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Wednesday 27 March 2019

Cornwallis Remembered Celebrations

Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society and The 1805 Club (which was founded in 1990 to preserve and care for the memorials and graves of those associated with the sailing navy of the Georgian era) are holding a number of important events in July 2019 to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Death of Admiral Cornwallis (who had lived at Newlands Manor, Milford on Sea). 

Cornwallis Remembered celebrations feature: 

Naval Heroes being celebrated: 
  • Admiral Cornwallis who held French Fleet in Brest during the Battle of Trafalgar and in turn prevented an invasion of England. 
  • Captain Whitby who delivered the news from Trafalgar to Lady Hamilton. 
  • A reconstruction of the message delivery by two horse post-chaise with riders in full costume 
All Saints' Church Service conducted by the Bishop of Basingstoke with Senior representatives from Hampshire, the Royal Navy and naval historical research attending. Day will also feature:
  • The Cornwallis grave and Peyton memorial re-dedication (Following the recent re-discovery of Admiral Cornwallis’ Grave. click here to read story)
  • A new stained-glass window commemorating all three Milford admirals blessing 
Village Celebration of the Cornwallis Story on the Village Green with a host of attractions and activities, including the two horse post-chaise with riders in full costume 

Wooden World educational workshops at Milford-on-Sea Primary School 

Royal Navy Vessel in Lymington Port. (Subject to operational duties) 

Command of the Seas! Exhibition at St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington 

The Admirals’ Heritage Trail with accompanying leaflet and map illustrated by local artist Shaun Stevens. 


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Further Background Information 

A Brief Background: The 5th July 2019 marks the bi-centenary of the death of Admiral the Hon Sir William Cornwallis, one of England’s most renowned admirals. He settled in Milford in 1800 shortly before being appointed Commander in Chief of the Channel Fleet in 1801 and from 1803-1806. It was during this period that Napoleon planned, and came close to executing, an invasion of England. Cornwallis displayed courage, perseverance, determination and leadership through his blockade of the French fleet at Brest and other ports which frustrated Napoleon’s plans to invade England. This action, in the face of major logistical and strategic difficulties and through two winters of unusually severe weather even for the seas off the coasts of Brittany, secured his reputation as one of the greatest admirals of the Royal Navy, respected by his fellow officers, loved by his men, and revered by Nelson. The achievement of preventing a major invasion stands alongside the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Battle of Britain in 1940 in the annals of this country. 

Admiral Cornwallis etching
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Admiral Cornwallis & Captain Whitby & Nelson: Admiral Cornwallis acquired the Newlands estate in Milford by lease in 1800 and later purchased the property. He was a close friend of Lord Nelson, a life-long bachelor and formed a great friendship with John Whitby who was his Flag Captain and whom he regarded as a son. After the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Lord Nelson, it was naval Captain Whitby who broke the news to Nelson’s mistress, Lady Hamilton. 

Cornwallis’ Grave and The Three Admirals: In recent years the location of Cornwallis’ grave in the churchyard of All Saints, Milford has been unknown. Cornwallis asked to be buried in an unmarked grave next to his good friend Captain John Whitby. This request was adhered to by Mrs Whitby, but her daughter, Mrs Theresa West, erected a very fine monument in the church, the old gravestone was abandoned, and all memory of it was lost. 

Admiral Cornwallis etching
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In 2014 Cornwallis’ grave was discovered but was in poor repair. The Whitby/Cornwallis ledger was conserved to prevent any further deterioration. It was decided to renovate the ledger together with the memorial in the church to a second naval officer who served with distinction in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Rear Admiral John Peyton has been restored. A third senior naval officer and friend of Cornwallis, Admiral Robert Man, is also buried at All Saints, Milford. 


Commemorative Events: July 2019

A series of events have been planned by Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society and The 1805 Club with the active support of the New Forest National Park Authority and St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery. Support has also been received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Hampshire Archive Trust, the Hampshire Field Club, local authorities and other local history societies. 

