Category: February 2015

A mythical pear tree, a village green and an air raid shelter

Looking over Chessel Bay from the site of the old Ridgeway Golf Course
Looking over Chessel Bay from the site of the old Ridgeway Golf Course

8 February 2015

On on the face of it Pear Tree, seems an odd name to give to a green, a church or an avenue but there was once an ancient pear tree, almost rent in two by lightning that, miraculously some might say, survived and still bore fruit. Back in 1618, when the little church was built the whole area, from Bitterne Village at the top of the hill down to Itchen Ferry Village was woods and heathland  known as Ridegway Heath. So famous was the old pear tree that the green on Ridgeway Heath was named after it. When a post on the Southampton Heritage Facebook page mentioned an air raid shelter on the green and a World War II tented camp I thought I’d go and take a closer look.

Continue reading A mythical pear tree, a village green and an air raid shelter

Frustrations, meetings and spreadsheets

Wonderful light on Cobden Bridge
Wonderful light on Cobden Bridge

4 – 7 February 2015

Wednesday morning started off well enough. Disappointingly, I didn’t walke to the banket of white I’d hoped for, just bitter cold and clouds that were pretty enough but held no snowy promise. The walk to work was brisk to say the least but the light was good enough to make me stop on Cobden Bridge for a couple of photos. The colours of the boats and houses seemed unnaturally bright and the old boatyard almost gleamed. A couple of swans were mulling about by the little boats and a large barge was slowly making its way towards the bridge while the sun gradually climbed above the trees and houses on the east of the river. Continue reading Frustrations, meetings and spreadsheets

sea, ruins and melting snow

Weston Shore
Weston Shore

3 Fenruary 2015

Pretty soon I was crunching through the snow around the corner, where the Seaweed pub used to stand, to the shore. Beside me snow was caught in the seed heads of the swaying grasses and I could see a ragged line of white where the shingle beach should be. Despite the dark clouds everything looked sparkling and bright. The brooding snow cloud on the horizon almost hid the towers and spires of Fawley on the other side of the water but the sun was doing battle with them, trying hard to burn through.  Across the road the little beach shelters looked lonely on the empty foreshore, it seemed as if I was the only person in the world, with the whole beach to myself. Continue reading sea, ruins and melting snow

A thin, ephemeral blanket of white

image

3 February 2015

On Monday night I made a careful plan for a long walk. Maybe it’s time I learned my lesson and stopped making plans because it seems something always happens to scupper them. When I got up in the night I did a double take as I passed the hall window from bedroom to bathroom, either there was a really heavy frost or it had been snowing. It was too dark to see for sure so, sleepily, I trotted back to bed. The answer, when Tuesday morning came, was snow! Finally the Yak Trax would come out of hibernation. At least they would if I got a move on and got outside before it melted or rained. Continue reading A thin, ephemeral blanket of white

Hum Hole, Facebook and urban legends

image 1 February 2015 I’m not a great fan of Facebook. In fact, I resisted it for a very long time but, working in marketing for Dream Factory, the day came when I could resist no longer because I was put in charge of the company Facebook page. This meant I had to sign up for myself. These days I run a Facebook walking page, Walking Is Exercise Too and, recently, I discovered another very interesting page, Southampton Heritage Photos. Lately, there’s been a lot of talk on there about Hum Hole. Continue reading Hum Hole, Facebook and urban legends