Liphook Community Magazine - Autumn 2015

More Street and Place Names
Off the Midhurst Road are both Field Place and Fletchers Field.
Field Place is built on part of the grounds where a large house of
the same name once stood. It was formerly owned by John Coles
who was the chairman of the parish council from 1902 to 1904.
Coles’ distinguished career included serving as Map Curator and
Scientific Instructor of the Royal Geographical Society. He
wrote ‘Hints for Travellers’ and coached many famous Victorian
explorers in mapping techniques. In 1902, the owners of
Ludshott Manor and Downlands tried to close the footpaths on
each side of the Waggoners Wells lakes, an area that local walkers
know very well. Coles rallied his fellow councillors in a successful
counter-movement - for which we all can be eternally grateful.
The last owner of Field Place house was a Mrs. Fletcher - hence
the street name, Fletchers Field.
The street name, The Mead, which is off Tower Road, derives its
name from Ratford Mead (i.e. Radford Meadow) which was the
19th century name for the meadow alongside the River Wey
between Radford Bridge and Tunbridge Lane.
Tower Close and Tower Road - are thus called because of the
‘water tower’ that is still part of No. 14, Tower Close. Dennis
Clinker, whose father built the tower, still lives there. Water was
pumped up from a well into a tank in the ‘tower’ by a wind-pump
and then piped to the Clinker house as well as to several houses
nearby, as there was no mains water in Liphook until 1926.
Tower Road, which now runs from Headley Road to the London
Road, actually finished at Tower Close in the 1920s. At that time,
the lower end of Tower Road was a poultry farm (Greenfields).
The Avenue is rather a misnomer. Its name suggests an avenue
of trees but where are they? According to Laurence Giles’
research, maps from 1845 to 1910 show no trees on what was just
an access road to Lowsley Farm. It was thought that the name
was given in the hopes that one day trees would actually be
planted there! The Liphook and Bramshott Preservation Society
made an effort to do just this - and planted some trees at the edge
of the school playing fields but not all have survived.
If you travel along Headley Road and turn into Hunters Chase
(just before the bridge over the A3), you’ll come to Allee Drive.
This street is named after W.R. Allee who many long-time
Liphook residents will remember as having had a slaughterhouse
situated across from Radford Park. In 1977 the parish council
bought 10 acres of land adjacent to what is now the A3 from Mr.
Allee for £6,000. Some years later, they subsequently bought land
from the Allee Trust which is now the allotments off Tunbridge
Lane in Bramshott.
Mari Wallace
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