Church Service, Memorial & Stained-Glass Window: A church service will be held on Friday 5th July 2019 conducted by the Bishop of Basingstoke, and senior representatives from Hampshire, the Royal Navy and naval historical research will be attending. The Cornwallis grave and memorial will be rededicated and a new stained-glass window commemorating all three admirals will be blessed. 

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News of Trafalgar by Post-Chaise: The two horse post-chaise with riders in full costume will visit the village school and then proceed to the church service which will be followed by a recreation of the arrival of the news of Nelson’s death and victory at Trafalgar by post-chaise. 

Village Green Celebration & Post-Chaise: The two horse post-chaise will then move to the village green on Friday 5th July 2019 around 3pm until 5pm where there will be a variety of themed entertainment, live music, Royal Navy and Trafalgar Way stands and refreshments provided by local village groups including the Primary School and Royal Navy Catering. 

Commemorative Dinner: A Commemorative Dinner will be held on Saturday 6th July 2019 in the Cornwallis Suite of South Lawn Hotel, Milford (once the property of Admiral Cornwallis) with a leading naval historian as the guest speaker. 

Command of the Seas! Exhibition: A twelve-week exhibition entitled, “Command of the Seas! The Navy and the New Forest against Napoleon”, will run at St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington from the 8th June until the end of August. Also, Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society has published a commemorative Bicentenary Edition of its Occasional Magazine with articles on Cornwallis, Man and Peyton.

Royal Navy Vessel in Lymington Port: It is hoped to have a Royal Navy training boat of the P2000 Archer Class in Lymington port over the week-end of 5th to 7th July. (Subject to operational duties)  

Illustration by Shaun Stevens
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Illustration by
Shaun Stevens
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The Admirals’ Trail & 
School Workshops: Further outreach activities for the community include, as a lasting resource, a heritage trail from Hurst Castle through Milford and surrounding towns and villages on to Bucklers Hard and Calshot Castle. This is being prepared in conjunction with other parishes and local history societies. In addition, The 1805 Club will be running its Wooden World educational workshops at Milford-on-Sea Primary School in July. 

Illustration by Shaun Stevens
click image to enlarge
Illustration by Shaun Stevens
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Enjoy the celebrations! 



For further information please contact: David Long at: david@milfordonsea.org

Sunday 24 March 2019

Litter picking at Hurst Castle


As Hurst Castle prepare to open for the summer season, the Friends of Hurst Castle are holding their Annual Litter Pick on Sunday 7th April 2019, the Ferry leaves Keyhaven at 11am and volunteers can return when they like.

The idea is to wander around the Castle and approaches collecting the winters deposits. Necessary equipment will be provided including tea and biscuits.

If you would like to help out, or find out more about the friendly bunch of Friends of Hurst Castle, you can contact them below.



Friends of Hurst Castle is a very local active support group to Hurst Castle, who provide help in any way they can from enhancement of the building, assisting educationally to financially helping with any current project.

Within the castle, the Friends of Hurst Castle has an exhibition about their work and displays of military memorabilia that has been donated to the castle.

If you would like to become a member of Friends of Hurst Castle please click here to visit the website and for contact details.

Thursday 14 March 2019

Bad news for Hordle Cliffs

Following our recent article 'Milford on Sea beach huts condemned' click here to read), we have received the email below from a local resident:  

"There is much wider issue of the whole beach disappearing - I heard that the Kiosk at Hordle Cliff car park was told by the council that by 5 years there will not be a beach! 

The 2 bays document relates to erosion along coast - this document was known by the Council for a long time but now is becoming more widely known amongst the beach hut community - not by the council telling us! - I don’t think the general Milford resident knows of this though. (Click here to read Two Bays document)

picture by Southampton University
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There is a do nothing policy for Hordle Cliff and the expected erosion for this area - which includes Hordle Cliff car park disappearing! 

