In 1927 number 18-20 (otherwise known as ‘Threeways’, presumably as it sat then at the junction of the three routes through the village) was built as part of a semi detached property in Orchard End, Bulford Village. Both of the properties provided domestic dwelling for the owners and premises for the existing business, hence 18-20 and 22-24.

It has had ‘several’ lives since being constructed, although the Post Office remained constant as such but growing to become the local newsagent, sweet shop and general retailer for daily needs of the villagers as happened in most villages across our land.

Immediately before being converted into a private house by the current owners, just prior to the Millennium, 18-20 belonged to a company taking aerial shots of farms, houses and places of interest from the air.

However, villagers have reminisced to the current owner that they remember previous incarnations……… It was once a greengrocer (there is a small chimney still in situ which, it is wondered, may well have provided the heat to cook beetroots).

Another incarnation was apparently as a general hardware store purveying all sorts of items to meet the then general and daily needs of the local populace (in terms of land usage and house maintenance) such as ropes, chains, nails and bolts; paraffin and other ‘old time’ liquids used in those days to run a household; pots and pans; candles, wicks and gas lamp ‘bulbs’ and implements for the general upkeep of surrounding small holdings such as hoes, scythes and garden forks.

And was it these same owners who had greenhouses there and ran a small garden centre? Or was it just another part of this property’s history?

Perhaps even more intriguing is the tale told that this building and its ‘other half’ at 22-24 (the original Post Office for the village) were built by the Ministry of Defence to provide a focal (service) centre for the village in recompense for it being used as a military through route.

Additionally, it is said that these two buildings were specially underpinned to protect them from the heavy vehicles which would be passing by. Did the MOD then have an inkling, even before 1927, that yet another major military conflagration was not too distantly on the horizon? Who knows?

 

For more information contact Guy at Clifford & Drew, on 01722 329795