AN INTERESTING subject for these articles is the source of street names, some named after local people.

The Berg estate roads Brackley, Pitman and Woodroffe are all named after Basingstoke mayors of the 17th century and a number of roads in the South Ham extension of the 1960s were named after local casualties of WW2; Alliston, Burnaby, Butler and Dibley.

The Harrow Way estate took its name from the route of the original Harrow Way, which was trod by pilgrims visiting the tomb of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and it’s roads Merriat, Morley, Loggon and Lightfoot are named after early masters of the Holy Ghost school which was situated at the South View Cemetery.

Mulfords Hill, the main route through Tadley, also has an interesting history.

Mr John Mulford was a well-known character in the 1700s.

Born in October 1720, he was a wealthy man, although it is not actually known how he came by his wealth.

He was very proud to have come from a traveller background and his relations were established in the Tadley area for many years.

He sported a long white beard which nearly reached his knees and he dressed in the most expensive clothing of the day.

Although on a personal basis he was very frugal, being happy with just the essentials, he was very charitable to others, never rejecting anyone who needed financial help and generous to religious organisations after being influenced by the teachings of John Whitburn, a turf cutter.

He remained single all his life.

When asked about his ancestors he replied that they were ‘mole catchers to William the Conqueror’.

He was a fervent attendant of the local chapel and, during his lifetime, built two more, including accommodation for the ministers. One was built in 1798 at Mortimer Common and the other in Basingstoke.

John Mulford’s wish was that he would die suddenly which was realised when on January 7, 1814, he died in his chair at the age of 94.

This in itself is not remarkable but for the fact that the same morning he had said to a friend ‘What a fine day for gossiping people to go about and say that old Mulford is dead’.

He left £20,000 to be divided amongst his relatives and the church.

He now lies in the graveyard of his church at Mortimer Common, next to his mentor John Whitburn, with the epitaph ‘Gone to know more, adore more, love more; Christ Victorious, Satan Vanquished; Here earth take thy part of John Mulford’, and now over 200 years later, his name is remembered each time one travels through Tadley.