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Station Road. These included a stationer and
bookshop, a grocers and a chemist shop. The Wilts
and Dorset Bank opened a branch on the corner of
Station Road and Osbourne Road seen here in this
image. In addition a Post Office opened and was run
from 1895 by a Mrs Newhook. It is believed that this
lady was responsible for the name given to the
railway station and to our town. Mrs Newhook called
her post office, the New Milton post office to
differentiate it from the post office in Milton village.
A railway official looking for a name for the new
railway station declared that if the name “New
Milton” was good enough for the Post Office it was
good enough for the railway. Thus the London and
South Western Railway named the station New
Milton.
unveiled on the last Sunday of September 1920. An
area of rough land to the north of the recreation
ground was purchased by a benefactor and handed
over to the town council for use as a bowling green
and tennis courts.
Another New Milton icon came into being in 1928
with the first edition of the New Milton Advertiser.
This newspaper later took over the Lymington Times
and is still being published every week to this day.
The Second World War saw troops again billeted in
the district. Tragedy came to New Milton when the
town was bombed on three occasions. The worst
incident happened in August 1940 when a lone
bomber caused 25 deaths and a number of wounded.
The contribution made by the district in both world
wars can be gauged by the number of Miltonians
commemorated on the war memorial.
In 1900 the demand for housing and services led the
West Hampshire water company to build our town’s
most famous landmark, the red brick water tower.
Local brickworks supplied building material not just
for the development of our town but also for those of
others conurbations, in particular areas of
Bournemouth. All the bricks were transported by the
new railway.
New Milton, Barton on Sea and district played their
part in both World Wars. In 1914 an Indian Army
convalescent home was set up in a hotel in Barton.
After the Indian soldiers departed it was used for
British troops until the end of the war.
In 1920 the area known as Whitefield was purchased
by public subscription organised by the Reverend
John Edward Kelsall. This came to be known as the
War Memorial Recreation Ground and was made
available for the use of all. The war memorial is
situated at the southern end of the ground and was
After the war the town continued to grow. The most
noticeable expansion of the town was the building of
shops on the east side of Station Road in place of the
private houses. In the 1970’s the first major
supermarket was opened. The agricultural image of
Milton parish slowly changed as farming land gave
way to housing. Along Gore Road and Stem Lane light
industrial units provided some employment.
The first school was built in Milton village in 1835. This
moved to Gore Road soon after World War One. 1939
saw the opening of a new secondary school at Ashley.
Arnewood Comprehensive School opened in 1970
following the amalgamation of Ashley and Gore
secondary modern schools.
In 1979 New Milton Town Council came into being.
The town had previously been managed as part of the
extended Lymington borough council. In 1996 the one
hundredth anniversary of the town of New Milton was
celebrated. In 2004 the Town Hall was opened by
HRH the Duchess of Gloucester GCVO. The office of
Mayor was instituted later that year.
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