Fordingbridge Walk: Town Centre【4K】

Located in the county of Hampshire, and around 10 miles south of Salisbury, is the town of Fordingbridge.

Geographically, Fordingbridge is situated along the River Avon, and on the northwestern fringe of the New Forest National Park. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as, simply, 'Forde', whilst the 'bridge' element of the name was added later after the construction of the Great Bridge in the medieval era. This seven-arch bridge still spans the River Avon today, albeit having been widened in 1841 and refaced in 1901.

At the southern end of the town centre is St Mary's Church. This was constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries, which some restoration work from 1901 to 1903.

Historically, industries in Fordingbridge included pottery, brick-making and sailcloth. The notorious smuggler Captain Diamond is said to have stopped here in 1794 on his way to Salisbury with an illegal hoard of tea, rum and coffee smuggled from Guernsey. Allegedly he assembled his gang in the yard of The George (the pub next to the river, featured just after the 8-minute mark) to divide the smuggled tea. It was then that customs men and soldiers arrived on the scene and a bloody battle ensued.

In 1866 a railway station opened in Fordingbridge by the Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway. This line of track ran from Salisbury to the Dorset village of West Moors. In 1964 the line was closed, along with Fordingbridge Station, as part of the notorious Beeching Cuts, where over 2000 stations across Britain were closed, supposedly to encourage motorway usage. Today Fordingbridge can be accessed on public transport via a bus service running between Bournemouth and Salisbury.

Artist Augustus John lived in Fordingbridge from 1927 until his death in 1961. His portraits include notable figures including Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw and T. E. Lawrence (i.e. Lawrence of Arabia).

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Filmed: 6th September 2022

Link to the walk on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/mrgtB4urUmthrsGcA

Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 St Mary's Church
0:14 Church Street
3:17 Provost Street
5:01 High Street
7:52 Bridge Street
8:32 River Avon
8:52 Bridge Street
10:28 River Avon
10:39 Bridge Street
11:25 Salisbury Street