Weird Wessex is here!

Weird Wessex: A Tourist Guide to 100 Strange and Unusual Sights is a journey across the English counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Berkshire seeking out the weird and sometimes little known sights that wait to be discovered. Have you ever heard of:

• Somerset's standing stones - the second largest circle of standing stones in Britain?
• The murderous tale behind Berkshire’s Coombe Gibbet?
• The Dorset building with a Civil War cannon ball buried in its wall?
• The Devon village that flips a boulder each year to keep the Devil trapped below ground?
• The Hampshire shop that once fought in the War of 1812?
• The home of Wiltshire’s most famous poltergeist?

If not then let Weird Wessex take you there, and treat you to over 200 full-colour photographs of these weird and wonderful locations. You are certain to discover an unusual location that you never knew existed!

Written by Andrew May (of the Retro-Forteana blog) and myself, Weird Wessex is now available at Amazon here!

Please note this book is printed on demand. So if it shows as being “temporarily out of stock” on Amazon do not be perturbed, the printing press will fire up as soon as your order is placed!

Happy exploring!

Hiding Secrets in the Bog

I would not normally post a picture of a public convenience on this blog, but this building bears an interesting plaque which describes the convenience’s part in the Cold War Portland Spy Ring. The plaque reads:

"Secret information hidden in this toilet was collected periodically by Harry Houghton. In 1961 he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for his part in the Portland Spy Ring."

Its seems that during the Portland Spy Ring’s period of activity that the public toilets near New Alresford station were occasionally used as a dead drop location, with pilfered information being handed over between members of the spy ring.

The Portland Spy Ring was a Soviet spy ring that operated in England from the late 1950s until 1961. The spy ring was discovered in 1959 when the CIA received a tip that the Russians were being provided with information regarding UK research on underwater warfare. The source of the pilfered research was the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment and HMS Osprey, both in Portland, Dorset.

The key suspects for the leak were civil servant Harry Houghton, who seemed to be living a lifestyle that far exceeded his wages, and his mistress, Ethel Gee. Gee was a civil servant filing clerk, and was suspected of providing Houghton access to some of the classified material.

Both suspects were put under surveillance and they were observed taking frequent trips to London where they would meet a Canadian businessman, Gordon Lonsdale, and exchange packages with him. Lonsdale was also put under surveillance and he was seen regularly visiting the home of an antiquarian bookseller in Ruislip, Middlesex. The home belonged to a couple called Peter and Helen Kroger.

During a regular meeting in London on the 7th January 1961, Houghton, Gee and Lonsdale were arrested. Gee was found to be in possession of large amounts of classified material, including details of HMS Dreadnought, Britain's first nuclear submarine.

The Kroger’s house in Ruislip was raided next and was found to contain microdots (photographic reductions of documents), which Peter Kroger would hide in the print of his antique books to enable them to be smuggled to Russia. The Kroger’s house was also found to be full of spying paraphernalia, including large sums of money, photographic material, equipment for encoding messages and a long-range radio with a 74ft aerial so that they could communicate with Moscow. It is said that the radio equipment was so well hidden that it took authorities nine days of searching the property before they located it. Further to this, some of the Kroger’s radio equipment was not found until years later, when the property was renovated!

All five of the alleged spies were charged with espionage and found guilty. Houghton and Gee received a sentence of 15 years each, whilst the Kroger’s (who were identified as known spies Morris and Lona Cohen), were sentenced to 20 years. Lonsdale was deemed to be the mastermind behind the plot and he was given a sentence of 25 years. Lonsdale was also suspected of being a member of the KGB, and he was eventually identified as Konon Trofimovich Molody. Lonsdale was the first of the five to be released from jail, as in 1964 he was exchanged for a British spy who had been captured in Russia.

So if you ever use the public toilets in New Alresford, be careful as the person in the cubical next to you could be doing a dead-drop for the KGB.

The public toilets in New Alresford close to the railway station. A plague commemorates that occasionally classified documents obtained by members of the Portland Soviet Spy Ring were left here for collection.

