Angela Bridgman, Overton

Barnstaple, Devon

21 October, 2011

​

Dear Sir/madam,

​

I am sending a copy of a family photo of Rose Villa when the house belonged to my ancestors. I would guess the date to be about 1910. I thought you might be interested to see that not a lot of changes took place over the years. The second photo I took when we were in Hampshire sometime in the late 1980s and at that time it was being used as a care home. Obviously, as I do not live in the Sarisbury area I do not know if the house is still being used for that purpose or is now owner occupied - or indeed if it is still standing! 

The house was built by my great, great, grandfather, William Freemantle who is, I think, the gentleman standing in front of the door. I have no other photos of this generation so can only guess at the people but I should presume that the lady on the right is William's wife, Maxi!! (nee New).

The younger lady next to William is my grandmother as a young woman

(Dorothy Annie Freemantle born 1892).

I do not know who the lady on the left but it could be a cousin of Dorothy.

There were a lot of Freemantle's in the area at the time although they originated from Farley Chamberlayne and Kings Somborne. I know that my Great grandfather, Charles Freemantle was a strawberry farmer and the land behind the house was strawberry fields as far as the eye could see. When Charles died in the 1920s the business was taken over by Dorothy's sister, Edith and her husband Bert Cox. I visited the house once when I was young, sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s and at that time quite a lot of land had been sold but there were still a lot of strawberries. Outside the back door, to the left, was a pump which had been their water source. My grandmother went to London in 1911 to train as a chemist's assistant and never went back to live at Rose Villa but she always had happy memories of her time there.

I hope you find the history of your house of interest.

Best wishes,

​

ROSE VILLA COAT OF ARMS

The roses around the outer edge are Dog Roses

which were planted at the front of the house in the mid 1980’s.

The white and red roses represent the Hampshire Rose”.

Florence Nightingale’s lamps sits between the rose’s shining a ray of hope and sunshine.

See the hand of GOD rising out of the River Hamble holding an hour glass.

There is more sand at the top then bottom depicting there is more life to come when you reside at “Rose Villa”                                                            

Designed by Russ Welland at Dover Castle 1985