I can remember when H/E had a saw mill in the area of the Car park and Baptist Church. On St Johns road, Granada road corner stood the Farrier. At the bottom of Burseldon road opposite the school where two houses now stand was a saddler. The Barclays Bank was Williams the Butcher

How fascinating! Having moved here in the last decade I love hearing about Hedge End as it was in the past. There’s a picture in Steve Tanti’s book 'Hedge End – From Village to Town' of the prefabs in Upper Northam Road, also of the ‘tin hut’ Old Mission Hall on the corner of what’s now the busy crossroads in Hedge End centre.

It’s great to hear from people who actually remember Hedge End as it was.

Anybody else have some memories of buildings long gone?

I'm probably just about old enough to remember, but I'm afraid I didn't live here at that time. I'm more familiar with the local Shops in Woolston (where I grew up) than in Hedge End. Fascinating info nevertheless thanks Cathreyn/Jeff. I didn't know about the pre-fab houses or "The Kettle" or Hindmarches or "Penetang" or the tin-hut church. Fine Fare was an early supermarket chain, if my memory is correct. I'm sure they had branches elsewhere acrosss Southampton.

I'm also aware that some Southampton citizens used to trek out to Hedge End on a nightly basis during the blitz, to escape the worst of the bombing and am aware that Hedge End was part of a huge miltary camp during the build-up to D-Day. If you look at the dates on some of the metalwork embedded into the pavements (e.g. stop-cocks for water mains) in the there seems to have been some serious development around the Freegrounds/Kings-Copse area during that period, presumably to help service HMS Cricket (now Manor Farm Country Park)...?

Last but not least. Does anybody remember what occupied the area now covered by New Cliffe Gardens, or even better, have some photo's...?

yes I remember all of them including the Large Red brick house in Freegrounds Road. I remember it used to have milk churns outside of a morning as I walked, yes Walked to St Johns school from Upper St Helens Road. Next to the Kettle used to be O'Dells hardware which for a time took over from Lankaster & Crooks but even they lost out to B&Q. Does anyone also remember the Prefab houses alongside the park in Upper Northam Road. & Hindmarches book & model shop opposite. best wishes Jeff

Dear TGRWorzel - I wondered if you were of an age to remember a property in Freegrounds called "Penetang"? It is, or was, a red brick building, and stood out from the much more modern housing around it. It was my great-aunt and great-uncle's house. They owned and farmed Freegrounds Farm, before and during the second world war. My father, their nephew, lived with them during the war, and did the milk deliveries in and around Hedge End. Their names were Isabel and Ted Wiffen.

I, too, remember Lankester and Crook, very well - also, what my sister and I knew as the sweet and ice cream shop, The Kettle, now a chinese takeaway.
And Fine Fare, and I'm sure that Barclays used to be a butcher's shop. Do you remember the "tin hut" United Reformed Church?

Kind regards,
Catherine.