Southampton, Downton, Salisbury, Hamptworth and Downton

Friday 9^th May

Last time I wrote, we were in Sherfield English, a little village in Hampshire, just below the Wiltshire border, and on the edge of the New Forest. We are now in Horsham. We’ve found that we can only really write on our “rest days”, those days when we catch up on The Guardian and Observer” and do the washing. Too tired other days.

So let’s tell you about Hampshire and Wiltshire, and driving to Horsham in West Sussex, where my second cousin Linda (Tucker) lives.

Southampton

Having set up camp at a really well appointed caravan park off the A27, we connected with Ange, a fourth cousin whose family never left Southampton, unlike the rest of my relatives. I have been corresponding with Ange for over 12 months, and hosted her sister Ali and husband Dennis to a barbecue at our place last Christmas. It was great to see her.

Having a husband of her own who uses a wheelchair, she sympathized with me about the lack of space in the motor home. However, being thinner than me, she was able to get between the fridge and John’s chair much more easily than I can. I know I should have gone on that diet.

John was still not well, so Ange drove me into Southampton and we went to the Southampton Common to pick up printouts of the surnames I needed for the civic burial grounds in the area. We didn’t have time to go to the Old Cemetery where my Tucker ancestors (three generations) are buried. Pity. However, I was keener to go to the Southampton City Archives, where Ange left me to go home to see to her husband, who has been in bed for weeks with a pressure area. (I’d simply left John at home with a sandwich.)

The City Archives was a treasure trove, and I could have spent more than the two and a half hours allotted to me by my chauffeur (Ange) at my request, since I did feel a bit guilty about John being home alone! He said the worst was listening to the lawn mower at the campsite all day.

The next day, Friday 2nd, we had to check out John’s battery charger since it was not charging the chair, but fortunately it was just a loose connection. Ange had come to the rescue and found us a local wheelchair fixit man.

We then went into Southampton for the day, and fortunately it was a beautiful day and the Eastgate markets were in progress. We have some great photos of the fortress wall and gate.

Both my great grandfathers were small businessmen in the vicinity of Eastgate. My father’s grandfather and father (before WW1 for the latter) had a music shop at 10 Upper Canal Walk, and my grandmother’s father, Robert Henry Reed had three bakeries, one in East Street, which intersects with Canal Walk, and the others in High Street and London Road. The East Street premises was also a tea shop (café). Upper Canal Walk was badly bombed on November 30, 1940 and the music shop was destroyed. My great grandfather’s second wife (“the gold-digger”) was running it from 1924 when g-grandfather died until 1940. The bakery at East Street and all the shops around there seem to have been renewed as well, so maybe they were also bombed. Over 600 people lost their lives at that time.

The photos for Southampton can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnMoxon1/Southampton

Downton Cuckoo Festival, Saturday 3^rd May

This is an annual festival, and we timed our trip so we could go. My cousin Linda and Peter were also keen to go, so they drove two hours to the campsite from Horsham, West Sussex and we all went together in the motor home. I only jumped the clutch once.

We found parking quite easily in the schoolyard and joined thousands of others in the village. We missed the Maypole dancing but caught the hoop dancing and the Morris dancing. We had a beer in the King’s Arms, where a secret passage led to the neighbouring St Laurence Church. During Tudor times, the Catholic priest could be hidden in the pub if necessary.

St Laurence Church (1150) is very interesting. My 5th great grandfather William Tucker was married here in 1761, and many of my ancestors and their siblings were baptised or married there.

You can check out all the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnMoxon1/DowntonCuckooFestivalMay32008

Salisbury
On Sunday, we travelled to Salisbury to catch up with Dot Gurd, who is a very very helpful Wiltshire genealogy "expert". She is always very helpful to "newies" on the Moonrakers list, and to people who have met a "brickwall" with their genealogy research. She contacted me off-list and invited us to lunch at the Red Lion, and then took us on a tour of Salisbury Cathedral and to a Medieval Pageant which co-incided with the 750th anniversary of the church.

Salisbury Cathedral has the highest spire in England. Those stone masons and builders certainly knew what they were doing back then. They sure had some skills.

The funny thing is that Dot is also a Power wheelchair user.

The photos have not yet been loaded, but keep an eye out for the Salisbury photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnMoxon1/.