ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER 1862
WEYHILL
On Sunday 12th October, this ancient village church was attended by an unusual number of visitors, it being the church where the Rev M H Begbie, curate of Abbotts Ann, intended preaching his last sermon whilst in this locality.
From some cause, he was prevented from preaching it at Abbotts Ann.
During the week previous to the gentleman’s departure, numbers of testimonials have been presented to him by the parishioners of Abbotts Ann, consisting of a handsome clock and several valuable books by various authors, as tributes of their love, esteem and respect towards him, since he has been among them.
In times of sickness or distress by day or night, at the rich man’s house, or at the humblest cottager’s, it was immaterial, the Rev gentleman was always to be found.
His Christian, liberal heart will never be forgotten at Abbotts Ann.
The day previous to the Rev gentleman’s leaving the village, he made a visit to all the parishioners, taking leave of them and wishing them goodbye, a day which will not be soon forgotten in Abbotts Ann.
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER 1901
CLANVILLE – REPAIRS TO PROPERTY
At the Newbury County Court on Wednesday last, an action was heard in which Henry Sturgess of Penton, Andover, sought to recover £38 16s 7d from Henry Berry of Ludgershall, for the balance of account for repairs to Ashlawn, Clanville.
The dispute arose over the bill for some repairs executed by the plaintiff for defendant at Ashlawn.
The plaintiff was a builder who said the property was in a very dilapidated condition and the defendant had agreed to his estimate of £56 16s 7d to make the required repairs.
A sum of £18 was paid on account and the repairs effected but the defendant refused to pay any more, saying the agreement was for £18 and no more.
His Honour held that as it had not been shown that the original estimate was unfair or unreasonable, it was absurd that a builder should agree to carry out the work for as little as the amount paid and he held that the plaintiff was entitled to recover the amount claimed.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 22 OCTOBER 1926
LONGPARISH – MIDNIGHT ESCAPE
About Tuesday midnight some person or persons unknown, gave vent to a perverted and misguided sense of humour throughout the village.
In the morning, evidences of it were manifest; the village grindstone had been overturned, several gates had been taken from their hinges, and in one case fences had been pushed over, and advertisement boards taken from their moorings.
It is reported that there was at least one serious consequence of this foolery, for the miscreants had placed large stones in the roadway and Mr Judd, who was cycling to work early on Wednesday morning, crashed into one of these stones and was thrown.
Fortunately, he received no serious injury but we understand his bicycle was damaged.
Whether these nocturnal visitors were intent on wilful damage, or merely playing a senseless joke, is not known, but at all events such happenings, to say the least of it, are childish and would hardly be the work of anyone who possessed anything but a perverted mind.
SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER 1951
ARMY LORRY WRECKS SHOP FRONTS
'It was dreadful. We were just sorting through the morning’s post when with a loud crash the lorry ploughed into the shop,' said Andover town councillor Mrs Maud Sainsbury, who with her husband Mr U Sainsbury and Mr G Fisher, all directors of Sainsbury Fisher Ltd, were in the shop when a three-ton army lorry, driven by a learner driver from the REME Depot, at Barton Stacey, smashed through both their shop windows on Tuesday morning.
Apparently, the driver of the lorry, Recruit Robert William Papworth, who was accompanied, had slowed to about three mph at the junction of the High Street, at the back of the Guildhall, before entering the upper High Street.
The vehicle then suddenly shot forward and before the driver had time to straighten out, the lorry had mounted the pavement, knocked a No Waiting sign flat and crashed through the lower window, scattering TV sets in its wake.
Then it mounted the 11in high step and ploughed into the second window containing musical instruments.
It finally came to rest with the top of the driver’s cab flush up against the beam running across the shop window.
Glass was scattered everywhere.
TV, wireless sets and other electrical equipment in the lower window were badly damaged; mouth organs and other small musical instruments in the upper front window were flattened.
The damage is estimated at several hundred pounds.
'The lorry simply came on and on and I wondered when it was going to stop,' said Mr Fisher.
'The crash was terrific.'
'Another half-hour and somebody would have been killed,' said Mr Sainsbury.
'Fortunately, no-one was outside on the pavement at the time – it was about 9.20 when the lorry crashed through the window – but there are usually plenty of shoppers about later on.'
Andover police were soon on the scene and after particulars had been taken, the driving instructor L/Cpl Yeomens, backed the vehicle out of the shop.
It was not seriously damaged, apart from a front headlamp and the door and handle.
Shortly afterwards, the builders arrived, who nailed up the shop front temporarily with corrugated iron sheets and business continued as usual.
FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER 1979
AN ANDOVER GHOST
As we approach Halloween, Andover’s ghost population will be preparing to resurrect themselves for the occasion.
There are many tales of local ghosts, both in Andover and in the nearby villages.
One place to avoid on 31 October is Union Street which is supposedly haunted by a headless Cavalier who, if he points his sword towards anyone, the poor unfortunate will be condemned to death.
Another visitor from the spirit world has taken up permanent residence at the White Hart Hotel in Bridge Street where guests have seen a 'green lady' in Room 20.
The White Hart must be a ghost hunter’s paradise because there have been other sightings of a vaguely shaped man and woman in the corridor.
Elsewhere, a sad earthbound spirit is that of a young girl who jumped out of the window of Wolversdene House after she had witnessed the murder of her soldier lover at the hands of her father.
A relatively recent discovery that first began in 1967 was at Poplar Farm, Abbotts Ann, when footsteps were heard and a door was slammed but nothing was seen.
A year later, a similar phenomenon was heard there but still nothing was seen.
However, in 1972, a barmaid saw what she described as a 'vague shape' climbing the stairs.
The theory is that the Poplar Farm ghost is a society lady of the 18th century who lay dormant while the farm was used by smugglers last century until more peaceable times.
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