Farlington Marshes - before they built the A27 | Nostalgia

This fine aerial photo, sent in by David Watts of Farlington, shows the changes to the area since the 1950s when this shot was taken.

To the bottom of the photo is the Portsmouth Co-op bakery and dairy and above that the Twilfit corset factory. Do you remember passing it on the train and seeing the word TWILFIT grown in plants? It can be seen in the photo just below the railway bridge.

Under the bridge can be made out the railway sidings now long gone.

The Eastern Road seems very quiet with no side roads leading off it unlike today.

Dunham Bush's factory with the arched roof is to the centre and above that can be seen Fitzherbert Road ending in a cul-de-sac. Sainsbury's store is now built over the site of Dunham Bush.

To the right the quiet of the marshes has been reclaimed to a certain extent and now has the roaring traffic on the motorway running parallel with the railway line which can be seen disappearing into the distance.

It is not that many years ago that sheep were herded on to Farlington Marshes.

To care for them shepherds were needed and the last of these was Harry Holcombe, captured on film here about 1930. He was the son of Nelson Holcombe. The 140-acre Masons Farm was Harry’s home.

The photo was lent to us by Jenny Vincent, Harry’s granddaughter.

Click here to see more old pictures of Farlington.

A message from the editor, Mark Waldron.

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