Today Calsholt Castle was open so I could get some good views of Southampton Water from the castle roof. This small artillery fort was built by Henry VIII to defend the entrance to Southampton Water. It served as an RAF and Military base and was active during and between the wars.
There were times in history when a boat sailing past the fort flying the French flag would have had the guns of the fort firing at it!
Back in the 1990s, I visited HMS Excellent originally Whale Island in Portsmouth Harbour.
While there I saw the Royal field gun carriage. On the carriage is a brass plaque which reads.
THIS
FIELD GUN CARRIAGE
PRESENTED TO H.M.S. EXCELLENT BY
HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V
WAS USED
ON 2ND FEBRUARY 1901 AT THE FUNERAL OF
HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA
MANNED IN EMERGENCY BY SEAMEN OF THE ROYAL NAVY
UNDER THE COMMAND OF LT. THE HON. A.D.E.H. BOYLE R.N. & S/LT P.L.H. NOBLE
ALSO ON 20TH MAY 1910 AT THE FUNERAL OF
HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII
MANNED BY SEAMEN OF H.M.S. EXCELLENT
UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN R.G. TUPPER A.D.C. R.N.
ALSO ON 28TH JANUARY 1936 AT THE FUNERAL OF
HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V
MANNED BY SEAMEN OF H.M.S. EXCELLENT
UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN A.J. POWER R.N.
ALSO ON 15TH FEBRUARY 1952 AT THE FUNERAL OF
HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE VI
MANNED BY SEAMEN OF H.M.S. EXCELLENT
UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN R.F. ELKINS O.B.E. A.D.C. R.N.
ALSO ON 30TH JANUARY 1965 AT THE FUNERAL OF
SIR WINSTON LEONARD SPENCER CHURCHILL K.G. O.M. C.H.
MANNED BY SEAMEN OF H.M.S. EXCELLENT
UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN A.M. POWER M.B.E. R.N.
ALSO ON 5TH SEPTEMBER 1979 AT THE FUNERAL OF
ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN
K.G. G.C.B. O.M. G.C.S.I. G.C.I.E. G.C.V.O. D.S.O.
MANNED BY MEN OF THE ROYAL NAVY
UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN R.K.S. BETHELL O.B.E. R.N.
Royal Horse Artillery in January 1901 were tasked with the final phase of the funeral of Queen Victoria. This was to move her coffin from the railway station at Windsor to Windsor Castle. As the coffin was placed on the gun carriage the horses who had been waiting for some time on the snow-covered ground and with the noise of the train panicked and reared up. It looked as though the coffin would be toppled off the carriage. Naval ratings were ordered to take the lead, the sailors grounded arms and formed fours at the head of the cortege. Improvised drag ropes were brought in and pulled Queen Victoria to her destination. The horses were unharnessed and moved safely out of the way. Another story tells how the Naval ratings took over when a pin broke and the horses could not pull the carriage.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II has made me think of my visit to Whale Island and seeing the Royal field gun carriage all those years ago. I understand it will be used on Monday for the Queen’s funeral pulled by Royal Naval Ratings as they have done for all State funerals since Queen Victoria’s.
Beaulieu Airfield was a major wartime airfield in the New Forest that saw a large amount of action including Coastal Command. Many anti-submarine operations were flown from Beaulieu, It was an important role in the airfield’s history.
A large concrete BL is set into the ground. This is located in front of where the airfield control tower once stood. BL was the airfield pundit code for RAF Beaulieu It helped airborne aircraft identify the airfield. Each airfield would have its own code letters. You can see a metal socket which is a short thick-walled mortar which would have had a tube fitted this signal mortar would have been used to alert aircraft approaching the field – for example, landing gear not down!
Some nature spots on the heathland around the airfield site.
Excited to see Cukoo’s but only some distance away.
Dunnock
Raven
Another one of 6 murals which have been painted across Hampshire, all depicting sea creatures, this one is on Hythe Pier.
15 model hares are being displayed in my home city of Southampton as part of an interactive art trail. They have been in the city since June but are off towards the end of August. Each sculpture is 6ft tall and features its own unique design painted by artists in collaboration with Wild in Art. Today I found 10 of them.
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Black and orange or orange and black. In recent years I have only found a few Cinnabar caterpillars. When we were kids each Ragwort plant in the fields behind our family home had many of these colourful caterpillars. When l find one today I am transported back to the carefree days of my childhood in the 60s unaware of the Cold War, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missle Crisis.
The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.
The Canadian Memorial is a simple wooden roadside cross with two flag poles. It is situated overlooking the sloping ground, near Bolderwood on a forest road leading to Emery Down.
The memorial remembers World War Two Canadian forces present in the New Forest before the D-Day invasion of June 6th, 1944 ‘
At this site, during the build-up to D-Day, Canadians were stationed in the area. It is also close to one of Forest’s wartime airfields at Stoney Cross.
A plaque with an inscription reads: ‘On this site, a cross was erected to the glory of God on 14th April 1944, by men of the 3rd Canadian Division RCASC’ ( the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.)
On D-Day, RCASC soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Division and 2nd Armoured Brigade landed on Juno Beach.
The River Meon allowed sea-going vessels to reach the important trading centre of Titchfield with its large Abbey. Titchfield’s history stretches back to the 6th century. It operated as an important port and market town during medieval times. Ships entered the river at Hill Head and navigated their way up to Titchfield {about 2 miles inland} until as late as the start of the 17th century when silting started to restrict the passage. As the river continued to silt up the Titchfield Canal was built opening in 1611. It was only the second canal existing in Britain at the time. Soon the canal also suffered from silting and the sea trade moved away from Titchfield to nearby Southampton. At the same time as the canal was constructed, the outfall of the River Meon to the sea was dammed, creating the wetlands that now form the Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve. Around 1900 Hill Head consisted of only a few small cottages and fishermen’s wooden sheds located at Titchfield Haven. Over the years a small harbour was constructed for small pleasure boats, where the River Meon continues to flow into Southampton Water. Every few years the mouth of the harbour blocks up with silt and shingle and requires removal to allow its continued use. Over the next few days, the build-up is being removed, and the beach around the spit should be open by early next week.
Looking like a UFO or some structure from another world this mysterious-looking structure on Burry Port beach revealed itself in 2018, after a period of bad weather and storms which caused coastal erosion at the site of an old power station. It is actually the base of an experimental wind turbine left behind from the 1980s and 1990s.
In the town of Newport Wales crossing the river Usk is the largest of the 8 surviving transporter bridges in the world. Designed by Ferdinand Arnodin and opened in 1906, it is the largest of the 8 surviving transporter bridges in the world. At the moment the bridge is closed for refurbishment but still worth a visit.
Continued Reflections from my World. 