Calbourne
The village of Calbourne takes its name from the stream which flows through it, the Caul Bourne. Rising in the Downs above, it runs into the pond at Westover and then meanders past Winkle Street to Newbridge where it becomes the parish boundary, finally flowing into Shalfleet Creek. Westover House, as its name implies, stands on the west bank of the stream.
Early records state that land in Calbourne was given to the See of Winchester in A.D. 836 by Egbert, King of Wessex, and this was possibly for the site of a Church. Archbishop Maulger, uncle of William the Conqueror, was Rector in 1086, but the present Church shows hardly any remains of ancient work, having been very much altered and restored.
Winkle Street is a noted beauty-spot with its row of thatched 18th century cottages facing the flower-bordered stream. At the further end of the street is a sheep-dip dating from the early 1600s, and still in use. Apparently in the middle of the 17th century, a Mr. Erlisman, then owner of Westover, tried to make the local farmers pay for its use, but they took him to law and won the day. It is said that Winkle Street once had its own tavern complete with skittle alley, and a butcher's shop – certainly a meadow on the far side of the stream is still called Butcher's Meade.
On its way to Shalfleet the stream served several mills. The first was Fullings Mill, no longer used. Then Calbourne Mill, which has become a show-place; it was valued in Domesday Book at six shillings and threepence, and in 1694 was sold by Sir John Dillington of Knighton to one William Crannidge for "three score pounds of good and lawful money". Next came Lower Calbourne Mill which, until a few years ago, was run together with a bakehouse, and has since been re-opened for the sale of stone-ground flour; and lastly Shalfleet Mill which has not been working for many years.
At the Freshwater cross-roads stands the Sun Inn, which replaced a thatched house burnt down in 1894, and nearby is a wheelwright's house dated 1772.
Swainston Manor was the residence of the Bishops who in very early days were the lords of the surrounding countryside, until dispossessed by the King, after which it had a variety of holders to whom it had been granted as reward for their services to the Crown. Mary Tudor gave it to a female descendant of the Earls of Salisbury, who married into the family of Barrington, of Hatfield in Essex, and in 1832 the property passed, by the marriage of the heiress, to the Simeons. Alfred Tennyson was a frequent visitor, and is said to have written part of the poem Maud at Swainston. The house was unfortunately burnt out during the last war, and, although it has been rebuilt, only a few traces of the ancient structure remain.
An old resident recalled that Swainston's Halt at Watchingwell had been a condition of allowing the railway line to Freshwater to run through the estate. One of the old station masters used to keep pigs, and he reckoned that when his pigs were in the sty they were in Carisbrooke parish, but when they were outside in the run they were in Calbourne!
The gamekeeper's house at Calbourne Bottom, where three parishes meet, was reputed to be haunted by a man who was drowned in the well. It was said that he was often heard opening the door and going upstairs – perhaps it is no wonder that the house was eventually allowed to fall down!
