Picket Post
Picket Post is a road junction and service area in the New Forest National Park of Hampshire, England. It lies on the A31 road.
Picket Post | |
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Picket Post Location within Hampshire | |
OS grid reference | SU191061 |
District |
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Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | RINGWOOD |
Postcode district | BH24 3 |
Police | Hampshire |
Fire | Hampshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Facilities
Picket Post is located on the A31 dual carriageway which passes through the New Forest. It is situated 2.5 miles from the A338 at Ringwood and 8 miles from Junction 1 of the M27 at Cadnam.[1] A minor road to the village of Burley joins with the A31 at Picket Post. There is a roadside service area on both sides of the dual carriageway.
Picket Post is the location of a cricket ground for Ellingham cricket club, and there is a rugby training pitch next to it.[2]
History
Picket Post was once an important junction of the toll road to Poole with the road to Burley and Lymington.[3] The name derives from a picket (i.e. a post) which marked the spot, but it may have acquired a second meaning from a picket of soldiers stationed at a strategic point on the smugglers's route.[3] There was an inn here for most of the 19th century, which around 1900 became a tea house whose sign was a large golden kettle - it was demolished in 1969.[3]
References
- Norman Henderson, (2007), A Walk Around the New Forest: In Thirty-Five Circular Walks, pages 145. Frances Lincoln Ltd
- Ellingham Cricket at play-cricket.com
- Norman Henderson, (2007), A Walk Around the New Forest: In Thirty-Five Circular Walks, pages 141-2. Frances Lincoln Ltd