Villagers have been left baffled by the identity of a local homeowner who employed a ‘rough’ gang of workers to demolish a beloved 300-year-old cottage.
Neighbours said they first believed workers were coming in to rethatch the roof of the historic property and were shocked when a JCB digger arrived.
Test Valley Borough Council said they had not been made aware of plans to tear down the two-bedroom home and have now launched an investigation in to the demolition.
Locals in Nursling, near Southampton in Hampshire, said the 17th century property was regarded as the ‘hallmark’ of their parish and was even featured on the front cover of a local history book.
Residents have said they were shocked by the destruction with some even calling for those responsible to be ‘locked up’ with others confessing they felt robbed of a piece of their local history.
Alex Huckle, 39, who lives opposite where Wychwood Cottage once stood said she saw a gang of ‘rough’ men come over to start work but hadn’t expected anything as drastic as a demolition and added there were no signs to warn residents.
She said: ‘They looked quite rough, there were no signs or anything.
‘They had a tipper truck. We thought they were rethatching it, they put plastic sheets up, but obviously they were taking the thatch down.’
The local added the village had previously tried to get the cottage listed but were unsuccessful.
Ms Huckle told : ‘I know we did try to get it listed back in February. We were told it had been altered a few years ago. I don’t know who owns it.’
Older Nursling residents were particularly angered by the decision to knock down a cottage they had such fond memories of.
James Rooney, 90, said he thought those responsible should be ‘locked up’ for their ‘disgusting’ actions.
The retired builder said: ‘It is disgusting, whoever did it needs to be locked up.
‘We heard them doing work but did not know they were going to take it down.
‘One of the last things I heard was the old lady that was living there wrote to the council because it was falling apart.
‘All I know is it was a lovely old cottage.’
Jess Craig, 39, echoed Ms Huckle’s comments about the demolition crew and said that they were definitely not a ‘corporate company’.
The full-time mother said the destruction of the beautiful property ‘happened pretty quick’ and she noticed workmen who looked like tree surgeons working on the house which took just two days to tear down.
She said: ‘It was a lovely cottage, one minute it was there and the next it was gone.
‘I saw what looked like tree surgeons at one point and the scaffolding with sheeting around it and then it was gone.
‘It was about two days, it definitely didn’t look like a corporate company.’
Lawrence Harfield, 71, who has lived in the Hampshire village for two decades said he couldn’t believe his eyes when a JCB digger moved in and began smashing down the property.
Registered nurse Karen Williams, 42, said everyone in the area is ‘really upset’ at the demolition which came completely out of the blue.
‘I am really saddened and shocked that it has been demolished,’ she said.
‘I looked at the planning portal and from what I can see the only one is for the land adjacent, they did a heritage thing so the building was protected.
‘Everyone round here is really upset. I just knew it was up for sale last year, it came with the planning permission for the adjacent land.
‘I heard them demolishing it, I didn’t realise what was going on until I saw it on the Facebook page.
‘Everyone is saddened, it is a piece of our history that has been taken away, there isn’t much of the old village left.
The cottage was previously owned by an estates company linked to a philanthropic organisation, the Barker-Mill Foundation, but they confirmed that it was sold earlier this year after owning it for roughly two centuries.
An anonymous source told that the cottage had been sold in April along with planning permission and they had expected something to be built to the side of the historic property.
They said they ‘didn’t sell it to be demolished’ and were ‘slightly disappointed’ to hear it had been completely destroyed.
The last planning application in relation to the cottage was submitted to the council in 2022, seeking to build a new home on the land next to the cottage.
This application was approved by Test Valley, but no work has yet started on the separate dwelling.
Planning portfolio holder, Councillor Phil Bundy, said: ‘I was made aware on Sunday evening that Wychwood Cottage had been demolished at the weekend.
‘Test Valley Borough Council was not notified of this work in advance.
‘Whilst the cottage was not a listed building, TVBC is currently investigating the matter.
‘This includes establishing whether the owners followed the correct planning procedures, and the council is in contact with them to understand why it was demolished.’
In a listing on estate agent Giles Wheeler’s website the cottage was described as having a generous 0.15 acre garden and was located close to the centre of Nursling Village within one and half miles of Junction 3 of M27 motorway.
The property, which was sold earlier this year was listed with a guide price of £400,000 while pictures on the website showed a bright and tidy interior with a galley kitchen, modern shower room and large, wood-panelled bedrooms upstairs.
Downstairs boasted a large open plan living space with wooden beams in the ceiling, bay windows and built-in cupboards and apart from some minor superficial marks on the off-white walls, the house appeared in good condition.