Kings Yard, Fordingbridge

By Julian Hewitt, Fordingbridge Museum

Column sponsored by Adrian Dowding Estate Agents

Some readers will know that Fordingbridge Museum is in Kings Yard, but they may not know why it is so called.

In the mid-19th century, it was occupied by a milling business owned by Titus Mitchell who also ran a grocery in Salisbury Street where William King worked. Born in Porton in 1835, William was the eldest of nine children. In 1851, he was listed as a farm labourer but later lived in Green Lane, Fordingbridge with his wife Elizabeth. He played the violin in the Methodist Chapel and worked as a grocery assistant with Thomas Viney, the son of a Stuckton farmer.

In 1870, William and Thomas bought the business off Titus and ran it until 1900, when Thomas returned to farming. William had five sons and three daughters and continued to run the business as William King and Sons.

Fordingbridge Museum is housed in the only remaining building of the granary and mill. Sacks of grain were hoisted to the second floor by a rope pulley. The hoist cover can still be seen today, as can a large window where the loading doors were. The flour was sent to the bakehouse behind. Power was provided by a Clayton steam engine. The rest of the yard was occupied by stables, cart sheds and storage buildings. There is a picture of one of King’s horse-drawn bread delivery vans in the museum.

William retired soon after 1900. He died in 1914 aged 80. The business and the shops continued to be run by family members. Bert King ran the yard and Salisbury Street shop until his son, Alan, joined the RAF in WW2. He sold it to Willetts who ran the laundry in Church Street.

Relatives of the King family still live locally and are keen to hear from anybody with more information on the family and business or on Brympton House which was situated on the site of Brympton Close, Fordingbridge. Contact Julian Hewitt on 01425 657850.