Some time ago, in a second-hand bookshop, I saw a map of the Chichester area dated 1947 and given that I was only a year older than the map I decided to buy it.
A couple of weeks ago and having largely forgotten about the map I was scanning some old photos onto my computer when I came across some of me preparing for a cycle ride, the date, summer 1958. From what I could tell the day looked pretty good with bright sunshine and me decked out in some sort of school shirt (no fashion statements back then) and an odd looking pair of what looked like grey jeans plus a pair of rather fetching baseball boots, so there was at least some hint of a fashion craze there perhaps?
Just looking at this photo I was taken back to that summers day when three of us set out on our bikes to explore the countryside between Leigh Park in Hampshire and Chichester some 10 miles away in West Sussex, a real adventure in those days! A motley bunch we must have looked as we set off eastward from Leigh Park, which in those days was a rather new and exciting council estate, into the surrounding lush countryside and narrow roads meandering past country pubs, picnic spots, large country houses, cottages and farms. Not so today with Leigh Park being one of the largest housing estates in Britain, much of the surrounding countryside now largely developed and there being little break between the many towns and villages that were so unique in the 1950’s.
As I recall, we set off from Leigh Park heading westward through the new and still dusty estate roads towards the countryside by way of West Leigh. Arriving at the cross roads at what is now Bartons Road and Horndean Road we set off along the Emsworth Common following the signs to Westbourne, Aldsworth and our next planned stop at Funtington. We found ourselves cycling past open fields, small cottages and large farms set far back from the winding deserted roads. It all seemed so rural, tranquil and peaceful.
Arriving in Funtington we found ourselves in what was then a small and very quaint village with thatched cottages, a village store (not open as we passed) and open fields as far as the eye could see. There was a large, what we called a “manor house” on the left of the road and just off to the right in Watery Lane was Hallidays Restaurant. We gave both places a wide berth given our tender years!
Once we had cycled through the village we found ourselves on this deserted stretch of road that would take us to the outer edges of Chichester and the target of our adventure. As I recall we did not encounter a single car over this stretch of road and even went as far as riding without hands for much of the way even when we arrived in
After about an hour the City seemed to come alive as the shops reopened after lunch and the streets started to fill. Shortly afterwards a policeman arrived and the City Cross and seemed to be waiting for something so us being inquisitive we waited to see what it was. Sure enough, the policeman stepped into the road and stopped the traffic that was passing around the Cross into North, South, East and West Streets and then to our surprise waved through a bus that had to pass around The Cross on the wrong side of the road!! We soon worked out that this must have been a regular event as no one took any notice as it would have been impossible for the bus to have negotiated the roundabout , that The Cross in fact was, on the correct side of the road and had no option to pass on the wrong side. I was to see this repeated many times much later in my life until the centre of the City was all but closed to traffic in the 1970’s
Views of Chichester today.
So, exhausted and feeling as if we had travelled a thousand miles by bike (my backside did anyway!) we set off back to Havant and home.
No comments:
Post a Comment