Originally there was a a policy of ‘Hold the Line’ for Hordle Cliff - page 4.2.1 it has now changed to ‘Do nothing’ 

Relevant pages, 4.2.13 - anticipated retreat of 1.2 metres per year - in the last 4 months this must have been over 10-15 metres. Other pages - 4.2.14, 4.2.46, 48, 49 

Anther document from Southampton University refers to the change at Hordle Cliff being due to sea defences at Barton. (Click here to read.)

Thought you would find this interesting - sorry about the amount of reading! 

We have written to Council and MP as we are very concerned about this overall erosion - as I previously said it’s a much broader issue than just beach huts disappearing and I really feel that the village should be made aware of this.
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Editors comment: Knowing how powerful the sea can be the ultimate effects are quite understandable. Hopefully things do not deteriorate too quickly.

Wednesday 13 March 2019

Raw Milk Vending Machine at Hordle Manor Farm

The Cobb family of Hordle Manor Farm have dropped us a line to tell us of their new venture into supplying raw milk via a vending machine...

"Hordle Manor Farm is a family run farm which has been in the Cobb family for over 100 years. Matthew is currently the 5th generation of Cobb farmers. 

The family farm dairy and arable, growing enough crops to feed and bed their herd of cows, with a little extra to sell to the feed company. The Cobb family consists of Matthew, 47 years, Jack 18 years, who has just been offered and accepted a position of PCSO with the Metropolitan Police, Tom 16 years, who has an apprenticeship at RAD Engineering where he is learning
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all aspects of welding and fabricating, Harry 15 years, who is currently studying at Priestlands school and helps out on the farm at every given opportunity, Emily 10 years who is being home educated with the help of many wonderful local groups, and mum ,Sarah (46), who describes herself as a full time dogs body to all of the above, who enjoys riding and caring for her horse too. They all live in the farmhouse with our 4 rescued Lurchers and many cats. 

Hordle Manor Farm is one of the very few remaining small farms, which runs a closed herd of around 100 Holstein Friesian milking cows. They also grow and produce grass silage, hay, maize, barley and straw, which mostly is used for feed an bedding for our cows. Any other feed which is needed is all sourced locally or comes from the South West. 

Most of the farm's milk goes to Medina Dairy and is then processed and sold in Sainsbury’s supermarkets. 

However, the diary has been using some of the milk before it is collected and treated for themselves. In this state it is called raw milk as it has not been heat treated, pasteurised or homogenised. As it hasn’t been altered in anyway, it is the most amazing creamy milk. Contrary to some beliefs, it is not fattening though. At only around 4% fat. This is a ‘good/friendly’ fat and is needed to help our bodies in many ways. It also contains all the ‘friendly’ bacteria which heat treating kills off. 

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Sarah and Matthew have now decided it was time they shared our secret with the public and have set up a raw milk vending machine. 

Customers can come with their own bottles or containers, or buy bottles from us at £2 per bottle, which is glass with a screw top, so is reusable. The vending machine will supply however much or little milk you would like and is very easy to use. A litre of milk costs £1.40 but if you don’t want a whole litre, the machine will give you the amount of milk you pay for. 

The milk vending machine has clear instructions and only takes coins, but does give change. they have sourced as many of  the products for their venture as they could locally, including all the signs and flyers from New Forest Printing in New Milton and bottle labels from Gilly Print in Lymington. The logo was designed by Jamie Kedwards - the son of Sarah's childhood friend! 

Last Saturday the farm opened their doors and have been overwhelmed by the response from the public so far. On our first day they sold in excess of 60 litres of raw milk. Many customers came from lots of different walks of life and they had lots of positive feedback. 

Matthew and Harry showed some groups of people around and explained how the family have an open approach to their farming methods and are happy to answer any questions or to discuss any issues anyone has. They explained we want to be upfront and open as to where milk comes from, as sadly the whole farm to supermarkets process has become a little disjointed. 

Emily spent all day explaining to customers how to use the vending machine and met lots of lovely new faces." 

If you would like to find out more about raw milk, you can find the farm as below:

New Forest Raw Milk - Sarah’s Dairy 
Hordle Manor Farm, Cliff Road, Milford-on-Sea, SO41 0NW

Directions: From Milford on Sea take the Cliff Road (B3058) towards New Milton. Continue along Cliff Road past the car parks and Scholars Retreat. The farm is on the left, Just after the old churchyard and before Downton Lane, Shorefield Park.

