Hampshire Memorials

Location

Last Visited: 2016

The Postbox
Droxford Station

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As is often the case, Droxford Station on the long defunct Meon Valley Line was not in Droxford but in the adjoining hamlet of Brockbridge.

Its only claim to fame is commemorated on a Plaque on the nearby postbox. This reads:

DROXFORD STATION

In a special train at this station, the
Rt.Hon. Sir Winston Churchill MP
then Prime Minister of the UK spent
some days making crucial decisions
with his staff prior to the
invasion of Europe on
D Day 6th June 1944

The station closed to passengers in 1955 and is now a private house.

Location

Last Visited: 2017

The Monument
Farley Mount

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Right on the highest point of the downs locally on the northern edge of the parish of Farley Chamberlayne is the conspicuous obelisk known as Farley Mount.

There are plaques both inside and outside that read:

Underneath lies buried a horse, the property of Paulet St. John Esq., that in the month of September 1733 leaped into a chalk pit twenty-five feet deep a foxhunting with his master on his back and in October 1734 he won the Hunters Plate on Worthy Downs and was rode by his owner and was entered in the name of "Beware Chalk Pit".

The above being the words of the original inscription were restored by the Rt Hon Sir William Heathcote Baronet Sep. A. D. 1870.

It seems probable that the monument we see today dates largely from Sir William Heathcote's restoration, replacing an earlier one built by Sir Paulet St John.

The nearby Farley Mount Country Park is mostly low lying forestry plantation, but does offer some decent walking with good views along the ridge to the east keeping broadly parallel to the road. View in Google Earth

Farley Chamberlayne parish church is only a mile away as the crow flies; by road it's around 5½ miles (9 km) via Standon.

Location

Last Visited: 2017

The Mausoleum

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Hidden in the woods on your left as you head up Bursledon's Church Lane from the river is the Greyladyes Park Mausoleum.

It was built by Mrs Emmeline Shawe-Storey, the owner of the Greyladyes Estate, in 1910 who apparently intended to transfer her late husband's coffin from Sarisbury Green to the mausoleum.

The Cemetery

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As it is, he was reburied in the small cemetery next to the Mausoleum along with his wife who died in 1937.

Rumour has it, this was because his coffin was too large to go through the door. Given the size of the door, this seems unlikely.

In 1998 the public were granted access to the site by the Trustees of Greyladyes Estate in return for management of the land by Bursledon Parish Council.

Location

Last Visited: 2016

TS Mercury Memorial

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On the banks of the River Hamble, a short walk from the end of Mercury Gardens, is a low plinth marking the location of the TS Mercury. It carries a simple plaque reading:

T.S. MERCURY
1885-1968
MEN ARE THE SOULS OF SHIPS

This was a largely shore based establishment occupying a number of buildings that used to be on the river bank here. It also made use of an old naval hulk, at that time known as HMS President, as an accommodation block.

It was founded by Charles Hoare (of the banking family) and trained over 5,000 young men for Royal and Merchant Navies between 1892 and 1968. The conditions were always Spartan and harsh. For many years it was run by the formidable Beatrice Fry and her cricketer husband CB Fry. On the back of the plinth is a very flowery poem by Fry:

I'm not sure that when she referred to a "splendid haven" she was thinking of the Historic Dockyard at Chatham, but this is were HMS President can now be found, largely restored to her original condition and under her original name, HMS Gannet.

Location

Last Visited: 2016

The Nelson Monument
Portsdown

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There are many monuments to Nelson: The only one erected in his lifetime is on a remote hilltop in the Welsh Marches at The Kymin.

The Nelson Monument on Portsdown north of Portsmouth was originally erected shortly after his death during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, but needed to be replaced in 1899.

The inscription reads:

CONSECRATED
TO THE MEMORY OF
LORD VISCOUNT NELSON
BY THE ZEALOUS ATTACHMENT
OF ALL THOSE WHO FOUGHT AT
TRAFALGAR
TO PERPETUATE HIS TRIUMPH
AND THEIR REGRET
MDCCCV

Indeed such was the "zealous attachment" of those who served under him that they donated two days' pay towards the cost of the monument.

Nearby is Fort Nelson, home to a Royal Armouries Museum, the only one of the local forts not to be named after the nearest settlement.

A commemorative ceremony is held here on the 21 October every year to mark Trafalgar Day, the anniversary of Nelson's death.