The Waterside
Sports therapy for Holbury, from Long Lane football to Gang Warily rugby
From Holbury, my clinic at 3A Ferryboat House in Hythe is roughly 3 miles up the A326, about 7 minutes by car. I’m Alice Day, and alongside my sports therapy degree I hold an MSc in Strength & Conditioning with Rehabilitation. A turned ankle from a winter match on Long Lane and a back that stiffens on the walk through Warren Copse get the same careful injury assessment from me, followed by hands-on treatment and a rehabilitation plan to take away.
About Holbury
From abbey grange to refinery village
Fawley Parish Council’s history says the Holbury estate was carved out of Forest waste land around 1180, and that from about 1260 Beaulieu Abbey farmed it as one of its granges. The monks grew wheat, oats, vetch and peas and dug ponds to raise carp, which the council notes were used as currency and gifts. In 1312 a royal licence let Roger Bernerall and Gilbert de Shupton grant land at ‘Holebury’ to the abbey. The name is thought to mean ‘hollow fortification’, though it isn’t clear which feature of the landscape it refers to.
The monks’ fishponds are still there, 200 metres west of Holbury Manor, beside a moat that may mark where their manor buildings stood. Together with the remains of an associated settlement they are protected as a Scheduled Monument. Test pits dug with Southampton Museum Service in 1951 turned up Iron Age and Romano-British pottery as well as medieval tiles. The parish council bought the land in stages, adding Warren Copse in 2009, and the 10.45-hectare site is now a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation.
The abbots kept Holbury until the Dissolution in 1538. In 1542 Henry VIII granted it to Robert Whyte in exchange for a manor and lands in Middlesex, and before 1560 it had passed to Thomas Pace, after which it followed the descent of the Cadlands estate. Today’s manor house is a 17th or 18th-century red-brick recasing of a Tudor mansion. The village grew with the refinery at Fawley and with Southampton close by; with Hardley, its neighbour to the north, it is now home to roughly 6,000 people. The monks gave carp as gifts; these days Holbury is more likely to send me a back in need of a sports massage.
Places you’ll know
- Warren Copse
- Ancient, semi-natural woodland inside the New Forest National Park, with veteran oaks, bluebells under hazel that was probably once coppiced for fencing and wattle, and a Wild Play Area opened in 2018.
- Holbury Manor Park fishponds and moat
- The monks’ carp ponds and moat, protected as a Scheduled Monument, in Holbury Manor Park, where the field is left to grow for wildflowers and grasses.
- Holbury Manor
- The manor house itself, 200 metres east of the moat and fishponds. Its red-brick walls are a later casing around a Tudor mansion.
- Waterside sports ground, Long Lane
- A 14.5-acre ground used for football in winter and cricket in summer. In 2020 planners approved a new pavilion in place of the site’s former 300-seat cinema building and pitch-side Portakabins.
Staying active
On the Long Lane pitches and the Warren Copse trails
Both clubs on the Waterside ground off Long Lane have the refinery in their history. Fawley Cricket Club began in 1936 as the refinery’s sports and social club and fields three senior XIs and an Under 9 side. In winter it turns to football: Fawley AFC started in 1923 as AGWI United, after the oil company that then owned the refinery, and now play in the Wessex League. Year-round fixtures suit my pitch-side and event first aid, sports taping before kick-off included. Warren Copse’s Wild Play Area has two signposted nature trails, the longer marked with acorns and the shorter with owls, and a pair of tawny owls holds territory there. South of the village, Gang Warily hosts Fawley RFC and adds short mat bowls and a pond walk to its courts, plus an outdoor gym that suits a strength and conditioning plan.
Football on Long Lane brings ankle sprains and hamstring strains, bowling and throwing make backs and shoulders sore, court sports trouble calves and Achilles tendons, and rugby brings knocks. I’ll find the cause, treat it and plan your rehabilitation back to Long Lane, Gang Warily or Warren Copse. For a bowler’s tight shoulder, ask about adding myofascial cupping to a sports massage.
How I can help
- Rehabilitation From £45
A hamstring after a winter of football on Long Lane or a calf that went during squash at Gang Warily needs graded loading, not just rest, and I’ll plan each stage with you.
- Sports Massage From £30
Long cricket afternoons on the Waterside ground, bowling over after over, can leave shoulders and backs tight, and sports massage between matches can help ease that.
- Pitch-side & Event First Aid On request
With football on the Waterside ground through the winter and cricket through the summer, organisers of a local fixture or event can send the date and venue to mendandmovest@outlook.com for a first aid quote.
Also available: Injury Assessment, Myofascial Cupping, Strength & Conditioning, Sports Taping.
Getting here
Getting to the clinic from Holbury
Holbury to 3A Ferryboat House, Pylewell Road, Hythe SO45 6AR is about 2.8 miles in a straight line and roughly 3 miles by road. Follow the A326 north, then leave it for Hythe; the drive takes around 7 minutes.
Bluestar route 9, and the night N9, call at Holbury on the way between Southampton and Langley, Fawley or Calshot. Heading north from the village the route runs via Netley View into Hythe, so there is no change of bus. Hythe Pier is one of its stops, and the clinic is a short walk from the pier. Please check the current timetable with the operator before you travel.
I see people by appointment only. Book online (opens in a new tab), send an enquiry or email mendandmovest@outlook.com.
Also close by: Hardley, Blackfield, Fawley, Hythe, Dibden Purlieu, Butts Ash, Langley, Calshot, Lepe, Ashlett, Marchwood, Totton.
Postcodes covered
- SO45
- Holbury’s postcode district, running north to Hythe
- SO45 2
- The core of the village, including Long Lane
- SO45 3
- Northern edge, towards Hardley
- SO45 1
- Just to the south, around Blackfield
Services & pricing
Prices
The same prices apply wherever you travel from.
Treatment & assessment
Rehabilitation & extras
Programme costs may vary depending on individual requirements. Please enquire for current availability and appointment location.
Price list with full detailsGood to know
Questions from Holbury
- What’s the bus route from Holbury?
- Bluestar route 9 stops in several places in the village and runs north to Hythe on its way to Southampton. Check the operator’s current timetable before you set off.
- Do I need to play for one of the local clubs to book in?
- No. I see people with desk-related tension, everyday aches and stiffness, not only sports injuries, whether your exercise is the outdoor gym at Gang Warily, the Warren Copse trails or not much at all.
- Can you help me get stronger before the football or cricket season starts on Long Lane?
- Yes. For strength and conditioning, the first step is a free online consultation, where we talk through your training, any old injuries and what a realistic week looks like for you. I then write a programme you can follow in a gym, at home or a mix of both, and we check in and adjust it as the season gets closer.
Ready to make a start?
Book online in a couple of minutes, or send me a message if you’d like to talk it through first.