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The Lowdown on Titchfield
Water Moves Wherever it Chooses
Titchfield lies quite low in the landscape; some call it sleepy hollow. In the days when the coach route went through the village centre the Bugle, the Queens Head and the Wheatsheaf supplied livery horses. With hills to climb whichever way they left the village, they must have been both fit and fresh.
A number of streams drain down the surrounding hills, running below ground across the village centre to join the River Meon. With heavy rainfall some of these break cover and run across the street. The raised doorsteps on the east side of High Street show suggest that in the past this was a greater problem.
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Titchfield Underground
 | Cellars then are a somewhat risky commodity where there is such a high water table and would only be built where their use was absolutely essential. They exist below the Bugle hotel and some of the houses along High Street. We know of properties where water is allowed to pass through the cellar in a special channel and out into a sub-surface stream.
Water was precious, the Meon served to carry away a repulsive cocktail of pollutants from farms and industries. In Titchfield alone iron mill and tanning waste would have made it pretty vile. So wells were tapped into the water table. Some properties had their own, but on the corner between High Street and East Street stood a public well where the water carrier filled his cart for delivery around the village
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Do You Have Prisoners
 | | We were told that several cellars have iron rings or shackles fixed firmly to their walls and Titchfield History Society was asked to investigate their purpose. One proposal was that they might serve to imprison people or animals. Boat mooring was, in all seriousness, also suggested! Other ideas are welcome. |
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