Reflections: The A337 – story of a road well travelled

The Highways Act of 1555 placed the responsibility for maintenance of roads, and the bridges they passed over, on to the individual parishes. Some of the money raised from the poor rate levied on parishioners went towards the maintenance of highways.

One of the local officials elected annually in each parish was an overseer or surveyor of highways. He was tasked with inspecting the roads and bridges and reporting their state of repair to the parish council.

The material for the maintenance of the roads, such as gravel and timber, had to be provided by local farmers and landowners. Each parish had a statutory duty to provide labourers for road repair.

In 1663 an act of parliament allowed private investors to build roads and charge people for using them.

The money raised was used to maintain the road as well as giving some return to those who had invested.

Three examples in the local area were the Lymington, Lyndhurst and Rumbridge Turnpike Trust, created in 1765; the Salisbury, Landford, Ower and Eling Turnpike Trust formed in 1753; and the Christchurch and Lyndhurst Turnpike Trust which was opened in 1841. This route roughly follows the present day A35. As can be seen, the turnpike roads were linked to each other.

The A337 road between Christchurch and Lymington has been in use for hundreds of years. However, the road has been altered and improved over that time.

What are the earliest records we have of the road? When were the first usable road maps created accurately showing the route? What would an early traveller recognise on the journey today, if anything at all?

Early maps

There are many early maps of the area but none in any great detail and certainly not of any use to navigate from Christchurch to Lymington safely.

Early evidence that the road existed can be seen in Norden’s 1625 publication in which the distance between the two towns was recorded as nine miles.

One of the first usable maps of the route was possibly Ogilby’s strip map published in 1675. This just depicts the road to travel along to get to the destination.

The map shows rivers, hamlets, villages and towns. It also shows the junctions of other roads leading off the main route and records where they would go to.

The map also indicates mile markers. Ogilby’s 1675 map and the 1720 strip map published in Britannia Depicta both give the distance between Christchurch and Lymington as 14 miles.

These maps were published in book form and would have been of use to a traveller in that period.

One of the more accurate early maps that historians can use to research the route is the 1841 tithe map. It would have been totally impractical to use as a map to take on the journey as tithe maps are usually printed onto canvas and are in rolls about 10ft in length.

Often only three copies were made in each parish. One was used by the tithe commissioners, one by the parish church and one kept in the diocesan registry.

However, sections of the map were copied and used for other purposes as tithe maps were certified for accuracy by commissioners. They are, therefore, the most accurate pre-Ordnance Survey maps available to historians.

Using a combination of the 1675 and 1820 strip maps and the 1841 tithe map, it is possible to get some idea of the journey between Christchurch and Lymington.

New Town

The Milton Parish tithe map has its south-western edge in what is now the centre of Highcliffe but was then called Slop Pond, later New Town.

Following a petition in 1892 to change the village name again, as the post was going astray, the village finally became Highcliffe. The early maps indicate that there were a few houses along the road through New Town.

The lodge houses for the original High Cliff House still exist on the A337, both displaying their date stones of circa 1773. These buildings now form part of the Lord Bute Hotel and Restaurant.

Opposite the lodge gates can be seen a milestone inscribed with ‘9 L’ indicating nine miles to Lymington. This is one of the visible legacies of those early road enhancements that can be seen today.

It is amazing that they have survived, especially with road widening over the years, relocating of roads and, during the Second World War, the removal or burial of some of them so that they would be of no assistance to the enemy in the event of invasion.

Behind the milestone is St Mark’s Church. The foundation stone for this building was laid on 14th April 1842. Local Christchurch builder John Beamister drew up the basic plans and constructed the building.

It is believed that renowned Christchurch-born architect Benjamin Ferrey was involved in a later enlargement of the church.

As the traveller of the 1840s progresses eastwards down the road, a building from that period still in use today is the old school house, now used by Highcliffe and Walkford Parish Council and the local Men’s Shed group.

The school started out as a small lecture room built on land gifted to the village by a Mr John Spicer of Somerford Grange. It was later briefly used by the New Town Mission Church.

Once nearby St Mark’s church was consecrated, the Mission Church was no longer required and in 1844 it became the school for the poor of the parish.

