St John The Apostle

From the village there are fine views across the water to Southampton Docks and most of the worlds most famous ships have been photographed from here, not only ocean liners but modern cruise ships, visiting warships but mainly container ships as there is a huge container port opposite. Once there was a ferry that sailed from Cracknore Hard to Town Quay in Southampton but now this ferry runs from Hythe a couple of miles further down the waters. Husbands the famous ship builders had a shipbuilding yard here until a few years back but it is no longer here.. Instead there is now a new incinerator for disposing of domestic refuse and the old power station has been demolished and a new one will be built in its place.

The new incinerator, the military port is just to the left
Three views of the Falklands memorial which stands next to the parish church

The spire of the church of St John the Apostle towers above the local housing which in the last couple of decades has increased tremendously due to the expansion of industry in the Water Side area, Southampton and the Exxon Refinery at Fawley, and of course the military camp and port which has had new married quarters built in the village.

Alongside the church there is a large semi-circular brick memorial with a  huge block of stone alongside, this is dedicated to the ten men of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary who lost there lives in three different ships, Sir Galahad, Sir Tristram and Atlantic Conveyor a merchant navy vessel which was sun by Exocet missiles, while in defence of the Falkland Islands in 1982. The memorial is graced with their insignia and makes a fitting tribute to these brave men. The large block of stone has a plaque with an engraving of one of the ships.

Another view of St John the Apostle church at Marchwood

The village was first mentioned in the Domesday Book.... "Alwin holds Merceode of the King Ulivet, his father heldit."About 1200 A.D. the village name was changed to MERCHEWULDE and nextcomes to notice in 1400 A.D. when it belonged to the Abbess of Rumsey. and was called MERCHWUDE.

It was sold 100 years laterby  Romsey Abbey and at this time, 1500 A.D., the
— district was known as MARCHEWOODE RUMSEY. It retained that name until 1800; MARCHWOOD was then a part of the parish of Eling.

The early part of the  19th century saw Marchwood as a fairly prosperous place. In addition to agriculture, a rare glass sand was dug in the village near the road to Eling, and was taken to a glassworks in Bristol. Chalk was brought by barge to Cracknore Hard and on the return journeys the barges carried Wattles and Withies for cask hoops and pit props.

It was in 1813 that the first Military Magazine was built, and a large proportion of the population comprised mainly of retired people.

The population of Marchwood in 1843 was about 900.

Marchwood became an Ecclesiastical Parish in 1843. Prior to that it had been part of the parish of Eling - Eling church being some three miles away.

The Church of St. John The Apostle was built and funded by Horatio F.K. HOLLOWAY of Marchwood Park, at a cost of £8,300.. He had formerly been High Sheriff for Hampshire and was obviously the local "Lord of the Manor". He also built the local school, (more later)

The first church stone was laid by Mary, wife of Major Holloway, on the 30th November 1841. This ceremonious start of our church took place in the esteemed presence of the Revd. S.J.C. Phillips M.A., vicar of Eling, and Major Holloway/ the benefactor.

The church was later consecrated by Bishop Wilberforce on Tuesday evening of 1st August 1843 before a very large congregation of some 700 people! So many, in fact, that the church gates had to be closed shutting out many more would-be attendees.

All the neighbouring gentry, local folk and soldiers from the Magazine attended. 21 visiting clergy joined the congregation to take part in the ceremony. The first ever Vicar of Marchwood, Revd. Thomas Martelli, officiated from the reading desk at the front of the Church.

After the service Major Holloway entertained all the principal guests and visitors at his Manor which is now known as Marchwood Priory Hospital.

FIRST BAPTISM... on 3rd September 1843, William, son of Charles and Ann Wyatt.
FIRST BURIAL.... on 30th August 1843. - Sarah Hughes.

FIRST MARRIAGE...on 3rd February 1846 (over two years later) the vicar had
learned how to officiate at a wedding and married William Bowditch, a clerk from
Wakefield in Yorkshire to Maria Lamprey of Marchwood.

Schooling Old and New
The original church school was built in 1854 by the same benefactor as our church. It replaced two separate schoolhouses which had previously been built on the Twiggs Lane site. These earlier schoolhouses had been used separately for boys and girls. The new school was for the use of children of all ages together and was mixed.

There are log book accounts of the school in existence which tell a fascinating and accurate account of daily weather, attendances, sickness and records of both good and bad work. Regular visits by the vicar for 'Scripture lessons' are recorded together with the regular trips to the church for occasions such as Ascension Day and other Holy days.

What we have to remember is that all schooling for the whole village took place in the old schoolhouse building which now is used for everything but classroom teaching. The average attendance in 1873 for instance was 45 children!

One log book entry reads, "June 16th 1870. Attendances bad but the haymaking has kept some of the generally regular ones away."

Another entry in 1885 refers to, "More heating problems" and "A new stove has today been delivered."

