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Just outside New Milton and
Barton on Sea on the southern coastline of Hampshire lies the
village of Bashley, and it was here that the Saxons and Danes
fought in Wootton Rough and the Stream called the Danestream is
said to have run red with the blood.
But this did not deter the building
of a new housing estatecalled Daneswood. The roads here are narrow and
often a hold up can occur with the sudden appearance of a large truck,
and then there has not been that much in the way of new building either!
One of the oldest lanes is Cull Lane but even this has been closed to
traffic and Stem Lane has gradually sunk down so much it now lies below
the soil level of the adjacent pastures.
The road names seem strange but they have all come
from the names of people that have lived here, Mark Whitcher who lived
in the corner cottage, logically name Marks Cottage stands in Marks
Lane, Marlpit Lane is where marl was dug for the local handmade bricks
and there used to be a blacksmiths at the corner of Smithy Lane and
Bashley Cross roads!
The Rising Sun is the village pub and Ernie
Rickman who built his own motorcycle lived nearby and later he moved and
opened Ashley Garage. He was noted as one of the first speedway riders
in Southampton and his decided that motorcycle scrambling was the in
thing and soon became international stars. They also developed the
'Matisse' and started their own factory in Gore Road in nearby New
Milton, where they became famous for their glass fibre panniers,
topboxes and fairings. Many a time have I spent at their factory
watching them being made, and then becoming the proud owner of a Rickman
fairing.
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The bell at St
John's church used to be housed
in a tower |
A few miles up the road is Sammy Millers
Motorcycle museum at Bashley Cross Roads in New Milton, which houses the
finest collection of fully restored motorcycles in Europe and includes
not only factory racing machines but some rare prototypes.
Bashley also had links with smuggling and
often contraband was transported form Barton to Hoburne House and on to
Buffalo Cottage at Wootton by way of Smugglers Lane. Here once stood a
pub on Beehive Hill.
There used to be two cottages at Bashley
Crossroads and New Lane one a chapel was name 'Missioners' which seemed
appropriate while the other was also appropriate being an inn called
'Taveners', which goes on to show that local people and places gave
their names to locations and events. Another example of this was
the village shop which was situated in a cottage named 'Homestead'. Even
though it was small it did a roaring trade selling to the Irish navvies
who had come over to build the railway between 1887 and
1888.
'Gilpins' stood in St John's Road and it had
its own windmill to not only pump the water but to generate its own
electricity. Most of the cottages had their own wells and on the corner
of Cull Lane and Away road was what was known locally as Pigsty Corner,
because pigs were kept there!!
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