Salisbury and Stonehenge » milford

Kelsey Road, Salisbury

admin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:06:09 +0000

Kelsey Road runs over Milford Hill from the Greencroft to Laverstock railway bridge.

Kelsey Road seems to be named after a Mr Kelsey who owned land in the area. A document called ‘Notes on the History of St Marks.’ by the late Rev. C. N. Wyld says that:

The property to the east of London Road, called Manor Road, belonged to a Mr. Kelsey, and I think he must have bought it from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The land now unbuilt on to the east of Manor Road and Fair View Terrace belongs to them. Mr. Kelsey offered us a site for a Church at the north end of Manor Road. It was considered unsuitable, looking to the future of the new district, and so was declined.

Manor Farm Road, Milford

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:43:41 +0000

Manor Farm Road is in Milford, which is the slightly nebulous area to the east of Salisbury. It runs along the eastern edge of Milford Hill, from Laverstock Road to the bottom of Milford Hollow.

I don’t know whether Manor Farm still exists or what the extent of it was, but I would expect that it was related to Milford Manor, which is the large grey building at the end of Manor Farm Road.

Milford Manor, Milford

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Manor Road, Salisbury

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:38:48 +0000

Manor Road runs along the top of Milford Hill, from Kelsey Hill to Wain-a-Long Road.

I’m not sure why it was called Manor Road. It could be a reference to the ‘manor of Milford’, which is how the Milford area was referred to in older documents and maps.

It might be derived from the building that was known as ‘The Grange’ (and then, strangely, ‘Concordes’), but this would seem unlikely because the Grange was on the other side of Saint Mark’s Roundabout.

It could be that Manor Road is named after Milford Manor, but it seems to be too far away from the building, which is at the bottom of Shady Bower.

There are a number of buildings at the northern end of Manor Road which might be grand enough to be called ‘The Manor’ but I don’t know – I’ll have a look next time I’m up there.

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Methuen Drive, Salisbury

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:21:05 +0000

Methuen Drive is on the eastern side of Salisbury. It’s just off from Fowlers Road, which is the road that connects Milford Hill to Fowlers Hill.

I would hazard a guess that the name Methuen Drive is a reference to Field-Marshall Lord Methuen. The Field-Marshall was chair of the governing body of the Godolphin School from 1913 onwards.

Godolphin School is at the top of Milford Hill. Field-Marshall Methuen is also commemorated by the name of a ‘house’ at the Godolphin.

Field Marshall Methuen

Paul Sanford Methuen was the grandson of the first Baron Methuen, who was a Whig-leaning independent MP for Wiltshire from 1812 to 1819.

He went to Eton.

He saw active service in the Second Anglo-Asante War in 1873-4, at the battle of Tell Al-Kebir, and in the Bechuanaland expedition of 1884.(¹)

His most prominent place in military history is his role in the Boer War, where he was second in command to Lord Kitchener.(²)

He was wounded at the Modder River. He led the attack at Magersfontein – one of the three defeats of the war’s ‘Black Week’. (³)

In 1902 at Tweebosch, he was more severely wounded in the thigh and he was captured by the Boers. The Boers returned him to the nearest English hospital, the Boer general Koos de la Rey sending him in his personal cart. (⁴)

Methuen is caricatured in a drawing reproduced on this site hobbling away from the Boer general on crutches.

After the Boer War he was promoted to general officer commanding-in-chief in South Africa. He established friendly relations with his former opponents.

From 1915 until 1919 he was Governor of Malta, and then in 1919 he was appointed Constable of the Tower.

He lived at Corsham Court, which is still in the Methuen family (⁵) and is now open to visitors.

Lord Methuen died in 1932.

Lord Methuen and the Godolphin School

There is a nice article on the Godolphin School website that says that he gave ‘fine short speeches’ and that ‘On one memorable occasion a large party of the school were entertained by Lord and Lady Methuen at Corsham Court, and the girls enjoyed the not common experience of being rowed about the lake by a Field-Marshal.’(⁶)

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Footnotes

Milford Hill, Salisbury

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:49:12 +0000

Milford Hill is on the eastern side of Salisbury.

I think it’s fair to say that ‘Milford Hill’ denotes both the hill itself and a specific road.

The road called Milford Hill runs eastwards from Milford Street, in the centre of Salisbury, towards Milford and Laverstock.

I have discussed Milford itself on the page for Milford Trading Estate, but Milford Hill has a couple of interesting features in it’s own right – the Milford Hill House and the ‘hollowed’ shape of the road.

Milford Hill House – Salisbury Youth Hostel

Milford Hill House, Salisbury

I don’t know an awful lot about Milford Hill House, but it’s a lovely building, set in beautiful grounds.

It was built for a Mr Charles Everett, and later occupied by William Pinckney of Pinckney’s Bank, which seems to have also been known as ‘Salisburys Old Bank’.

Mr Pinckney was also a director of the Salisbury Electric Lighting Compancy, and he was Treasurer of Salisbury Infirmary ¹

The house’s ownership changed many times after the death of Mr Pinckney’s widow, in 1908.

In the 1950s the house was used as the venue for several youth activities, including the Scouts and Guides and the ‘Physical Culture and Weightlifting Club’.²

It was acquired by the Youth Hostel Association ³ in the early 1960s ⁴

It is a Grade II listed building.

