IN TERMS of its conversion from one type of human activity to another, this area could claim to have seen more change than most; from slow, quiet and leisurely, to fast, noisy and hurried. The site, another postcard from David Howard’s collection, was once part of the recreation ground but is now the busy roundabout that links Eastern Avenue to New Street, Vigo Road, Adelaide Road and Newbury Street, with a central channel gouged deep into the ground to form an underpass so pedestrians can cross safely.

It is a far cry from the bowling green, with its small, wooden pavilion, storage shed and viewing benches. In the background from left to right, are the 1869 almshouses, the side of the lofty United Reformed Church and the first house in East Street, once famous for its painted pictorial advertising sign with its ode to chimney sweep Luke Bull.

READ MORE: David Borrett’s column: Exploring the story behind an Andover pub photo

Bowling in England goes back hundreds of years. Henry VIII was a great enthusiast but banned it for the lower classes. Sir Francis Drake was famously playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe as the Spanish Armada approached, claiming there was time enough to finish the game before attending to the approaching enemy. The old story may be apocryphal but evidently, bowls was considered a serious business.

Andover Bowling Club was established in 1913 and one notable game took place in Andover on 11 July 1919, when the local bowling club took on New Zealand. The latter team were comrades from the Great War and were still in uniform, perhaps recently discharged from the Rothesay hospital where many colonial soldiers were treated during the recently-ended war. Three successive games were played with four players to a team but the visitors won overall with 65 points to 50. Most of the Andover team were traders and shopkeepers and included blacksmith Frank Sims of New Street, ironmonger Maurice Crang, fishmonger Harry Burden, tobacconist Tommy Baldock and the Advertiser’s Alfred Holmes. A tea afterwards was provided by Francis Stagg, the Marlborough Street baker.

SEE ALSO: David Borrett's Column: Andover Bridge Street from the 1930s

In the 1960s, the town map was completely re-drawn with the expansion of Andover. As part of this, a new system of both inner and outer distributor roads was built, that cut through many of the old streets of the old town. What had been the ‘back lane’ that bounded the ancient burgage plots to the east and enabled rear access to the High Street shops, as well as being the exit point for the many yards that led from the High Street, was obliterated by the new Eastern Avenue, a straight, uncompromising route from London Street to New Street. The meeting of the several old streets became a large roundabout that engulfed the site of the bowling green and the bowls club was moved to a new site at the other end of the recreation ground where it is still located today, accessed from Recreation Road.

But what next is planned for this area?  Two-way vehicular routes were once universal in every street of the town but from the 1980s the introduction of pedestrianisation, one-way systems and restricted access around the High Street area, has reduced traffic. The large roundabout is no longer so busy as it was and there have been suggestions that it could be removed and the area restored to public leisure. No doubt it will take some degree of careful and evidence-based planning, and not everything could go back to how it was but it is an interesting idea.