The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.3 | Dec 2023

Local Group Programmes

This was an information-packed talk from a speaker who obviously really knew his subject and it certainly gave members plenty of leads on how to use maps to further their research. Forthcoming Meetings:

No dates available

Contact: Keith Turner Email: fairoak@hgs-online.org.uk

Fair Oak

Meetings are normally held at 8pm on the second Tuesday monthly at St Thomas’ Church Hall (attached to the church) Mortimers Lane. Doors open approx 7.30pm (August) Summer Walk – Hedge End with Eric Reed

Hedge End is on the north east side of Southampton and is within the Borough of Eastleigh. As usual our guide was long-standing HGS member, Eric Reed. The origins of the name Hedge End are not known for certain but considered to be derived from the location of a cottage near the end of a boundary hedge on part of Botley Common. Over the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Botley Common were enclosed and farms formed, with one known as Hedge End Farm or SPEGGS Farm. A street nameplate Speggs Walk is a reminder of the family. A very old listed thatched cottage still stands nearby, which was at one time the home of a Mrs Mary Wellstead, who ran a school from there for over 50 years from about 1835. Early growth came after the creation of toll roads through the area. The Northam Bridge and Roads Company was formed in 1796 with a toll road opened between the bridge over the River Hamble at Botley and a new bridge built over the River Itchen at Northam. The site of a toll gate and toll-keeper’s cottage is now marked by a seat with a commemorative plaque attached. The bridge company tollkeepers’ names appear in census returns, such as DOLING (1851), GURMAN (1881), ALLEN (1891) and HIBBERD (1911), the last being Henry SWAIN . After 130 years the road was freed from tolls when Southampton Council purchased the interests of the bridge company. On 16 May 1929 a freeing of tolls ceremony took place, with the mayor of Southampton, Councillor M H.PUGH, travelling between the three toll bars at Northam Bridge, Lances Hill, Bitterne, and the one at Hedge End. The greatly expanded conurbation changed from an area locally administered by a Parish Council formed in 1894 to become Hedge End Town Council in 1992. The walk continued round the village looking at various ecclesiastical and other buildings. For not a huge place, at one point it had churches from seven different denominations and has been well served with village halls and community meeting places. We were surprised to hear the village was once visited by boxer Muhammad Ali in 1971, when he was on a tour promoting Ovaltine, and this was one of the stop-off points. There is a black plaque on the

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