Milford Hill – a ‘hollow’

Milford Hill, Salisbury

The shape, or perhaps the profile, of the road known as ‘Milford Hill’ is a continuation of the ‘hollowing’ effect that gives Milford Hollow its name.

The road, at the top of the hill, is about six feet (two metres) below the level of the ground surrounding it. You can hopefully see this in the photo, which was taken from the pavement looking down onto the road.

Hundreds of years of traffic – animals, people, carriages and carts – have ‘hollowed’ out the road. The traffic would have come to and from Salisbury from Winchester⁵, Clarendon, Milford itself and the surrounding countryside.

The hollowing effect is visible at Milford Hill, and along part of Queen Manor Road.

There is still evidence of ‘the hollowing’ in Milford Hollow itself, but the deepest sections have now been filled in.

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Footnotes

The Pinckney Family Tree – William Pinckney
Wiltshire Council – Wiltshire Community History Get Wiltshire History Question Information
Youth Hostel, Salisbury – General – YHA
Wiltshire Council – Wiltshire Community History Get Wiltshire History Question Information
Milford Street was the original ‘Winchester Street’

Milford Hollow, Milford

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:05:48 +0000

Milford Hollow is a track or path on the eastern side of Milford Hill. It runs from the top of Milford Hill down to where the bottom of Shady Bower meets Milford Mill Road and Manor Farm Road.

Milford Hollow, Milford

Of the four elements that form the crossroads, Milford Hollow is now certainly the minor one, being at this point a fairly narrow path.

However in the past Milford Hollow, and its continuation Milford Mill Road, were one of the main routes into Salisbury – from Clarendon, Winchester and perhaps even Southampton and the Coast.

The ‘weight of traffic’, to use a modern phrase, is what ‘hollowed’ out Milford Hollow. Over hundreds of years the passage of people, horses, carts and live stock wore away the ground on this route into town ¹.

The phenomenon is the derivation of the word ‘holloway’, as in London’s Holloway Road.

The deepest remaining part of the hollow was just below the railway cutting, but it was filled in I think in the 1980s or 1990s.

The hollowing effect is still visible on Milford Hill, where the road is some way below the pavement on the northern side, and at the top end of Queen Manor Road which has steep banks perhaps 15-20 foot high on either side of the road.

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Footnotes

‘Milford’, Richard Durman, page 37, Hobnob Press, 2007

Milford Manor Gardens, Milford

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:03:43 +0000

Milford Manor Gardens is at the eastern end of Shady Bower, at the bottom of the hill.

It is named in reference to Milford Manor – it’s possible that the land on which the road was built was once part of the Manor’s gardens.

Milford Manor

Milford Manor, Milford

Milford Manor is the large grey building at the bottom of Shady Bower.

The current Milford Manor was built in 1902 for Mr. R. Gerrish. Gerrish was one of the owners, and later the sole owner, of the department store Style and Gerrish, which is now Debenhams.

There has been a Manor house on the site for some time before 1902. The Swayne brothers, Thomas and Bennet, owned Milford Manor in the 18th Century ¹. There is a tradition that Henry Fielding wrote part of his famous novel Tom Jones in the summer house. There is a pane of glass from the summer house in Salisbury Museum which has been graffiti-ed with the inscription.

Dear Clarissa – Puellarum omnium formissima
She’s the fairest where thousands are fair²

The graffiti has been attributed to Fielding.

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Footnotes

‘Milford’, Richard Durman, page 52, Hobnob Press
‘Milford’, Richard Durman, page 52, Hobnob Press

Milford Mill Road, Milford

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:02:29 +0000

Milford Mill Road is in Milford, which is a suburb to the east of Salisbury city centre.

Milford Mill Road runs from the bottom of Shady Bower, over Milford Bridge, then out towards Petersfinger.

The road is named, obviously enough, in reference to the mill. There are two private houses called ‘Mill House’ and ‘The Granary’ on the river, which are presumably converted mill buildings, and there is a ‘small millwheel house’ between them ¹.

I’m not sure whether this is the ‘Wheel House’ shown at Milford in the 1810 map below (which I’m using with the kind permission of Wiltshire Council Libraries, Heritage & Arts) – it doesn’t seem to be in quite the right position.

1810 map of Salisbury, showing Mizmaze Hill

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Footnotes

‘Milford’, Richard Durman, page 21, Hobnob Press, 2007

Milford Park, Milford

admin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:00:43 +0000

Milford Park is in what I think of as Milford proper, between Milford Bridge and Milford Manor.

Milford is a somewhat nebulous area, but the current consensus would be that it’s on the eastern side of Salisbury. There is more on Milford itself on the page for Milford Trading Estate
.

Milford Park may have been built in the grounds of Milford Manor.

Milford Street, Salisbury

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:57:11 +0000

Milford Street is in the centre of Salisbury. It leads east from the New Canal up to Milford Hill.

Milford Street was originally Winchester Street – it would have been the main route out of Salisbury to Winchester. The current Winchester Street was called ‘Wyneman Street’.

Milford Street

Milford Street’s most prominent building is the Red Lion Hotel

Red Lion Hotel, Salisbury