It would be a desperate shame to lose the history of Old Bedhampton | Verity Lush

What we actually found were some foil sweet wrappers, quite an interesting stone with a lump of metal encased within, and various other bits and bobs.

However, each was exciting based purely on the prospect of possibility.

In Old Bedhampton, there is a field that is up for possible development and there are a vast number of reasons why it shouldn’t go ahead in that particular spot.

There are safety issues, as well as a loss of nature and habitat.

But, given the Roman and Iron Age findings at the nearby 40 Acres site, I am surprised that no archaeological dig has been commissioned for the land south of Lower Road in Old Bedhampton.

The site is nearer to a spring than 40 Acres, making it even more likely to have been a settlement area.

What a desperate shame it will be if the history encased within were to be gone forever, without even having been looked for.

Part of the fascination with history is that people walked before us, in lives so very different to our own, but in the same spaces that our own feet now tread, and in the very areas of land in which we are now settled.

Evidence of those lives, and those ways of life, should be preserved, and their significance noted, because that, surely, is what history is all about.

The landscape of Old Bedhampton once gave access to Langstone Harbour and provided shellfish, fish, wildfowl, timber, charcoal, fruit, nuts, and grain for both human and animal use and consumption.

The Romans used earlier and well-established communication routes and simply upgraded them where necessary.

Today’s residents are simply guardians of these assets.

Surely whatever is revealed should not just recorded and destroyed, but protected for the benefit of future generations.

We should never forget what has come before us, when it can have such dramatic impact on what comes after.

Why are we putting arenas of heritage in danger?

I would suggest that Havant Borough Council need to consider carefully the cumulative impact and harm to landscapes of archaeological, historical and cultural heritage importance and their settings by development.

The previous example of the Old Bedhampton Conservation Area – and the possible loss of historic, nature-abundant hedgerows, wildlife and sunken lanes – is but one.

It is all very well to suggest that development is needed, but at what cost?

And, when there are more appropriate areas that can be used, why destroy one that is unique in the aforementioned arenas of heritage?

We’re supposed to be living in an enlightened time.

These spoiled youngsters don’t know they’re born...

My students were discussing mobiles this week and I merrily imparted that, in my own yoof, such things were non-existent.

I gaily informed them of how I had to sit on the stairs, tethered to the landline, where all conversations could be overheard by anyone who happened to be within the vicinity of downstairs.

I boggled their brains entirely with tales of how sometimes, should I wish to have a more private conversation, I had to walk to a phone box (a what?), ensure that I had some change, and then possibly queue to actually use the blasted thing.

Inevitably said box would reek of wee,as you held the grubby receiver to your own chops.