We wanted to get out for a bit. We didn’t want to go too far, and we didn’t want to spend much. We quite like Hamble, so thought it would be quite pleasant to make that our destination of the day.
It’s a straightforward drive, except I made a mistake and turned off early. That meant that we ended up going along a couple of very narrow roads, which I really don’t like, but all ended well and we arrived at Hamble.
I did a little bit of reading, and there is definitely some history associated with Hamble. The ancient (stone age) hill fort, if there is anything left of it I couldn’t find it. Mind you, not that I looked very hard. It was a bit wet & muddy where I think the fort is located.
I think that at the same place as the hill fort is a defensive place built by Henry VIII called a Device Castle. Not that it contained some piece of secret technology, the device was a decree by the king that the place be built and there were quite a few of them built, especially along the south coast. Like the ancient hill fort, I don’t think there is anything left of it.
Coming to more recent times. Hamble played a vital role in the build up to, and during the second world war in the development of the spitfire and the Lancaster bomber. Both of which were flown from Hamble airfield. THe runways and infrastructure of the airfield are no more, but the site is still there.
It was a very pleasant couple of hours.
Bills Posts 