A measles epidemic in February 1916 caused 53 absentees on 2nd February and on 6th June the same year a whooping cough epidemic caused the school to be closed on orders of the doctor, there being 43 cases reported! School re-opened on 10th July.

Attendances really were very spasmodic especially at times of local events, blackberry gathering and seasonal farmwork.

One classic quote on absences reads:- "in consequence of one boy whose mischief started a report that there was a holiday today. Punished another boy who helped spread the rumour, both boys being present here themselves."

The school continued to expand as time passed and throughout kept close ties with the church.

Due to vast village expansion, in 1984 a new Junior School was built in the village centre to replace the Twiggs Lane Primary School.


The Military Involvement
The first Military Magazine was founded in Marchwood as early as 1813, and after it became established the first powder (explosives) was stored in 1815.

As the Military grew, so did the village and there were many Army personnel and
families at the dedication service when St. John's was consecrated on 1st August 1843.

Over the many years our church has regularly been the venue for ceremonial services. Today members of the Royal Corps of Transport and occasionally U.S. Army officers are seen in full ceremonial dress on Remembrance Day. The sound of the lone bugler playing the Last Post is still a feature of the annual Memorial Service which concludes with prayers around the Memorial in our churchyard.

The Royal Fleet Auxilary service is also an annual event and latter years have seen the addition of The Falklands Memorial sited next to the church.

Looking back in our recent history, support for the church has been supplied by the 17th Port Regiment Royal Engineers. In 1931 they helped to run electicity cabling from the church hall to the main church to run the organ, and in 1961 they made the supports for the heating and the overhead chandeliers. Throughout the time of their association with St. John's they have always supported the many fetes and fundraising ventures whenever asked.

The association between the military establishments and the church is evident from the flags and memorials within.

HISTORY OF ST JOHN'S CHURCH

MEMORIES OF MARCHWOOD

I was born in 1944 and grew up in Marchwood. It has changed beyond recognition since my childhood. Last time I visited, I could not find my way round, but the old places are still there in my head. I remember the copse where my sisters and I picked wild primroses and violets. There were bluebells and wood anemones there as well but we decided they looked better growing than picked. No matter how early Mothering Sunday was, we could always pick at least a few primroses for Mum.

I never remember being bored as a child. We could always find something to do. As well as the copse there was a meadow of wild flowers where orchids grew and the gravel pit where primroses grew. There were trees to climb and Shire horses in the fields, big gentle creatures who would come to the gate to be stroked.

We lived on Cracknore Hard Lane and had a view of Southampton Water from the landing window at the back of the house, and could see the liners. We would often walk down to the Hard where we had a a better view across the water and walked past the shipyard where there were lots of small boats which looked as if they had been scrapped. We would sometimes get on these and explore and wonder about the people who had owned them. A special treat on a Summers evening would be a walk down to the Ship Inn with our parents and sit outside with a drink of lemonade and a packet of crisps. I used to go fishing with a jam jar for tiddlers in the ditches at the side of the road. When my brother was born seven years after me, I used to take him for walks, in his pushchair, and show him moorhens, newts and wild flowers. This was before the Army Barracks were built. I am afraid that I resented the Army for taking so much of our countryside. There was also the creek where all the local children went swimming. We knew where to gather conkers and hazel nuts, and sweet chestnuts.

Our house was heated by coal and log fires and in really cold weather with a paraffin heater in the hall at the bottom of the stairs. The bedrooms were quite chilly in winter and often on a winter morning we could find a layer of ice on the inside of the bedroom windows. I loved the walk to school on an icy morning with the fields white and lacy cobwebs in the hedges.

Marchwood school had obviously been extended from the original building of two classrooms plus the school house, but there were still only five classrooms when I was there. Miss Cole was the strict headmistress who often used the cane. The kitchen was a separate wooden building and as there was no dining room or hall, we had to eat school dinners sat at our desks and were allowed out to play after we had cleared our plates.

I remember one girl who used to be still sat at her desk with a mound of brown cabbage on her plate which she refused to eat, when we went back in. I had thought that this leather like cabbage was unique to Marchwood School until I read Chris Hayles memories of Totton! We could smell it cooking early in the morning and yet it was still tough hours later. Apart from the cabbage, I don't remember the meals being too bad. When I went on to Hardley school, I remember everyone's favourite was chocolate concrete.

There were washbasins in the cloakroom in the main building at Marchwood school, but no toilets. The toilets were bucket type which had to be emptied and they were across the other side of the playground. In spite of that they were never unpleasant to use, thanks to the hardworking caretaker and the gallons of Jeyes Fluid he must have used. His was a hard job as he also had to keep the classrooms supplied with coal for the stoves that heated each one. Each child had a bottle of milk supplied each day and these crates had to be taken to each classroom. In hot weather the milk bottles were washed and bottles of water had to be delivered to each classroom in the afternoon.

