The London and Southampton Railway was first proposed in 1831 and the bill approved by Parliament in 1834 at a cost of £900,000. The section between Basingstoke and Winchester opened on 11 May 1840 – and was the final part of the London and Southampton Railway to be completed. Prior to its construction, all of the traffic between London and Southampton was carried by eight stage coaches, four wagons per week, and one barge weekly on the Basingstoke Canal!
The London and Southampton Railway was first proposed in 1831 and the bill approved by Parliament in 1834 at a cost of £900,000. The section between Basingstoke and Winchester opened on 11 May 1840 – and was the final part of the London and Southampton Railway to be completed. Prior to its construction, all of the traffic between London and Southampton was carried by eight stage coaches, four wagons per week, and one barge weekly on the Basingstoke Canal!
The London and Southampton Railway was first proposed in 1831 and the bill approved by Parliament in 1834 at a cost of £900,000. The section between Basingstoke and Winchester opened on 11 May 1840 – and was the final part of the London and Southampton Railway to be completed. Prior to its construction, all of the traffic between London and Southampton was carried by eight stage coaches, four wagons per week, and one barge weekly on the Basingstoke Canal!
MICHELDEVER VILLAGE
Micheldever can fairly be described as a picture postcard village with its quaint black and white half-timbered cottages, its idiosyncratic church architecture, a pub - the Half Moon & Spread Eagle, a Church of England primary school with an impressive clock-tower and a village hall (the Northbrook Hall). At the junction of Duke Street (formerly known as Duck Street), Church Street and Sloe Lane (the road from Stoke Charity) is a small village green known as The Crease – the name is a corruption of the word ‘cross’ – a spot where villagers can sit on a bench and watch the world go by. Not that it has always been like this for in the 18th century there was a small cottage and shoe maker’s shop on The Crease.
