually achieved by 1962. A re-triangulation programme involved the installation of some 6500 trig pillars.

There was however another interruption, that being WWII, and this time 42 million maps were produced. Many were of France, Germany and Italy in preparation for planned forthcoming invasions. The OS was also affected at this time by the bombing of its head offices in Southampton, and it was necessary for them to relocate to Chessington and other temporary buildings around Southampton. A new headquarters were finally established at Maybush, Southampton in 1969. More recently, a purpose built site adjacent to the M271 at Adanac Park was open in 2011.

During the past 25 years, as the fast moving digital age continually moves forward, there has been rapid developments in surveying techniques and the OS now has 500 million features in its database and currently 20,000 changes are made daily. An example of this would be that it is a requirement that a new house must appear on digital mapping within 6 months of completion. Today’s technology allows us to accurately map a position to within 2cm of its actual location on the earth’s surface.

Steve Nash

BREWERIES AND PUBS OF TITCHFIELD

Brewing was like baking in early times, undertaken by many ordinary tenants. Before public water supply companies, well and river water could be unreliable, brewing was one of the methods of sterilizing it for consumption.
The licensing of brewers and the testing of ale was one of the duties of the abbot’s court in the Middle Ages. The regulation of brewing and beer retailing continued to be an important function of the court in Elizabethan times. Amongst the offences considered in one court were:
For using the trade of a brewer – whether he a prentice in that trade we know not.
For selling beer at the fair – we know not by what measure.
For selling beer by the stone jug.
For having a gallon (measure) chained at the stable door.
For selling wine in quarts not sealed.
But the business gradually became concentrated in fewer, more professional hands, and carried cut with permanent equipment.

Today it is closely regulated by Customs and Excise. In the mid-nineteenth century there were said to be 5 breweries in the town. In East Street there were two; the Hope Brewery, former premises is now to the rear and behind Titchfield Motors and another was near Rockstone House at the other end of the street. The Bugle hotel did its own brewing too. Founded in 1744, in 1895 Kelly’s directory lists it as Titchfield Steam Brewery – much grander! Fielder’s absorbed the Hope Brewery and was the sole survivor until 1961. It occupied the entire south side of Bridge Street as far as the canal. J.  R. Fielder and Sons in latter years supplied ten public houses in the district – the Brewery lap, the Queens Head, the Fisherman’s Rest, the Jolly Farmer, the Bold Forester, the Sir Joseph Paxton, the Sun Inn, the Osborne View, the Coal Exchange, and the Kings Head (once in West Street, Fareham).

The smell of the brewery, the sight of Fielders drays and lorries, and of course the taste of the beer are nostalgic memories for older villagers. When the company was sold to Brickwoods (later to become part of Whitbread), most of the buildings were
demolished and a row of private houses built on the site. The attractive brewer’s house and some small outbuildings still stand opposite the Coach and Horses.

 

There were taverns in Titchfield in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but the first inns that can be actually located are the George north corner of the Ware bridge and the Inn House in West Street in 1546. An inn called the Nags Head is mentioned in the late seventeenth century and the Bugle seems to have been the centre of fashionable local life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when “assemblies” were held there. By then three more of the existing inns had appeared – the Coach and Horses, the Queens Head and the Wheatsheaf;

          

Queens Head                                           Coach & Horses                                  Wheatsheaf
In addition there were five inns that have now disappeared – the King’s Head (Cordwainers) and the Red House in South Street, the Crown in Mill Street the Clarendon in East Street and the Horse and Jockey in West Street, making twelve inns altogether at that time. During the turnpike era the provision of food and drink for the for the carriers’ waggons which had regular timetabled stops in Titchfield was an important economic function of the village. A small tannery at the corner of Fishers Lane became the Railwav Inn when the railway navvies were working at Segensworth in the 1880’s, changing to the present name, The Fisherman’s Rest after they moved on.

   Fishermans Rest

In 19XX the West End Inn was the most recent casualty, building still clearly recognisable; but Titchfield Mill made up for it when it was purchased by Bass and became Titchfield’s sixth pub.

                                    

West End Inn                                                                                      Titchfield Mill

 

 

This Season’s Summer Outing for History Society members and guests  will take us to Winchester to visit the Hospital of St Cross and Winchester College.