Pictures: Hampshire (August 2015).

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A Royal Death in the New Forest

In my last few blog posts I have looked at oddities that can be found in and around the New Forest in Hampshire, such as the Brockenhurst Snake Catcher and the Portuguese Fireplace. No tour of the New Forest would be complete however, without mentioning the Rufus Stone.

The Rufus Stone is a small monument which can be found in the forest between the village of Brook in Hampshire and the A31 trunk road, near to the Sir Walter Tyrrell pub. The stone commemorates the death of William II of England (known as William Rufus) and the inscriptions on the three sides of the stone reads:

“Here stood the oak tree, on which an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a stag, glanced and struck King William the Second, surnamed Rufus, on the breast, of which he instantly died, on the second day of August, anno 1100.”

“King William the Second, surnamed Rufus being slain, as before related, was laid in a cart, belonging to one Purkis, and drawn from hence, to Winchester, and buried in the Cathedral Church, of that city.”

“That the spot where an event so memorable might not hereafter be forgotten, the enclosed stone was set up by John Lord Delaware who had seen the tree growing in this place. This stone having been much mutilated, and the inscriptions on each of its three sides defaced. This more durable memorial with the original inscriptions was erected in the year 1841, by WM Sturges Bourne, Warden."

William Rufus was the third son of William the 1st of England (better known as William the Conqueror) and he was born between 1056 AD and 1060 AD (the exact date is not known). William Rufus had three brothers, Robert and Richard who were older than him, and Henry who was his junior.  In 1075 AD his brother Richard was killed whilst hunting in the New Forest and in September 1087 his father William the Conqueror died. Upon the death of his father Robert was bequeathed Custody of Normandy, William became the King of England, and the young brother Henry received an inheritance of money.  The division of William the Conqueror’s titles between Robert and William ultimately led to the brothers coming into conflict, a conflict that William won. William remained the King of England until his death, but during his rule he was considered to be an unpopular and wicked King and he would have fostered a number of enemies including from within the Church.

As the inscription on the Rufus Stones recounts, the commonly accepted account of William’s death is that whilst hunting in the New Forest on the 2nd August 1100 AD that he and a Walter Tirel (also referred to as Tyrrell) became separated from the rest of the hunting party (which included William’s brother Henry). It is said that Tirel shot an arrow at a stag and that the arrow deflected off of an oak tree, striking William in the chest and killing him instantly. Tirel is said to have fled the scene of the accident and made his hasty escape to France, to evade any re-percussions of his actions and before he could be questioned about what had happened. Upon hearing of the death of this brother, Henry wasted no time in getting to Winchester to secure the royal treasury and then in travelling to London, where he was crowned within just a few days of his brother’s passing.

Whether the exact details of the story are true or not are uncertain, especially as there may have been only one witness to the event (Tirel) who is unlikely to claim that the event was anything other than an accident. But given William’s unpopular rule and given his rivalries with his brothers, Robert and Henry, it is more than possible that he was a victim of murder - an idea that is explored in Andrew May's book Conspiracy History: A History of the World for Conspiracy Theorists.

Whether the event was an accident or not is not the only area of uncertainty. There also seems to be some uncertainty of the exact location of William’s death with some accounts suggesting that the events unfolded nearer to what is today Beaulieu.

The Rufus Stone.

The inscription, side one.

The inscription, side two.

The inscription, side three.

Pictures: Hampshire (February 2015).

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The Shop that Fought in the War of 1812

The village of Wickham in Hampshire is home to a rather unusual building, known as the Chesapeake Mill. The Chesapeake Mill is an old watermill that was built in 1820 and worked as a commercial watermill until 1976. After 1976 the mill was re-purposed for its current occupation, which is serving as an antiques and craft shop. The history of the Chesapeake Mill starts long before its construction in 1820 however.  It really starts on the 2nd December 1799 when the USS Chesapeake was launched from the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia.

