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The church of St
Boniface |
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Just up the road from where I
live is Chandlers Ford and to think that this was once a village
years ago! No longer is it a tiny place surrounded by woodland but
a thriving suburb of Eastleigh running alongside the M3 motorway
and the main Southampton to Winchester railway line. Full of both
housing and industrial estates it even has its own Nuffield
Hospital. Here years ago were
pretty little thatched cottages set among some larger houses, with some
of them having large gardens which they produced vegetable and flowers
for sale and also some farms were situated here. Small streams ran
through and Monks Brook is the most prominent of them today, and runs at
the back of the houses that are in Bodycoates Road right up to the
Railway station, which was re-opened in 2003 as trains used to pass
straight through from Eastleigh to Romsey after the Beeching cuts. But
there is talk of it closing down again due to not enough people are
using it.
The main industry here used to be
brick making and some of this was loaded on to trains and taken to
London in order to construct the Law Courts. But cherries were a
mainstay here as well during the 17th century and local people as well
as those from outside the village used to buy their 'Merries' here and
even Richard the son of Oliver Cromwell used to escort his wife from the
next door village of Hursley to the Merrifeasts which were held
annually. |
Today the larger houses are owned by
the wealthier class and there are some lovely properties that lie off of
Hursley Road near the Lakes but at the end war saw a lot of them
demolished and smaller homes being put in their place. The days before
D-Day American troops were here and they became friends with a lot
of the villagers and families managed to sample such delicacies such as
white bread, jam and bubble gum for the kids, as well as the famous
Nylons!!
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| The
font in St Boniface church |
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The
interior of St Boniface |
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| The
foundation stone |
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The
war memorial |
One link with my family is the name
Purkess evidence of which can be found here, as Purcas was a charcoal
burner at Minstead in the New Forest who carried the body of William
Rufus from where he was slain by an arrow in the forest by one Sir
Walter Tyrrell, to the cathedral at Winchester for burial and it is said
he stopped over night in Chandlers Ford or Otterborne.
There are now two shopping precincts
in the village one opposite Hursley Road and the other the Fryern Arcade
sits at the other end of the village, There are now two supermarkets
within yards of each other and an American owned hypermarket
between the village and Southampton which is now open 24 hours and does
a roaring trade. Diggers and excavators showrooms, car showrooms can
also be found here even a large industrial estate with some well known
names having property there. There are at least two veterinary
practices, to cater for the needs of the pets of the inhabitants,
some large comprehensive schools and a good variety of shops.
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