WEEKE LOCAL HISTORY

Notes on Hampton Lane

The history of Hampton Lane starts with the death of Colonel Burnett Hitchcock who lived in Weeke Manor and owned much of the land in Weeke. The wider history of Weeke and how Colonel Burnett Hitchcock fits in, can be found on this website www.weekehistory.co.uk

The Colonel died in 1908. Within a few years his widow left Weeke Manor and joined her children in London. This ended the family in Weeke Manor owning much of the land. Several people rented the Manor House up to the World War II. The Manor was requisitioned and was taken over by Portsmorth Grammar School for their evacuated pupils. After the war the Manor was acquired by the Red Cross.

The Executors of his Will started to sort out the estate and during the First World War decided to sell the land all the way up the right-hand side of the Lane. One of their stipulations was that the purchaser must build two houses on the land within 12 months of purchasing it, presumably to stop the land being used for agriculture.

A purchaser in 1917 could not obtain the materials to build the required two houses, because all resources were needed for the war effort and after 12 months had to return the land to the Executors. In 1918 an important Draper called Edmonds who had a large store in Winchester High Street purchased the land and he found a way to overcome the difficulty of obtaining materials, even though the war had ended. He went to Morn Hill camp which was being dismantled and purchased two of the barrack buildings that were brick built. He had them dismantled and rebuilt in Hampton Lane near the bottom (where 4, 4A, 6, and 8 are now). They were called 1 and 2 Breachfield House (named after the field that would become part of Teg Down).

Edmonds lived in one of the houses for a while and then purchased a farm at Michelmersh and moved there. The two houses were rented out up to and through World War 2. In the 1930's the corner plot at the beginning of the Lane was sold. After the war ended, Edmonds started to sell off building plots along the right-hand side of the Lane.

The plots were sold between 1946 and 1954. These are listed below with a map showing the plots.The left-hand side of the Lane was owned by the Church Commissioners. The land was leased by the farmers who used it. The land owned by the Colonel had originally been Church land that his family had leased but then purchased the freehold from the Commissioners in the 1860s onwards.

The change in need for houses after the second world war lead the Commissioners to start selling off plots on the left-hand side of the Lane. I do not have any information on the plots and owners.

Release 1.0 last update 20/06/20