The USS Chesapeake was a United States Navy three-masted heavy frigate of wooden construction, rated at 38-guns. The USS Chesapeake’s military career included service in: the Quasi-War between the United States of America and France (1798 – 1800); the First Barbary War between the United States of America and the Muslim Barbary States of Northwest Africa (1801 – 1805); and ultimately in the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom (1812 - 1815).

In December 1812 the USS Chesapeake commenced her first patrol of the War of 1812.  During this patrol she was responsible for the capture of five British merchant vessels and the re-capture of an American vessel from British Privateers. She completed this patrol by returning to Boston on the 9th April 1813 where she underwent a refit and a change of Commanding Officer. Whilst the USS Chesapeake was refitting in Boston, the British 38-gun frigate HMS Shannon arrived at Boston and commenced a blockade of the port.

By the 1st June 1813, the USS Chesapeake was again ready to put to sea, so she sailed out of Boston to challenge the HMS Shannon’s blockade of the port. The ships were evenly matched, with both vessels being of comparable size and similar armament. The only significant difference between the vessels was the size of their crews, the USS Chesapeake had a compliment of 379 men in comparison to HMS Shannon 's crew of just 330.

The two ships met at around five o’clock in the afternoon 37 km east of Boston lighthouse, with the first exchange of cannon fire occurring when the ships had closed to a range of 35 metres apart. This exchange of cannon fire lasted for around 6 minutes with HMS Shannon scoring the first hit. The two vessels where soon alongside each other and HMS Shannon secured herself to the USS Chesapeake. HMS Shannon now concentrated her fire on USS Chesapeake’s gun crews, killing many of the men. The USS Chesapeake was finally disabled by cannon fire which destroyed her wheel, leaving her unable to manoeuvre. With the USS Chesapeake disabled, she was quickly boarded by the British and her remaining crew subdued in hand-to-hand combat. The entire battle only lasted around 11 minutes, during which HMS Shannon is reported to have had 23 men killed and 56 men wounded, whilst the USS Chesapeake had somewhere around 50 - 60 men killed, with 85 – 99 men wounded (although exact numbers differ depending on the source).

The captured USS Chesapeake was eventually repaired by the Royal Navy and was put back into service as HMS Chesapeake and served until July 1819 when she was put up for sale. HMS Chesapeake was sold to a timber merchant who in turn broke up the vessel and sold her timbers to a local miller, a Mr John Prior. The timbers from the Chesapeake were re-used by John Prior in the construction of the Chesapeake Mill, with the interior of the building designed around the length of the available deck beams.

Some say that the timbers of the mill still bear bloodstains and bullets from that singularly bloody battle. I saw no evidence of this, but you may be more lucky.

The Chesapeake Mill, Wickham, Hampshire.

HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake at battle

HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake locked together.

The boarding party fights its way onto the USS Chesapeake.

The USS Chesapeake is taken as a prize.

Pictures: Hampshire (February 2015).

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The Portuguese Fireplace

In the New Forest in Hampshire between the village of Emery Down and the Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary, close to Millyford Bridge, there is a stone fireplace sitting alone on a patch of grass beside the road. The fireplace is known as the “Portuguese Fireplace” or sometimes as the “Canadian Fireplace” and it serves as a war memorial, to honour a role that foreign military units stationed in the New Forest played in the First World War. The plaque which accompanies the fireplace explains:

"This is the site of a hutted camp occupied by a Portuguese army unit during the First World War. This unit assisted the depleted local labour force in producing timber for the war effort. The Forestry Commission have retained the fireplace from the cookhouse as a memorial to the men who lived and worked here and acknowledge the financial assistance of the Portuguese government in its renovation."

From the start of the First World War, essential timber required for the Allied war effort was primarily supplied from Canada. However by early 1916 the Canadian provision of timber could not meet the demand of the Allied war machine, so Britain needed to start felling its own trees. The problem with this solution was that most of the skilled local foresters where away fighting the war, so foreign military manpower was required to plug the resource short fall.

