Continued from front page

ABOVE : Hatch Grange House

LEFT: Mrs Frances Fletcher (wife of Ralph Warneford Cresswell Fletcher)

Upon his marriage in London to Frances Mara Lovekin in 1872, the couple moved into Hatch Grange house, previously named Grange Farm and became part of the local gentry.
His estate consisted of 277 acres of mainly arable and pasture land, extending from the High Street in the south, Chapel Road then to Quob Lane in the east and Allington Lane comprising the northern and western boundaries. The 200 plus acres of farmland was managed by a tenant farmer occupying Hatch Farm (now Larch Close). This area is largely covered by detached houses today, except for Round Hill which is still grazed.
Mr and Mrs Fletcher soon created attractive gardens, shrubberies and rockeries around their house which looked out over the remaining acres of undulating parkland which we know as present day Hatch Grange. Beech, oak and Corsican Pine trees were planted nearby and the magnificent avenue of lime trees was created about 1874. This avenue with its entrance at Hatch Lodge on the High Street, provided an impressive drive for the horse-drawn carriages which arrived for social gatherings in Victorian times. Fortunately most of these trees still exist.
The coat-of-arms for the Fletcher family was created for them in 1900 and includes two red squirrels holding an arrow aloft, above the inscription 'Droit comme une fleche', (as straight as an arrow) relating to the true meaning of Fletcher which was "arrow maker". Red squirrels used to abound on Hatch Grange, as elsewhere in West End, before the Second World War. The red squirrel has since reappeared but only symbolically atop the clock and cupola tower on the roof of the Parish Centre.
Mr Fletcher enjoyed boating, hunting and shooting with music and reading providing quieter past-times. He commanded the Botley (military) Volunteers for 12 years, served as JP and a church-warden at St. James' Church, helping to raise funds for the new church built in 1890. He was also a member of the Parish Council and was its Chairman in 1901-2 and 1905-10.
They raised two daughters, Esme and Hilda, who were well known locally. Mrs Fletcher was in command of the Hants 138 Red Cross (South Stoneham) Division and held regular Red Cross classes for local girls in the dining room of Hatch Grange house.
Mr and Mrs Fletcher lived on and ran the Hatch Grange estate for 56 years until their deaths in 1928. They were both buried in the family plot, just left off the main path into the Old Burial Ground, off the High Street. Their deaths led to the gradual break-up of the estate, but fortunately over 30 acres remain today as a public open space owned by the West End Parish Council. The jewel in West End's crown.

NB. Further information can be gleaned from the book 'Hatch Grange - a stroll back in Time' (£5.00 available from the museum or from the author Pauline Berry)