Bursledon

Bursledon village consists of two distinct halves - the new and the old. The older part is more interesting and certainly more picturesque, with its streets of quaint old buildings clinging to the banks of the Hamble. Visitors to Bursledon often recall the little Gothic belfry at the entrance to the Roman Catholic Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary.
An extract from from"Southampton Photographic Memories".

Long before this photograph was taken, Bursledon was vulnerable to invaders - it was here that King Alfred sank 20 Danish longships. Today, however, the scene is much calmer. Despite the heavy industry and the sprawling suburban reaches, the shores of the Hamble conceal hidden pockets of pretty countryside, with the local villages retaining the air of unspoilt river communities.
An extract from from"Hampshire Revisited Photographic Memories".

To the right is the bridge over the river. Until the county council rebuilt it in the 1930s, tolls had to be paid to cross. Some houseboats were moored here for years; in the 1960s, residents enjoyed a peaceful existence, but now traffic thunders over the bridge. Boat owners can still moor up and hop ashore for a pint at the Jolly Sailor.
An extract from from"Hampshire Living Memories".

Until the beginning of the 19th century the only crossing of the Hamble was by ferry. The first structure was a toll bridge; today the river is spanned by various busy roads and a motorway - a far cry from the days centuries ago when this river and many others like it on the south coast were coveted by invaders.
An extract from from"Southampton Photographic Memories".

The cenotaph in the High Street commemorates those who died in battle but whose remains lie elsewhere. It is of unusual and classic appearance; it was designed by the architect Harry Inigo Triggs, who had travelled and studied in Italy. The detailing is borrowed from the eight blank panels in the Medici chapel in Florence; on these panels are carved the names of the town’s dead of the First World War. (Plaques were added after the Second World War commemorating the 54 young men who died on duty away from home during that conflict). After much deliberation over an appropriate location for the town’s memorial, it was erected by the mason Andrew Perryman of Dragon Street in its present position early in 1922 - a position in the Square was discounted. In the wake of the war, under the auspices of the Housing Act of 1919, the country set about building ‘homes fit for heroes’. The first of these were built in Noreuil Road, which was named after a little village of some 100 inhabitants near Arras in France. Petersfield had adopted the village to help with its reconstruction, and a letter thanking the town for gifts of parcels of clothing and coloured wall maps to brighten the schoolroom was signed by J Nicholai, the schoolmistress at Noreuil. The Electricity Supply Act of 1919 gave rise to an application by Dr R J Cross, Mr T A Crawter and Mr C W Seaward, who wanted to form a company to supply electric light to Petersfield. The plan was for a generator on land located to the rear of the Volunteer Arms (now Meon Close), with a frontage on Frenchmans Road. (Note that the company was only to supply electric light, not power). With houses having only 40-watt lamps, it is unlikely that a supply greater than 20 kilowatts would be required. Tom Crawter’s house, Clare Cross, was the first house in Petersfield to be lighted by electricity. Nevertheless, there was enough power to supply the Electric Theatre with the town’s first film shows. The first cinema stood at the corner between Chapel Street and Swan Street - in fact, the demolition of the Swan public house made way for the Electric Theatre. That first cinema was replaced by the Savoy Cinema in 1935, and is now a nightclub.
An extract from from"Petersfield - A History & Celebration".