Five things about Hampshire you may not know

From train lines to film stars - did you know about these occurrences?

Train line was called the ‘Sprat and Winkle’

At one time the railway line running through Hampshire’s Test Valley was nicknamed the “Sprat and Winkle’’ but why it was given this name remains unclear.

The name of the line has three main possible origins. The first is that the southern part of the line ran close to the mud flats of the River Test where winkles may have been found but it is unlikely that this applies to the sprat.The second possible origin may be after the seafood that was carried from Southampton to Andover while the third possibility may be that the line is simply named after a type of railway coupling

Before its closure in 1964, the railway line was used throughout both World Wars, moving troops and war supplies from Salisbury Plain to Southampton on their way to mainland Europe.

The approach to Horsebridge Station

Most of the line was so rural that the majority of passengers were people going to the beach in the summer months.

With many horse racing stables around Stockbridge, the railway line was also used to transport racehorses around the country.

Andover Station on the Sprat and Winkle Line

With more roads being built in the area, the decision to close the line north of Romsey was made in the early 1960s. This came despite the fact that Andover was rapidly expanding at the time.

Unusual Hampshire names in New Forest village

According to the parish register in the New Forest village of Burley among the surnames of people who once lived locally are Bezoar, Fumemittery, Westmucket, Xury and Clapshoe.

Other Hampshire surnames denoted occupations such as:

• Soutaer – a cobbler.
• Thechere, a thatcher.
• Scivier, from the French meaning bird-catcher.
• Kitcher, again from the French, for a man who made thigh pieces of armour.

Burley from old postcard

Currently data would suggest that more than 62,000 people in Hampshire share the same five most common surnames. These are:

• Smith - 22,212.
• Jones - 12,249.
• Taylor - 9,264.
• Williams - 9,158.
• Brown 9,137.

Smith being the most used in an English speaking country comes as no surprise. The name was first used for people who were blacksmiths and, here in Britain, roughly one in 88 people share the surname.

Hampshire’s old remedies were revolting

Some of Hampshire’s old folk remedies seemed to be worse than the illness they were supposed to cure.

If someone was suffering from fits they were given fried whole mice to eat while others recommended eating a page of the Bible between a piece of bread and butter. One woman was said to have consumed nearly a whole testament in this way.

Another cure for fits called for the livers of 40 green frogs to be prepared and then dried before eating.

Shingles could be cured by scraping verdigris off church bells and applying it as an ointment and a remedy for many other ills was spiders rolled in butter

Local vicar was not happy with reactions to film star

A local Hampshire vicar took a dim view of the excitable behaviour of young female fans who greeted the film star, Robert Taylor in Southampton back in the mid-1930s.

“They seem to be entirely lacking in a sense of their own dignity,’’ wrote the vicar in his parish magazine.

“The emancipation of women is doubtless a good thing, but what the heroic souls who fought so gallantly for the vote would think of this disgusting exhibition we cannot imagine.

Robert Taylor in Southampton on April 27, 1950

“How the poor young man must hate being clawed about by hysterical females.’’

Taylor was an American film and television actor and singer. He was one of the most popular leading men of his time.

Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck in Southampton on February 10, 1947

A few of the numerous movies he starred in are A Yank at Oxford (1938), Waterloo Bridge (1940), and Bataan (1943).

A chain smoker, Taylor died in 1969 of lung cancer at the age of 57.

Many place names come from Anglo Saxon words

Lyndhurst High Street. c1900. From postcard

Many Hampshire place names are derived from old Anglo Saxon words such as “hurst’’ meaning a thick wood as in Lyndhurst, and Brockenhurst.

A place where piles are driven into the ground to build upon was once known as a “stoke’’ which is incorporated into Laverstoke, Meonstoke, Longstock and Stockbridge.

Brockenhurst picture from old postcard

“Ton’’ or “tun’’ meant an enclosure which can be found in Cheriton, Barton, Ovington, Overton, Houghton, Broughton, and Milton.