In response to this demand for skilled lumbermen, the Canadian Forestry Corps sent men and equipment to the UK, and one lumber camp was set up in the New Forest to begin felling and processing trees. The New Forest lumber camp became a significant settlement, housing around 200 Canadians and covering around 4 to 5 acres.  It was supported by a number of saw mills and even a narrow gauge railway to transport the timber out of the forest. By 1917 further manpower was needed to support the Canadian Forestry Corps, so 150 Portuguese labourers joined the Canadian effort and set up camp with them. The Portuguese Fireplace is all that remains of this part of the war effort. The fireplace was originally the fireplace of the camp's cookhouse.

The Portuguese Fireplace is not the only War Memorial in the New Forest. Further along the road from Emery Down to Bolderwood there is a memorial cross that is dedicated to Canadian forces. The cross was originally erected on the 14th April 1944 by Canadian forces, for their religious services whilst they were stationed in the New Forest in the run up to D-Day during the Second World War. The cross has been kept as a memorial to these men ever since. The plaque at the base of the cross reads:

"On this site a cross was erected to the Glory of God on April 14th 1944. Services were held here until D Day 6th June 1944 by men of the 3rd Canadian Division R.C.A.S.C.”

So whilst today the New Forest is a place for holidays and leisure it once played a vital part in the United Kingdom's war machine.

The Portuguese Fireplace.

The Canadian Cross.

Pictures: Hampshire (February 2015).

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The New Forest Snake Catcher

St Nicholas’ churchyard in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, is home to an unusual white marble headstone. The headstone depicts an old bearded man in a wide-brimmed hat holding a handful of snakes, standing  outside what appears to be a crude hut in a forest. The inscription on the headstone reads:

This stone marks the grave of Harry Mills, (better known as “Brusher Mills”,) who for a long number of years followed the occupation of  Snake Catcher, in the New Forest. His pursuit and the primitive way in which he lived, caused him to be an object of interest to many.  He died suddenly July 1st 1905, aged 65 years.

This eccentric man was born on the 19th March 1840 and for the early part of his life he lived in the village of Emery Down near Lyndhurst in the New Forest, where he worked as a labourer. In his forties Mills decided to move and to take up living in an old charcoal burner’s hut in the New Forest, just to the north of Brokenhurst. Armed with just a sack and a forked stick, Mills struck out on a new occupation as a snake catcher. Mills offered his services to rid the grounds of local properties of snakes, and he also set about catching snakes in the forest. The snakes that he caught were often sold to London Zoo as fodder for their snake eating animals. Word gradually spread about Mills and his eccentric ways, and he began to become a tourist attraction. This new found fame gave Mills the opportunity to sell ointments made from snakes and snake skeletons to curious tourists to further supplement his income. Some estimates suggest that during Mills’ 18-year snake catching career that he caught an astounding 30,000 grass snakes and 4,000 adders - which is an average of about 5 snakes per day!

Having lived in a small hut in the forest for many years, it seems that Mills decided to improve his lifestyle and build himself a larger hut. Sadly however, this hut was vandalised before it was completed. This crime for which nobody was caught, was possibly committed to prevent Mills from claiming any kind of squatters’ rights on the land which he had made his home. Following the destruction of his hut, the heart broken Mills took up residency in one of the outbuildings of his regular haunt, the Railway Inn in Brokenhurst. The destruction of Mills’ hut seems to have had a significant impact upon the man, as he died suddenly and unexpectedly on the 1st July 1905, not long after its destruction.

In honour of this local eccentric, Brockenhurst’s Railway Inn is nowadays named The Snake Catcher.

Harry Mills' gravestone.

Mills outside his hut in the forest, holding some captured snakes.

Mill's favorite haunt, The Railway Inn, now known as The Snake Catcher.

The pub sign.

Update: 10th March 15 - A scan of a recently acquired postcard showing Harry Mills and some of his snakes.

Pictures: Hampshire (February 2015).

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The Winchester Round Table

The building pictured below is “the Great Hall” in Winchester, which is all that remains today of Winchester Castle. The castle was originally built in 1067 for William the Conqueror, and it was improved over the years with the Great Hall that stands today being built in the early 1200's to replace the castle’s previous hall.