Oh, the dairy also has a Facebook page too, you can visit by clicking here.

Friday 8 March 2019

Wine Tasting at The Cave

The Cave have announced their next wine tasting evening. An expert from the Paul Cluver Wine group will be coming in on Thurday 21st March to talk through the history of the company as well as conducting tastings of 9 different wines. 

Paul Cluver Wines is a family owned and family run winery, focused on producing wines that reflect the uniqueness of the cool-climate Elgin terroir. The family is proud to have pioneered the Elgin appellation and for being seen as a leader in the sustainable farming.

The property is approximately 70km south-east of Cape Town and has been in ownership of the Cluver Family since 1896.

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Alongside this, The Cave team will be providing snacks and nibbles, all included in the price of your ticket. Only £15 per person. 

To book please contact below or call in.


The Cave
2 Church Hill, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QH
01590 642195

Cheeky Cards at The Village News

The Village News at the foot of Milford on Sea village green stocks an awful lot of items for a small shop; newspapers, magazines, stationery, sweets, chocolates, celebration cards and more.

The latest addition to their card range are a little cheeky and I wonder why I feel they are quite suited to the village!  

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Tuesday 5 March 2019

More Awards for The Butchers Shop

The Butchers Shop in Church Hill, Milford on Sea has yet again won awards for their sausages and bacon, this time at the Great Hampshire Sausage and Pie Competition 2019.

David Gates was handed seven gold medals for his sausages including traditional pork, lamb and mint, beef sausages, pork and cider, Beachcomber pork, Drayman’s pork and also their pork and spring onion bangers.

He also won gold for its home cured back bacon and silver for their hickory smoked back bacon, 

Quite a list, but given time we can try them all!

Singing for Charity

As you may know, we advertise all and any village event on the Milford on Sea Calendar (www.milfordonseacalendar.org) and save this site for local village news.

However, on this occasion we are mentioning the event below to support a local mum and daughter singing duo who have spent the past 8 years working towards raising £10,000 with the support of their friends, for Oakhaven Hospice.
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For Good Charity Concert

We're now edging closer to the actual concert date & I wondered if you could find space for the below article (re-written/re-worded, whatever suits you!) in your Milford on Sea News Bulletin pages?

Please do let me know if you'd like any further information;

Local mother & daughter singers 'The Jems' will be singing at a very special collaborative charity performance with New Forest father & son performers, Liam & Tony White on Friday 12th April at Milford Community Centre. 

'The Jems', otherwise known as Jo & Emily Vezey, along with Liam & Tony are joining forces to thank the staff at Oakhaven Hospice by raising funds on behalf of family members & friends, past & present, who have benefited from the amazing service offered. 

This year marks the 10 year anniversary that Jo & Emily lost their beloved Mum/Gran, Anne Metcalf, who remains an inspiration to them both, & the concert is named in her honour with a song close to both girls hearts 'For Good', describing how they were changed for good simply by knowing Anne. 

Liam, Tony & Andy Gale (our fabulous sound engineer) have also experienced first hand the compassionate & dedicated care that Oakhaven offers, & the idea for a concert was thrown on the table at a local music event at the end of last year, & plans subsequently took off full steam ahead. 

The concert will feature Liam's 'Buble Experience', Tony's 'Neil Diamond Tribute' & 'The Jems' will be performing songs from Frank Sinatra to Caro Emerald. 

The evening will begin at 7.30pm, with tickets on sale at the Milford Community Centre Box Office for just £10. 

Come & join us for a fantastic evening of entertainment in support of Oakhaven Hospice. The bar will be open! 

Friday 1 March 2019

Recruitment Open Days at St. George’s Nursing Home

St. George’s Nursing Home in Milford on Sea are looking for some people to join the team. If you, or anyone you know may be interested, simply go along to one of the Open Days below:

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