1st August 2024 • The HERALD • Page 31 v SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES v ALL ASPECTS OF ELECTRICAL WORK UNDERTAKEN • Full Rewires • New Circuits • Consumer Unit Replacements • Electric Vehicle Charging Points • Landlord Certification • Smart Homes • Central Heating Controls 023 8089 0932 or 07534 343631 www.alnelectrical.co.uk info@alnelectrical.co.uk Professional installers of Fascias, Guttering, Cladding, PVCu Windows & Doors Composite Doors • 10 year labour and product guarantees Repairs, cleaning and advice also available Tel: 023 8086 9715 or 07888 705455 enquiries@aztecfascias.com Next Level Scaffolding Ash 07702 082961 Next Level Scaffolding Josh 07896 883508 ashcarroll@nextlevel-ltd.co.uk PJ-T DOUBLE GLAZING REPAIRS • Misted Units • Locks • Handles • Hinges • Door Adjustments/Repair • Cat Flaps Paul Jackson-Turner 07708 620910 pjtrepairs65@yahoo.com uPVC & Aluminium Free Quotes Fully Insured All aspects of Plastering & General Decorating Covered Free Quotations Fully Insured Mobile 07941 255335 Phone: 023 8089 8324 parkesij@yahoo.co.uk www.ijs4plastering.co.uk Send your local news to The Editor, The Herald, 2 High Street, Hythe SO45 6AH Although there is plenty of historical evidence that Floating Island was originally a small area of around 2 acres, occasionally the name is applied to the whole upper end of the valley. A er the valley was blocked o from the sea and became more carefully managed, a mill and millpond were built, and this gave rise, inadvertently, to Floating Island. In 1822, the Philosophical Magazine & Journal recorded: “At Fawley, near Stanswood Mill, in the New Forest, is a floating island, upwards of two acres in extent, covered with trees of alder and willow, situate in a large piece of water called Pondhead, which was detached from the land during a high wind which occurred on Shrove Tuesday in 1781; it has continued floating since that time, and being shifted by the wind in its various directions, it is sometimes close to the road, and at other times a distance from it”. William White’s History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight notes, similarly: “This insulated spot is commonly called the ‘Floating Island’, from its occasionally shifting its position several feet in wet seasons … before the district was drained, and when the water was headed back by a milldam”. Mary Gould, in 300 Years in a New Forest Parish (1930), was rather more fanciful: “Tradition says that when the island touched the shore, cows would wander on to it, and be stranded when the island moved back, the owners having to ferry across to milk them until the island approached the mainland”. Several sources, including Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire (1898), note that the island disappeared, or took root again, when the valley was drained in the middle of the 19th century. Kelly’s states: “Until about 1866 there was in this parish a piece of land of about 3 Floating Island valley – Part 2 by Robin Somes, Fawley and Blackfield Memories Floating Island in June 2024 (Photo: Robin Somes) acres called ‘the floating island’, with trees of from 25 to 30 feet high growing upon it and which at certain seasons moved to and fro, but by the draining of the surrounding bog, the whole mass has now become fixed.” It is recorded elsewhere that the mill’s machinery was removed, the mill leat was lled in and the millpond drained, as Kelly’s suggests, in 1866. e 1838 Tithe Map of Fawley Parish shows a square-ish island in the middle of a body of water, which is recorded as “Mill Pond, etc.”, and was rented from the Manor of Cadland by Charles Judd; the whole had an area of just over two acres. is does seem a likely candidate, and it lies immediately upstream of where the footpath from Badminston to Stanswood Road crosses the stream – the area we still know today as Floating Island. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! from Age Concern New Forest JOIN OUR WONDERFUL TEAM OF VOLUNTEERS! Volunteering is at the heart of everything we do at Age Concern New Forest. Our Volunteers help us to support older people aged 55+ We are always looking for local volunteers to help us provide our services. Do you have a few hours a week spare? Would you be interested in: • Supporting the work of our Information and advice team in our Hythe o ce. • Becoming a Befriender by visiting isolated people in their own homes or making regular telephone calls to them. • Helping at our Lunch clubs. • We are in need of a cook to help out once a month at our Sunday lunch club in Dibden based at the Horrill Centre. • Undertaking reception duties at our Foot Care Clinics. • Being a Good Neighbour and undertaking basic tasks or transport for someone. • Sharing your IT skills to help someone to make better use of their computer or iPad in their own home. • Assisting in one of our charity shops or supporting in administration in our Hythe o ce. • Volunteers are especially needed at our Dibden Purlieu Charity Shops. If so please call in and chat with our team about our many volunteering opportunities, 19-20 Marsh Parade, Hythe SO45 6AN or call: 023 8084 1199.
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