The castle’s downfall occurred during the English Civil War in 1646, when Parliamentarians captured the castle from Royalist forces. Following this victory Oliver Cromwell had the castle demolished. The Great Hall was given a stay of execution and the building was preserved as a venue for assemblies and the County Assizes.

Over its lifetime the Great Hall has been the venue of some important events. In 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh stood trial at the Great Hall for his suspected part in the plot to remove King James I from the throne. In 1685 Judge Jeffreys condemned supporters of the Duke of Monmouth to death as part of the Bloody Assizes. And more recently in 1954 Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Major Michael Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood were tried and convicted in the Great Hall on charges of “conspiracy to incite certain male persons to commit serious offences with male persons” , or buggery for short!

The most striking feature of the Great Hall is the Arthurian Round Table which hangs at one end of the hall. The table is believed to have been constructed around 1250 to 1290, during the reign of Edward I. The current paintwork on the table was commissioned by Henry VIII for the visit of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1522. The artwork shows the names of 24 knights of King Arthur’s court and shows Henry VIII sitting in King Arthur's seat at the 12 o’clock position. At 18 feet in diameter, the round table would have been an imposing piece of furniture.

Across Europe during the Middle Ages Arthurian legend was popular and jousting festivals, called “Round Tables”, were occasionally held. Sometimes at these events competing knights would assume the identities of characters from Arthurian Legend and presumably also replica round tables were made for these events. Edward I was himself believed to be an Arthurian enthusiast and to have attended a number of Round Tables and to have even hosted one himself in 1299. So it is possible that the Winchester Round Table was created for this event, however, there is also evidence that it was created for a tournament in 1290 to mark the betrothal of one of his daughters.

The Winchester Round Table is clearly not the original table at which Arthur and his court are said to have convened, some theories even suggest that the round table of legend was not a table at all. However, the Winchester Round Table is perhaps one of the earliest surviving replicas still in existence.

If anyone knows of any other round tables in existence from the Middle Ages that are on display in Europe, let me know via the comments section.

The Great Hall in Winchester.

The Winchester Round Table.

Henry VIII presiding over the table.

Looking towards the east wall of the Great Hall, where the table hung from 1348 to 1873.

The east wall is decorated with the names of Hampshire's Knights and MPs.

Pictures: Hampshire (January 2015).

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The Battle of Alton & Ball Lightning

For those who know where to look, the Church of St Lawrence in Alton, Hampshire, still shows the scars of its involvement in an English Civil War battle. The Battle of Alton occurred on the 13th December 1643 when Parliamentarian forces, commanded by Sir William Waller, undertook a surprise attack on Royalist forces stationed in Alton, which were commanded by the Earl of Crawford. The Royalist forces defending Alton comprised of both infantry and cavalry units.

At dawn on the 13th December Waller's Parliamentarian forces commenced their attack on Alton. As the Parliamentarian forces approached, the Royalist commander (Lord Crawford), decided to flee Alton for Winchester, ostensibly to seek reinforcements. In his withdrawal  Lord Crawford took the Royalist cavalry with him, and they were pursued for some distance by the Parliamentarian cavalry. Lord Crawford’s withdrawal left Colonel Boles to mount a defence of Alton with just the Royalist infantry at his disposal.

Outnumbered and under artillery fire,  the Royalist infantry led by Colonel Boles were harried from one defensive position to the next, until they were finally corralled inside the Church of St Lawrence, which would become the location of their last stand. Using horse carcasses as cover and also firing from the church windows, the Royalists mounted a defence of the church, whilst the Parliamentarian forces fired back and lobbed hand grenades in through the church windows. The Royalist's defence of the church was short lived and the Parliamentarian forces soon forced entry into the church. The remaining Royalist forces only surrendered upon the death of Colonel Boles. Legend states that Colonel Boles fought fiercely from his position in the church's wooden pulpit and it was in the pulpit that he was finally overcome and killed.

