| Dibden | ||||||||||||||||||
| Take the 'old road' from Marchwood to Hythe by
turning left at the first roundabout on the Marchwood bypass to Fawley
and you will find Dibden, not to be confused with Dibden Purlieu which
is further along the main road just after Hythe. This scattered hamlet has one of the nicest church settings in the county with views across the Southampton Waters where cruise ships can be seen tied up at the docks, years ago as a young boy, this was a favourite spot of mine as going to Fawley on the bus you got views of all the transatlantic liners from here, the Queens, United States, France, the Caronia and all the Union Castle line ships, and local people still remember gathering to see the Titanic from there as wel. The church of All Saints lies to the left of the road and part of it are 13th century and it has the fame of being the first local building to have been bombed in the Second World War but it was rebuilt in 1955. There is a commemoration stone over the doorway which has inscribed upon it the words "A joyful resurrection"
The area is agricultural and several farms can be seen dotted about the area, a golf course and there is a house which is supposedly 300 years old and was said to have been an inn. Claypitts Lane a road that links the old road back to the A326 Marchwood or Hythe Bypass as it is called in this section sounds to have been the venue for an old brick works or kiln. Smuggling is said to have been rife in this area but never proven as there is a small creek. Today there is a lot of controversy with the Dibden Bay project, a scheme whereby the port of Southampton Authorities (Associated British Ports) want to take land from this side of Southampton Waters and dredge a deeper channel and extend the container terminal, but local opposition has over come this though the conflict is still there. The village has one shop on the corner of Claypitts Lane and the lane itself once the location of a mobile home site is now a huge housing estate with a recreation centre at the Applemore end and close to this is a large school
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