ROMSEY is luckier than some market towns as it never had a major fire that destroyed much of the historic town centre.
Nonetheless it has had fires that have destroyed important buildings.
Back in 1826, the medieval house in Church Street, opposite Portersbridge Street, caught fire. The fire was fought by the town’s firefighters, who were aided by Broadlands’ fire brigade, but the building was destroyed. It was replaced by a brewery and the Lansdowne Arms, which buildings are now private houses.
Well into the 20th century, big houses had their own fire-fighting teams. In the case of Broadlands, a reservoir had been created on Pauncefoot Hill which provided water for the pond on the south lawn but also water for the fire hydrants.
The owner of lesser buildings often insured with private companies and those so doing marked their house with fire insurance plaques. The town council had a stock of buckets that in 1800 hung in the Council Chamber, which then was on the edge of the Market Place above what is now White’s Opticians.
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The fire engine was kept in a shed attached to Romsey Abbey. At a later date, it was housed in a building next to the Conservative Club at the southern end of Church Street.
By the 1940s the fire engines were kept in Latimer Street on what is now part of Lortemore car park. This was a proper fire station, with a garage for the fire engines and a building behind for the men and their equipment. This building that was replaced by the Fire Station in Alma Road.
The 1960s and early 1970s saw several dramatic fires in the town centre. Smith Bradbeers, as it was then known, in Bell Street had a catastrophic fire in December 1963.
It is said that the old jam factory in The Hundred was deliberately destroyed by fire in 1964. For many years the site was occupied by Waitrose before they moved to their present location.
Duke’s Mill was destroyed by fires in 1963 and 1970. Woolley and Wallis’s old timber framed building was destroyed by fire in 1974. Lambert’s building by the station was burnt down in 1968.
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