The damaged caused to the church during the battle is still evident today for those with a keen eye. Musket holes from the fighting can been seen in the church door, as well as in other locations inside the church.

The Battle of Alton is not St Lawrence’s only interesting piece of history. Forty three years later on Sunday the 19th December 1686 it is said that a massive thunderstorm broke over Alton and caused a bit of a stir for the congregation present in the church at the time. A contemporary account of the storm states:

All of a sudden it grew so exceeding dark that the people could hardly discern one another, and immediately after it happened such flashes of lightning that the whole Church seemed to be in a bright flame, the surprise of the Congregation was exceeding great, especially when two Balls of Fire that made their entry at the eastern wall, passed through the body of the Church, leaving behind them so great a smoke, and smell of brimstone was scarcely able to be expressed.

Could these two “balls of fire” be an early report of ball lightning? It certainly sounds like it!

The Church of St Lawrence in Alton, Hampshire.

The church door.

Musket holes in the church door from the Battle of Alton in 1643.

The pulpit where Colonel Boles met his end.

Inscription on the pulpit. 

Pictures: Hampshire (September 2014).

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Finding Sweet F.A.

The gravestone pictured below can be found in the town cemetery of Alton in Hampshire. The gravestone commemorates a young girl called Fanny Adams who was murdered in 1867. The inscription of the gravestone reads:

 Sacred to the memory of Fanny Adams aged 8 years and 4 months who was cruelly murdered on Saturday August 24th 1867.

Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Matthew 10 v 28.

It seems that on Saturday 24 August 1867 Fanny Adams (aged 8) was out walking along Tanhouse Lane in Alton with her friend (also aged 8) and her sister (aged 7). During the course of this walk they encountered a local solicitor's clerk named Frederick Baker. After offering the girls some money, Baker abducted Fanny and took her into a nearby field.

When the two girls (without Fanny) returned home the alarm was raised and Fanny’s mother and a neighbour went up the lane to find her. Walking up the lane they encountered Baker but did not suspect him of any wrong-doing due to his respectability in the community.

The search for Fanny continued into the early evening and her body was eventually found in the field. It is said that her body had been butchered, with her head, legs and eyes removed and her torso emptied of its organs. Over the course of the next few days all of her missing body parts where eventually found.

Baker was duly arrested, and although he claimed innocence, he apparently had blood on his shirt and trousers and was in possession of two blood-stained knives. The piece of evidence that finally removed doubt of his guilt was his diary entry for the day, which read “24th August, Saturday – killed a young girl. It was fine and hot.”. At his trial Baker was found guilty of the murder and he was hung on 24th December 1867 outside Winchester Jail.

The horrible nature of this murder and the widespread reporting of the crime led to the name Fanny Adams becoming widely known and eventually being perverted into a form of slang.  In 1869 new rations of tinned mutton were introduced into the British Navy and they were widely reviled by the Sailors. It became a Navy joke that some parts of Fanny’s body may have found its way in to this new tinned provision. So the phrase Sweet Fanny Adams sprang up as a slang for this worthless form of tinned meat. Over the years this phrase became generalised to mean “nothing at all”.

If you want to find Sweet FA for yourself, then Alton town cemetery can be found on Old Odiham Road. Fanny’s gravestone is in the south side of the cemetery, to the north of Spitalfields Road. The approximate location is 51.153286, -0.975730.

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Fanny Adam's gravestone in the distance.

A close up.

Tributes to Fanny. 

Pictures, Hampshire (September 2014).

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Halting Hitler at the Basingstoke Canal

The Basingstoke Canal was built between October 1788 and September 1794 to facilitate the movement of commercial products around Hampshire. At its inception, the canal originally followed a 44 mile course from Basingstoke (roughly where the cinema in the Festival Place shopping precinct is located today) to the Wey and Godalming Navigations near Weybridge. Part of the canal's original course was a loop running around Greywell Hill (near the Basingstoke end of the canal). By 1794 this loop was replaced by a tunnel that cut through Greywell Hill which shaved 7 miles off the length of the canal.

