David Borrett

A nostalgic selection of Andover news from 1862 to 1979 recalls a proposed cricket match between the town and local Volunteers, the 1901 return of E Company from military training, and a 1926 campaign against excessively noisy motorcycle exhausts. The main feature is the Paris family's long-running success in the Andover carnival: in 1951 Harry and his family won first prize with a homemade 12-foot model of the Campania, built from recycled materials for just 6 shillings and 6 pence. The article also revisits a 1979 decision by Test Valley Borough Council to take no action against Oscar's Wine Bar over alleged nuisance, while warning that further complaints could reopen the matter.

In November 1830, agricultural laborers protesting low wages, economic hardship and labor-saving machinery attacked Tasker’s Ironworks in Anna Valley near Andover. Up to 300 men damaged the foundry’s machinery, buildings and equipment, causing an estimated £1,000 in structural damage and £200–£300 in machinery losses. Military intervention by the 9th Lancers prevented a second attack, while 14 men were tried at Winchester; four were acquitted, nine received commuted transportation sentences and alleged ringleader John Gilmore was ultimately reprieved, transported to New South Wales and later pardoned.

A historical roundup revisits five Andover-area stories from 1862 to 1979. A schoolmaster, Henry Archard, was accused of assaulting 13-year-old Alfred Ernest Kent with a cane, but magistrates unanimously dismissed the case. Other reports cover celebrations in Enham, the imprisonment of trespasser Sydney Edwards, a successful 1951 property auction, and safety concerns over overloaded floors and deteriorating beams in Andover council offices.

The Queen Charlotte Inn on London Road, Andover, was likely built in the 1760s by yeoman Edward Mundy on farmland, rather than dating back 600 years as local claims suggest. Its location on the improved 1755 turnpike benefited from growing coach and traveller traffic, while the nearby Ladies’ Walk and cricket ground helped make it a popular destination. The inn also hosted prize fights, including a 1832 bout that ended in a death, and suffered a series of arson attacks in 1860. The fires, blamed on carter Charles Poore after a dispute over a tobacco pipe, destroyed several outbuildings and led to his five-year prison sentence.