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.
Click on the links below to access each recollection.
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 |
My mother, grandmother, step grandfather and my uncle came to the Southampton area during the 1st world war. They eventually moved to North Baddesley in the 1920’s. Later on my grandparents started a haulage business called W.J. WALLBRIDGE. They took deliveries from Southampton Docks to Portsmouth or London and they also did local deliveries.
I was born in 1933 at my grandparent’s home, the bungalow still stands, it is on the corner of St. Andrews Close and Rownhams Lane. The Close was built on land belonging to my grandparents, their land went quite along way back, I believe touching on to Broadlands.
During the 2nd World War, their haulage business prospered as they still collected the food brought in from abroad for the country during the very hard times. I also remember that when Exide Batteries were blitzed in Southampton they used the large garage in my grandparent’s property for the duration of the war and for several years after.