The Basingstoke Canal proved to be a failure commercially, so in 1910 it stopped being used for commercial purposes and it gradually fell into decline and was mostly derelict by the mid 1960's. The 1970's saw some interest in restoring the canal and it was purchased by the County Councils of Hampshire and Surrey. After about 18 years of restoration, 32 miles of the canal were formally re-opened in May 1991 and these remain navigable today. The western section of the canal from the entrance to the Greywell tunnel to Basingstoke is however derelict and impassable. The Greywell tunnel began to collapse in 1932, and parts of the canal in Basingstoke, including the former canal basin, have been lost to modern development.

Due to fears of Nazi invasion during World War II it seems that numerous anti invasion defences were put in place along the canal as part of the defensive scheme known as the General Head Quarters (GHQ) Line. The GHQ Line spanned a number of counties and was aimed at slowing any German invasion down and to prevent German soldiers and tanks from making inroads from the south coast.

I recently took a walk along a 12 mile section of the Basingstoke Canal, heading west from Crookham Village in Hampshire to Up Natley in Hampshire, and I was amazed to find that a significant number of these World War II anti invasion defences still remained to be found on the canal side. What follows is a summary of what I encountered...

Setting of from Crookham Village heading towards the outskirts of Basingstoke the first anti-tank defence that was evident was a series of “Dragon’s teeth”, that were on the opposite bank to the tow path. Dragon's teeth are pyramidal shaped concrete blocks that were deployed to impede the movement of tanks and other vehicles.

Dragon's teeth rising out of the canal and up the bank.

The next WWII defence that was visible was not on the canal side, but was on the opposite side of the canal from the tow path, set back in the middle of a field. A line of anti-tank cylinders crossing the field could be seen, as the below (rather low quality) picture shows. Like the Dragon's teeth, these reinforced concrete cylinders were primarily put in place to slow down the advance of vehicles. The line of cylinders shown below can be clearly seen in aerial maps at a lat/long of 51.254094, -0.876844.

In a field opposite the canal, a line of anti-tank cylinders can be seen crossing the field (under the electricity pylon). 

Further along the canal (again on the opposite side to the tow path) even more anti-tank cylinders were easily visible. Similar to the Dragon's teeth, these cylinders start in the canal and disappear up the bank into the undergrowth.

Anti-tank cylinders on the canal side.

Next up was a pill box on the tow path which was partially hidden in the undergrowth. The front of the pill box was hexagonal in shape whilst the back was flat, making it (as far as I can tell) a Type 24 pill box. The inside of the pill box was accessible.

Pill box number 1 - lurking in the undergrowth. 

Looking towards the entrance to the pill box. Just inside the pill box the anti-ricochet wall can be seen. On the exterior wall, to the right hand side of the entrance, a metal hook can be seen protruding from the brick work. Hooks like this would have originally be used to hang camouflage netting from to help conceal the pill box. 

Walking further along the tow path another batch of anti-tank cylinders were clearly evident. If you inspect the cylinders closely you can see that they have metal loops on the top and what seem to be metal pipes protruding from near their bases. These loops and pipes would have been used to pass metal wire through, connecting a number of cylinders to each other and making them more of an obstacle.

Anti-tank cylinders.

The loop and pipe on the nearest cylinder can be seen. 

What appeared to be another Type 24 pill box was next on the tow path. This pill box was also accessible.

Pill box number 2 - guarding the canal.

The rear of the pill box.

Looking at the entrance.

One of the firing positions inside the pill box.

At this point in the walk it became clear that the tow path was littered with submerged concrete blocks that sported round holes in them. I believe that these were also a form of anti vehicle obstacle, and the holes look similar to sockets for anti vehicle road blocks.  These sockets may have once housed bent RSJs to prevent progress of invaders along the tow path. Or conversely they may have once housed anti-personnel or anti-vehicle mines.

Scattered all along the tow path. Sockets for anti-vehicle road blocks or mines? 

Carrying on, yet another pill box appeared on the tow path. Unlike the previous two pill boxes this one was square in shape, but again had the internal anti-ricochet walls. The pill box was again easily accessible.