Marchwood Police Station was next to the school and the village policeman and his family lived there. There was a notice board in front and I remember posters warning people to look out for Colorado Beetle. I never actually saw one.
Although I was born at the end of the war I can remember food rationing which I think ended when I was about seven. My parents kept pigs. They were allowed to keep one for our own use and the other had to be sent to market. I remember a side of bacon hanging on the landing, covered with a white cloth. They also kept hens and grew fruit and vegetables in the large back garden. Only my younger sister had sugar in her tea and Mum was able to use the sugar ration for pies, crumbles and jam. Occasionally she would make fudge and sometimes she would get sweets from a shop in St. Mary's Street in Southampton. I think this meant her taking a bag of sugar in part payment for them or maybe she handed over the sugar coupons.

People shared what they had in their gardens. We had an apple tree which produced masses of huge apples which were good for cooking or eating, but they didn't keep long. All the neighbours were given bags of them and in return we had plums and other fruit from their gardens. The larder was always full of kilner jars of fruit that my mother had bottled and home made jam. How did mothers cope in those days? We didn't have a fridge until the mid 50's and I remember that milk had to be boiled to stop it going off. People had meat safes which allowed an air flow but stopped insects from getting at the food.

People didn't always manage to go on holiday every year like most people do now. I can remember a caravan holiday at Worthing and a couple of holidays in a Chalet at Pentewan in Cornwall. Each summer, we used to stay, one at a time with either of our two grandmothers in Bitterne. Most years our family holiday was a few day trips and we felt lucky to have them. There used to be coach trips organised by the Church each summer, which we went on and enjoyed a day at the seaside somewhere, with the usual sing song on the way home.

We were luckier than most of our neighbours to have a bathroom and a flush toilet. This was because my Dad, helped by Mum, had dug a cess pit, built a bathroom at the back of the house and laid the drains, when they first bought the house in about 1936. Dad was able to turn his hand to a lot of things and was interested in radio and television. He would often repair radios for people, spending hours out in his shed, which was a leanto he had built on after the bathroom. He was no businessman and hours of work would usually be rewarded with a packet of cigarettes.

Many houses had no electricity and people had a battery or accumulator as they called them to power their radio. There was a cycle shop in the village run by Mr. Hayward and he would re-charge the accumulators for people. I remember the smell of rubber when I used to take the accumulator for an elderly neighbour. He also did car repairs and sold petrol. Opposite his shop was a general shop, run by Mr. & Mrs. Birchall, and I would get the shopping for my mother. The lovely crusty bread would be wrapped in tissue paper and sticking out of the top of the bag. I got scolded many a time for picking and eating the crust on the way home. In the winter, when we had a fire each day, Mum would make her own bread and this would be put to rise in front of the fire. We children used to love to help knead the dough. Part of the dough would be used for a lovely sticky, sugary, lardy cake. Not very healthy eating, but delicious.The electricity supply was not very reliable in those days and we would often have power cuts.

 I remember sitting in front of the fire with candles lit and we children making shadows on the walls. Also in winter we used to roast chestnuts on the front of the fire and make toast by threading a piece of bread on a large toasting fork and holding it in front of the fire.

In summertime, we would stop at Mr. Alan's shop on the way home from school to buy penny ice lollies which he and his wife used to make. There was also a barbers shop, wool shop and post office. At the top of Cracknore Hard lane was a newsagents and sweet shop, run by Mrs. Blake, wife of the blacksmith. When television first came to the area, Dad was one of the first people to get a set and Mrs. Blake used to join us every Saturday evening to come and watch. She always brought a bag of sweets with her to share. This was after rationing had ended.

Another person I remember was old Mr Longman. He had a house with a large garden on Cracknore Hard Lane and grew fruit and vegetables. He would pick these and walk round the village with a large wicker basket on his arm and sell his produce to supplement his pension. My mother once volunteered me and my younger sister to help pick the fruit. His garden was very neat and the grass paths carefully mown. Our work was rewarded by a big bag of ripe red gooseberries to take home. Mr Longman was a marvellous old man and he used to manage the garden and sell his produce until he was well in to his eighties. I also remember my paternal grandmother, who lived in Bitterne, digging her own garden and growing fruit and vegetables until she was about eighty-three. When my dad told her to leave the jobs for him to do her reply was always, " I have to do it or I shall go rusty". There were several tradesmen who used to call on us and sell out of their vans. There was a fishmonger, a greengrocer, the Corona man and a paraffin dealer.

When I was in my early teens there was a Youth Club at the Church Hut in Marchwood. The Church Hut was a rickety old wooden hut which had been donated and erected by the Army, but we had fun there meeting our friends and playing records and dancing.

Times were hard, but we children weren't aware of it. It was only as we grew up that we realised how hard our parents must have worked.
Jeanne Mayer (nee Hague)