These recollections have been supplied by villagers who have lived or worked in the village during the past. Some of them are are still living here. The earliest recollection is from a Mr. V.A. Dibble, who was the son of the first schoolmaster of Baddesley School and he was born in 1889.
We believe they provide a fascinating glimpse of what village life was really like in the past and I hope you will find them to be as interesting a read as I most certainly did.
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Please Note: As some of the recollections are quite long you will need to scroll the bar on the right hand side to access all the content.
| V. A. Dibble | E. Marsh | D. Peckham | B. Myall | M. Gradidge |
| P. Farmer | J. Hibberd | E. Cosier | J. Fowler | D. Biggs |
| P. Haws | E. Gardner | J. MacKenzie | M. Watts | R. Cobern |
Notes made by Mr.V.A.Dibble Son of the first schoolmaster of Baddesley School
A. V. Dibble, Treetops Woodside, Chilworth. Born 1889 Extant 1977
"At age of two did my best to die, after being exposed to sea fog on the crossing to the Island - poor chap will never grow up.
At the age of five years, first visit to Chilworth Church with Aunt and sister - Presumably a children's service. I sat where the lay reader now sits and watched two dear old ladies manipulate a harmonium.Shortly after this (1895) the Minstrels Gallery and spire were removed, resulting in the disbandment of the minstrels, who promptly started a chapel.of their own in Castle Lane. An organ now became a necessity and the present organ was bought from Mitcheldever for £50.
Our East window at that time depicted the four Apostles (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and was from Henry VIII palace at Cheam. About 1930 I suggested that insurance was necessary and the cover was £600. This act resulted in getting a new window after the bombing of 1941.
The Squire of Chilworth and Cranbury Park or Baddesley Manor shared responsibility for the Village School, and at first in 1876 paid highly to the schoolmaster i.e. £2 per week, free accommodation and 5 tons of coal. Probably the richest man in Baddesley when food cost 25/- per week for 3 people. The Flemings provided a party or outing for schoolchildren sometimes twice a year when Violet (Mrs. F.) wou1d purchase a present for each child according to the circumstance or needs.A party was occasionally given by Tankerville Chambererlayne at Cranbury or Baddesley Manor. Our Church Choir, then, consisted of eight boys and five men and if the preacher was long winded Squire F. would cough (?) and the sermon end. Unusual happenings at church were:-
1) A large watch swinging on the end of a ribbon like a pendulum from the Rev. Hoare's neck as he gesticulated.
2) My father forcibly restraining a young vicar from dashing out of the vestry to tell off the daughter of his best friend (Sugden) for smiling at us choir boys.
3) Telling the same young man - in a fit of temper - not to return until he obtained another appointment.
About 1900 Chilworth Manor had a staff of 22 all told. Women, keepers, grooms, gardeners and indoor staff and Manor Farm had possibly six employees, shepherd, cowmen, ploughmen etc. Lloyd George practically put an end to active village life as we knew it then. In 1903 we had I think the last highwayman in England who used to operate from what is now the site of Mrs Ghesher's (?) house. Ernest Moore's mother was waylaid on her way home from Southampton and relieved of small change but kept her sangfroid, together with a golden sovereign tied in the corner of her handkerchief. The two old ladies a/m gave the man each one shilling, as he appeared in need and left their front door at Chilworth Lodge unlocked at night in case "a poor man needed a nights shelter" ( their own words).
I was "real scared" when told to attend a lecture in Southampton one winter night and insisted on riding our pony - who would shie at anything! That same pony deposited my mother on the floor of a cart, when a hedge trimmer bobbled up from the other side of a hedge and turned the cart upside down on one occasion and bolted across the railway at Romsey when startled.
The Feudal system had many advantages - everybody knew everybody else, even those singing on their way home from the Clump at 10 pm.If hospital treatment was required we went to the Manor for a "Hospital Letter" and obtained free treatment, in London if necessary, or took the Waters at Bath. In later years (I was acting as sequestrator) and one D Gillespie came along and said he had not earned his £10 payment and would I like to add a few more names of women or children.
What a healthy year it must have been. I once wrote that with the departure of our Squire in the 1940's the last vestiges of a, "Beneficent Feudalism" ended. The Squire had no official standing but had somehow to be respected. I have never discovered when the Roman road was closed and our present highway formed but I have heard it said that "my father carted the gravel" - nearly 200 years ago?
The called Roman road comes or came from Clausentum - crosses the Winchester-Dorchester road (Manor Road), past the bee hives to our old village and continues as Sandy Lane, North Baddesley.
Our church is built on the site of a former church, but only the font and bells remain, apart from two thirteenth century gravestones. I imagine Walnut Cottage was once the Vicarage and later a Dame School. Manor farm house has or had a priests hide hole, used at the time of the reformation, but the original house was within the moat, of which only a few stones remained when I was young. Domesday Book _______ (?) the Church, the farm and woods and the number of inhabitants. The village was once in the Domesday Book _______ (?) the Church, the farm and woods and the number of inhabitants. The village was once in the domain of the Chief Constable of England with Winchester then the capital.
In my time 14 Vicars came and went - some young men for promotion, others to obtain a little ease before retirement. Some gave me lawn mowers and one sold me a garage and garden implements. The present Vicar's garage is built on what I consider my ground. In former days frequently, the Towers and the Court employed gardeners, coachmen and the like. Sculpter Lucas built the Court just before his Tower of the winds was burnt down. 1895. The Court was wrecked by the The _____ (?) use for D. Day preparations. One point in passing. Our highway was gravelled only until 60 years ago and cyc1ing was a problem.
Bread Charity Plane I was in the Church, probably on Easter Saturday, distributing the Bread Charity to some twenty women, when a bomber plane came low overhead. As I was then one of three controllers of the Rescue Service I fancied a German, but no gunfire was heard. My thoughts ran to a possible scandal if my body was found with so many women. Returning to duty I learned that it was an English plane captured and maintained by the Germans. When two bombs were dropped on Thorneycroft Shipyard the gunners woke up.