Built on "the Green where the otter hunters used to picnic", the original address of The Nurse's Cottage was "The Bungalow, Station Road". It dates from 1909, as a fragment of a builder's merchants label unearthed during alterations to the roof in the 1990's records: "Built by A Kitcher and Harry, in the year 1909 June". This was almost certainly Albert Edward Kitcher who is recorded in the 1901 Census as "Carpenter and Builder, School House, Church Lane, Sway"; the school connection is through his wife Charlotte, who was the School Mistress for many years.

Although The Bungalow was built in 1909, there is no formal record of an occupant prior to 1915, when "Miss Frances Sarah Liddle, District Nurse" is recorded both in the Electoral Register and Kelly's Directory. A nurse, after all, was a woman of some standing, usually a spinster from good stock, whereas even a highly valued chauffeur was still a servant. It is said that, rather like the stable lads sleeping above their charges, the chauffeur for whom it is supposed The Bungalow was originally built was ill at ease away from his cars and one can only imagine quarters being found for him adjoining the garage.

What is a certain matter of record, from the June 1913 New Forest Magazine (published jointly by the area's Churches), is that "the Committee of the Nurse Fund have accepted a very generous offer made by Mr and Mrs Herbert Moser of the Bungalow near the Post Office, and in the very centre of the village, as a residence for the nurse, and Nurse Liddell [note the spelling] is now living there. At the same time we shall all wish to acknowledge our gratitude to Dr Rennie for giving the use of his cottage during the last few years."

Herbert Moser was a great benefactor to the village and most of his "gifts" remained, strictly, his property until his estate was realised following his death in 1925.

The Bungalow was subsequently recorded at HM Land Registry as the property of the Sway District Nursing Association with Mr Abel Smith, the Vicar the Reverend P M Watkins and Mrs Hopkinson of Kettlethorns named as Trustees. In 1946, Parliament made local government responsible for the District Nursing Service and three years later responsibility for Sway passed to Hampshire County Council. Existing arrangements were maintained, with the Council renting The Bungalow from the Trustees for the nominal sum of £40 a year and taking over responsibility for its maintenance.

By the late 1940's, the name "District Nurse's House" appears in some records and, in the next decade, a rear extension [today's Garden Room Restaurant] was added, providing a small consulting room for patients who with the increasing prevalence of motor transport were now better able to visit the Nurse rather than the other way round. So, the building continued as home to a Nurse with one exception: for reasons which will be made clear later, the building was occupied from 1961-64 by the HCC Area Mental Health Officer, Frank Rowley, his wife Beryl and daughters Jacqueline and Linda. These were years of change for nursing and in 1976 the National Health Service took over the lease from the Council and continued to make use of The Bungalow until 1983.

Since the Sway District Nursing Association had no further role to play, the Trustees consulted with the Charity Commissioners and decided to sell the property - by now commonly referred to as The Nurse's Cottage (not Bungalow) and to use the capital raised to establish a new charity to help local people suffering mental or physical stress, the Sway Relief in Sickness Fund, in aid of whom this booklet has been produced.

The sale netted £34,000 and first to move in were Carol Payne and family, followed within a year by Mark and Barbara Saunders. They in turn sold the property in Summer 1987 to Tony Barnfield, who was seeking somewhere to escape the pressures of a busy broadcasting career in London "with a distant thought of retiring here. Some thought!"

STATION ROAD, SWAY, LYMINGTON, HANTS. SO41 6BA
© The Nurse's Cottage 2003 - 2010