On arrival we will have refreshments, followed by our own group tour carried out by one of the brothers wearing traditional gown .  The hospital is one of the oldest continuing almshouses, renowned for its tranquil setting and beautiful architecture.    The tour itself  takes us into the Georgian kitchen, Norman church, minstrel gallery, Tudor ambulatory and bread room this should last about 1 hour, there are also attractive grounds to explore.

 

 

We will then stop for lunch.  This will be your own time and there is a pub close by, or there are refreshments at the Hospital or if you would prefer you can bring your own picnic.

 

In the afternoon we will proceed with a tour of Winchester College where again we will have our own group tour around the Chamber Court, Chapel, College Hall, Cloisters and 17th century school building.  There are also formal gardens.

We should be in a position to leave Winchester around 4.30p.m.

 

 

The cost of this outing is £30 per person this includes refreshments on arrival, entry fee to both venues, payment for private tour and coach.

Depart Titchfield 10.00a.m. – Southampton Hill
Arrive Hospital of St Cross – refreshments on arrival
12.30 ish – lunch –
2.00 p.m. – Tour of College
4.30ish – return to Titchfield

If you wish to book on the coach please email me on mwiltonsmith@gmail.com or ring on 01329 843822
Payment on or before the next meeting please.      Cheques made payable to Titchfield History Society.

Marilyn Wilton-Smith

Chair Titchfield History Society

 

The Country is divided; there is a battle between two forces, over the Irish question, the country’s finances and the manner in which England is being governed.

Ring any bells? Actually I am talking about 1642, but you would be forgiven if you thought it was a headline from today.

The irony that the THS had asked Duncan Colin-Jones to speak about The Civil Wars in the Meon Valley on the very night of the vote on Teresa May’s Brexit deal  was not lost on the speaker or the audience.

Well at least we know the outcome of the English Civil Wars and the well documented impact on those living within the Meon Valley.

Like most major incidents in history the personalities of opposing factions, some taking uncompromising stances, impacted on the whole country and in this case eventually led to the abolishing of parlia
ment. Yes I am still talking about the Civil Wars and Cromwell.

Duncan Colin-Smith eloquently took us through the various disputes between Parliament and King Charles I and where our local aristocracy and landowners allegiances lay during the three Civil Wars of 1642 to 1651. 

The 4^th Earl of Southampton at Place House was a Royalist (Cavalier), yet towards Winchester there was Sir Robert Wallop and at Southwick Park Richard Norton (and his Hambledon Boys) on the side of the Parliamentarians (Roundheads).

The south of England was split and the Meon Valley was the line between the two forces, with key sites fought over such as Winchester Castle, a battle at Cheriton and a siege at Bishops Waltham.

Between 1643 and 1645 both armies moved backwards and forwards across the land around the Meon Valley, playing a cat and mouse game, amassing and moving troops around the south. 

During this time the biggest losers were the small land owners and farmers of the area. When troops from either side arrived in a area they felt entitled to help themselves to food, livestock, horses, hay and even to ‘impress’ local lads into their fighting force, leaving promissory notes that the King or Parliament would reimburse them. Eventually a local militia formed, known for their weapon of choice as ‘The Clubmen’ who banded together to protect their goods and chattels.

In the Meon Valley the Parliamentarians led by Colonel Norton gained the upper hand, pushing the Royalists towards Oxford. 

Defeated King Charles moved north to meet up with his allies, the Scots. He didn’t bargain for his kinsmen selling him back to Parliament and his eventual imprisonment at Hampton Court in 1647. Charles escaped and while wandering around southern England trying to find a passage to safety he arrived at Place House to broker a deal with Parliament. This failed and he was taken to Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight and despite several failed escape attempts and peace delegations, Charles was beheaded in 1649 at Cromwell’s instruction. The 4^th Earl of Southampton watched over his body that night before its burial, a Royalist to the end.

The ascendance of Thomas Cromwell as Lord Protector, followed by his ineffectual son Richard, the eventual forming of a new Parliament and the return of the monarchy ended this tumultuous period in British history.

Our speaker identified parallels with the mid 17^th century and our divided society today and I wonder if serving politicians ever learn from the mistakes of the past.