Pill box number 3 - in the distance.

This pill box was square this time, not hexagonal.

Looking out of one of the firing positions. 

A mounting point for a machine gun?

Blacksmith's Bridge near Dogmersfield was the next point of interest. Just to the south of the bridge more anti-tank cylinders could be seen running up from the canal and over the bank. These cylinders can be seen on aerial maps at lat/long of 51.264191, -0.889303.

The bridge itself also housed some anti-invasion defences. Clearly visible on the bridge were some concrete sockets that would have once housed mines. The bridge is located at 51.264363, -0.889122.

More anti-tank cylinders.

On Blacksmith's Bridge, concrete sockets that would have once housed mines.

Walking further towards Basingstoke a fourth pill box was found lurking near the tow path. This pill box was different to the previous three, in so much that to enter it you had to go up a flight of stairs. The pill box did seem to only have one floor inside, as opposed to being a two-level residence.

Pill box number 4.

The entrance.

The internal stair case.

The fifth and final pill box that I found was located on a bank over looking the tow path. This pill box was another hexagonal shaped structure, and so possibly another Type 24 pill box.

Pill box number 5 - on the bank overlooking the tow path and the canal

Taking a break from WWII, near North Warnborough the tow path passes the ruins of Odiham Castle (51.261396, -0.961561). Odiham Castle was built by King John over the course of seven years between 1207 and 1214 and remained in used as a hunting lodge until the late 1500's.

Odiham Castle - the remains of the keep.

After Odiham Castle the canal and the tow path continue as far as the entrance to the Greywell tunnel (51.257685, -0.971399). As mentioned previously,  the tunnel began to collapse in 1932 and now it is gated off to prevent entrance. Whilst humans cannot access the tunnel, other animals can, and the tunnel is said to be home to the biggest colony of roosting bats in Britain.  In 2006 it was estimated that the tunnel was home to 12,500 bats, which included the largest known colony of Natterer's Bats. Other bats that are said to reside in the tunnel include Daubenton's Bats, Whiskered Bats, Brandt's Bats and Brown Long-eared Bats.

The Greywell tunnel is 1,120 meters long, and when it was in operation it had no tow path inside it. The lack of a tow path meant that any boats passing through it had to be "legged". Legging involved the barge crews propelling the barge through the tunnel by wedging themselves between the barge and the tunnel and walking their legs along the tunnel wall while pushing their backs against the barge. Legging a barge through the tunnel is said to have taken up to six hours to achieve!

Whilst the tunnel is now impassable the course of the tunnel can be followed on the map and the old course of the canal can be picked up again at the western edge of the Greywell tunnel (51.260827, -0.986784). The western tunnel entrance is also gated off and the canal on the western side of the Greywell tunnel is dry in places and is no longer maintained.

The western entrance to the Greywell tunnel.

Looking inside the Greywell tunnel - there is still some water in there. 

The course of the canal can be followed further beyond Up Natley in the direction of Basingstoke and with the odd touch of very minor trespassing further evidence of the canal's previous course can be found. For example, following the Andwell Drove Track, which heads south from Greywell Road, a disused canal tunnel can be found (51.262371, -1.010430). The Andwell Drove Track runs over the top of the tunnel, so you have to leave the track to explore it.

Beyond this tunnel progress in the direction of Basingstoke along the canal became problematic, due to very dense undergrowth. So it was decided to call it a day, with the thought of retuning in the winter when the undergrowth is less dense.

A disused tunnel with the Andwell Drove Track passing over the top of it. 

The tow path through the tunnel. 

During my walk I discovered a significant amount of WWII anti-invasion defences, however I did not deviate far from the canal side. I imagine that I missed a lot of other anti-invasion defences that remain to be found set back from the sides of the canal or hidden in the undergrowth. There are also likely to be more anti-invasion defences to be found heading east from Crookham Village towards the Weybridge, so there is bound to be plenty more for the curious walker to find. So go and have a look!

Pictures, Hampshire (September 2014).

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