I live in a village called South Wonston, which adjoins an old airfield and army camp. So I've been doing a bit of walking as part of my allocated daily exercise, together with a bit of research. The camp is now Worthy Down Barracks, headquarters of the Royal Logistics Corps and Adjutant General's Corps and part of the Winchester Garrison. This was originally the site of Winchester Racecourse from 1664 to its closure in 1887. The War Office took the land over and established a Wireless and Observers School there in 1917 and in 1918 an airfield was built for the Royal Flying Corps. The airfield in the 1920's Part of the old airfield today looking west towards the A34. No. 58 Squadron were the first to use the airfield from 1924 flying Vickers Vimy and Virginia heavy bombers from there. In 1925 the squadron was commanded by Arthur "Bomber" Harris before moving to RAF Upper Heyford in 1936. The RAF handed over to the Navy in 1939 and the base became HMS Kestrel, whilst Supermarine used the airfield in the development of the Spitfire from December 1940 to March 1944. Not a Dutch barn but one of the only surviving hangers. It used to house a Fairey Swordfish with wings folded up. The old torpedo fusing shed - the inner brick building is the original with later concrete blast walls thoughtfully added! Still plenty of pill boxes around the perimeter. The old platform from the disused railway. Finally found this: "Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson may have already become great actors but unfortunately the same could not be said of their piloting abilities while at Worthy Down during World War Two. Both men wrecked or badly damaged quite a number of aircraft and the Fleet Air Arm eventually released them in 1944 so that they could form the Old Vic Theatre Company."
Great read @steve lovatt (Steve), really enjoyed it. I did some work for the army at Worthy Down when I was Working. I will tell you the story at the GMU.....
A blast from the past for me there. My father was a career soldier, reaching the rank of captain before his death in 1965. After a brief posting to Singapore in 1956, we returned to Uk in 1960. Dad would commute to Winchester from our house in Barton Stacey, just up the road from South Wonston. My little brother was born there and we lived there until 1961, when we all went back to Singapore again!
That was a really great read and must have been interesting doing the research. I do hope that the old buildings there get preserved - the corner brickwork on the pill boxes alone is worth saving! - and that the area isn't sold to some property developer (like, e.g., John Bloor!) who will rase the whole area to build a thousand new homes! Nice bit of history.
I’ve played rugby there in the distant past but a mere 20 years ago lived outside Andover and was a regular in that neck of the woods and at the Muddy Duck (Black Swan now closed?) in Monxton. Good roads but too much traffic....... usually.
Yeah, the pub closed in 2016 sadly. A planning application was submitted in June last year to convert the pub to a dwelling and build two further houses and a new pub in the old car park. Locals not impressed apparently so don't hold your breath!
I am amazed it hasn’t been developed yet. That is a lovely and expensive part of the country . Thanks for the quick history lesson . Nice to see the post and for me to the have time to read it !
I am amazed it hasn’t been developed yet. That is a lovely and expensive part of the country . Thanks for the quick history lesson . Nice to see the post and for me to the have time to read it !
There are apparently 21 pill boxes around the perimeter of the old airfield. I will have to go looking for more over the weekend!
Just read this to Lady Poppy. Believe it or not her aunt, uncle and one of her cousins live in South Wonston and I've been there several times, including a family party at the village hall there. Small world.
Interesting stuff and nice pics Steve i enjoy a bit of history story, hopefully not steeling the thread i wish i had gotten some more info and story's about my dad before he died...i was only 19 and like most old soldiers he never really talked about his time in the army i only got snippets from my mum. Apparently he ran off to join the army as an under age boy back in the first war and ended up in the tank core for a while and then Cavalry i know this because he still had all his military riding gear, i also know that during the first and second wars he and his brother rode at Brook lands both in races and developmental testing for one of the motorcycle brands but cant remember which. He then when back into the army for the second war and was in the engineering core and had risen to the rank of Captain and was stationed all over the place i was told that he built the dock cranes in Colombo harbor in Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka) and that he was awarded the title of Captain for the rest of his life....but never used it dont know what for and i have tried finding info on line but have turned up nothing....he sounded quite a guy but i only knew the rather self obsessed grumpy workaholic ...shame.
Very interesting Steve,it's amazing how much old wartime stuff is still laying about, l was wondering around the old holmsley airfield yesterday, one of quite a few new forest wartime airfields. They took most of the runway up years ago and an old girl was telling me that it used to be very popular with people learning to drive! Another guy said they used it for speed trials on their bikes, one bike at each end and then pass each other in the middle at a closing speed of 200 mph! "Elf n safety " would have a fit if it was still going on now.
