The photos in the past two weeks focused on Hursley Road. Today’s photos are slightly different.
1) Where was this?
Clue: Letters
2) A rather beautiful road in Chandler’s Ford. Do you recognise this place? It seems rather neat and peaceful. No parked cars on the kerbs, no dog mess…
3) Of course this is Halfway Inn on Winchester Road. People have been talking about it recently. Happy news?
Please share your memories. It would be lovely to know what has changed in this place over the years.
Put your answers in the comment below. Thank you.
Would still like to see the answers to Nos. 2 & 3 in Game 17 please …
My guess at No.3 this week (19) is Kingsway, but the bungalow on the right is throwing me … Absolutely no idea on 1 … don’t recollect anything looking like that from 1938 onwards, but I guess there was, somewhere …
Keep ’em coming Janet.
I wondered Kingsway, but don’t think it is. Don’t know where it is tho!
My mum was born and bred in Chandler’s Ford. She used to relate that when she was little her mum would become very nervous when they had to walk past a pub in the day because of the drunk men rolling around on the pavement outside! I never did ask her which pub she was referring to, so I don’t know if it could have been this one! This would have been in the 1930s!
The answer to the first image: “The post office (on the left) in the old hamlet of Middle, in what is now Chestnut Avenue, from a Wilsteed postcard of around 1910. Prior to 1867 this had been the post office for North Stoneham, Eastley and Swaythling.”
Another confirmation from Elliot, who knows the area well.
The saying goes ‘It is great to be wise after the event’, but in all honesty I thought, and nearly suggested, that it looked as though it should be in Chestnut Avenue, somewhere near Stoneham Lane, but I have never known that to be Chandler’s Ford … that’ll teach me !!! …
(I’m still smiling though)
Doug, I also thought it was the Stoneham Lane / Chestnut Avenue junction, but wasn’t confident enough to say. I’d forgotten that the area was once called Middle.
The semi-detached thatched cottages in Stoneham Lane at that junction (next to Kingdom Hall), of course are not old at all. They were built in the early 1990s. The site was formerly the church hall for North Stoneham church.
Hi Chippy …
I feel better now, knowing I am not alone ! …
I had/have never heard of ‘Middle’, and I am having great difficulty finding anything on the internet about it … any thoughts or pointers please …
Cheers !
I understand that Middle is short for Middle Stoneham, as the hamlet lay between South Stoneham and North Stoneham. This, of course, has a huge plot hole in that Middle appears to be beyond North Stoneham. My theory is that North Stoneham was originally centred further up Chestnut Avenue, around what is now Nightingale Avenue and Asda. The centre of North Stoneham moved to the other side of Middle when the church was built.
But I have no idea why the village of South Stoneham is called Swaythling.
Hi Chippy …
I have found Middle Stoneham mentioned in 3 or 4 places, but nothing really about it … in my searching, these sites were visited and are of interest (You’ve probably seen them already)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaythling
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/HAM/NorthStoneham
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol3/pp478-481
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Stoneham
Stay safe and keep smiling (Not necessarily in that order)
Doug Clews
According to the source from Eastleigh History, the second image is Keble Road.
We’ve an old article about Keble Road, written by Hugh Benham:
John Keble: Keble Road and Keble Close in Chandler’s Ford
Number 2 shouts Keble Road to me.
Oh, now I see there are already other responses. At least my guess was correct!
Hi Ray,
Great answer!! I wouldn’t have known the answer simply looking at the phone. Do you have some photos to share with us as well? Feel free to send them to me, and I’m happy to share them.
Would you like to share your answers in this new article? Chandler’s Ford Saturday Guessing Game (20)
Have a lovely weekend!
No photos, I’m afraid, just images inside my head! I grew up on Leigh Road, and used to get my hair cut at Vic Poynter’s barber shop on the corner of Keble Road and Bournemouth Road.
I also know (knew – haven’t seen him for decades, since I now live in the USA) Hugh Benham. We both went to Barton Peveril, and I was in the choir at St Boniface for a long time, part of it when Hugh became the organist.
Ray
Brilliant information, Ray. Thank you very much.
I’ll pass on this comment to Hugh. Hugh’s the best organist and we’re so blessed to have him. Such a humble and gentle man.