Over the years the original lecture theatre has been enlarged with additional buildings added on.

It remained in use as a school building until September 1962 when Highcliffe Junior School opened.

The Globe Inn at Highcliffe was believed to have been started some time between the 1841 and 1851 census. The land on which the Globe is situated was sold to a John Pack in 1828 and he was still listed as the owner in 1841. The census of that year shows his occupation as a farrier in New Town. The 1851 census lists him as an innkeeper along with his wife Elanor, two daughters and a son.

It would have been a convenient place to stop and seek refreshment, having set off from Christchurch.

Chewton

The route leaves the hamlet of New Town behind and heads towards Chewton. In the 1840s the road curved round to the left and descended the hill towards the ford across the water.

Branching off to the left was the Ringwood Road. At this junction there was a milestone. Despite road improvements, including the introduction of a roundabout and junction widening, the milestone indicating eight miles to Lymington still exists, albeit slightly moved from its original location.

The ford through the Walkford Stream at Chewton Bunny was, in the days before motorised transport, an opportunity to let your horse have a cool drink and, in the summer time, a chance for the wooden spokes to expand and tighten up the wheels.

As traffic increased with the arrival of motor vehicles and the increasing popularity of cycling, the ford became a hazard and in 1901 a bridge was constructed.

It is acknowledged by the Cement and Concrete Association as being the earliest reinforced concrete bridge in England. It was not until July 1959 that the A&T newspaper was able to report that work had started on widening the road and reducing the sharpness of the bends at Chewton.

In the 1840s, the journey described so far would all have been in the county of Hampshire. In 1974 the county boundaries were realigned and Chewton Bunny became the new border. Highcliffe and Christchurch became part of Dorset.

There had been plans to take all of Lymington borough into Dorset but following fierce protests, the borough, including Milton Parish, remained in Hampshire.

A traveller in the 1840s riding through the ford and climbing up around the bends at Chewton would have been aware of a large house on the right side of the road. This was Chewton Hill Cottage. Later it would become a boarding school in the 1930s called Field Place.

After the Second World War it was used as a home for children with learning difficulties. The traveller would probably have known of Chewton Glen House but would not have been able to see it from the road as it was then, and still is today, hidden from view by trees.

From 1837 to 1855 Lt Col. George Marryat owned the house. His brother, Royal Navy officer Captain Frederick Marryat, stayed there during the 1840s and wrote the famous book Children of the New Forest.

Milton village

In the 1840s the road straightened and ran through farmland. The tithe map shows nothing but fields either side. Ahead in the distance the 1840s traveller would have seen the village of Milton with the church of St Mary Magdalene.

A survivor from the 1840s route is another milestone which can be seen beside the entrance to Fawcett’s Field. This one showed the distance to Lymington as being seven miles.

Arriving in Milton village, a visitor from the 1840s would notice that the Wheatsheaf Inn is still in business, and this would have been another opportunity to rest and refresh.

Milton is marked on the strip maps, showing buildings and a church alongside the road. In those days, in addition to the Wheatsheaf, there would have been the George Inn. In the 18th and 19th century the two inns provided beer for the choir on alternate weekends.

An April 1813-dated bill to the church from the landlady of the George Inn, Elizabeth Dawkins, is in the county records.

Next door to the Wheatsheaf was a grocer’s shop. In the 1960s this was purchased by the owners of the inn and incorporated into the public house, effectively doubling its size.

Beside the grocer’s shop was the blacksmith’s forge and his house. In the 1840s the apprentice blacksmith was George Randell, who later emigrated to Australia with his wife from Bransgore. He became the mayor of Perth in 1884.

Also available in the village was a bakery, a cobbler’s shop, a saddle maker and a butcher.

Tucked out of sight, in what is now Old Milton Road, was the poor house. The inmates were put to work making tiny chains called fusees which were used in watches.

Robert Cox, a watch manufacturer in Christchurch employed the poor of Milton parish and Christchurch to make the chains. This started a thriving watch manufacturing industry in the town.

We will continue our journey through time towards Lymington in part two next month.

• Nick Saunders is a local historian and chair of the Milton Heritage Society. Email nick@miltonheritagesociety.co.uk