The village of Durley can trace its roots back to a time more than 1,000 years ago but it is a community that is also looking to the future and the next millennium.

Today it is still mainly a rural area, the local pubs are popular with people from Southampton and the new housing developments nearby, the long-established sawmills are as busy as ever and, despite all the pressures, Durley still keeps its identity and there is a definite feeling of belonging among the local residents.

The village has now produced its own millennium calendar to raise money for the conservation of Durley's Tresher Room, a corrugated iron hall built towards the end of the last century.

Trustees of the hall, once called the Mission Room, are now hoping to trace any descendants of Captain William Tresher, who gave the building to the village, and who were last known to be living in Avenue End, Fareham, in 1922.

The unique calendar shows village landmarks past and present both in modern photographs and images from the village's archives.

Wintershill Hall, built in 1852 and severely damaged by fire on Christmas Eve, 1996, is one of the local buildings featured on the calendar.

Now completely restored, Wintershill Hall was used as the headquarters of the Hampshire Fire Service during the Second World War and at the end of the conflict Jewish children were brought to the elegant buildings to recover after they had been released from concentration camps.

Mitford in Heathen Street, an ancient cottage dating from the 16th century, is the calendar's subject for the months of March and April.

In the latter part of the 19th century the cottage was home to the Durley carrier, who provided transport for goods and passengers, including a regular Friday service to and from Southampton, for many years.

"The carrier would also bring back goods from the town for people on the route and those wishing him to stop for any purpose would tie a piece of newspaper to their gates as a signal,'' recalls the calendar.

Durley has two public houses within the parish boundaries. As its name suggests, The Farmer's Home was originally a farmhouse, while the Robin Hood has been a pub for decades.

A yew tree believed to be more than 1,500 years old stands next to the Church of the Holy Cross, which itself dates back to the 13th century.

Alongside a modern-day calendar picture of the church is a photograph from the late 1880s with members of the Crosswell family walking in the graveyard.

The cemetery was at the centre of no small controversy during the 1870s when the rector decided it was time some tombstones were removed and new paths laid which resulted in "almost civil war in the village.''

September and October on the calendar feature Old Forge Cottage, which was formerly known as Myrtle Cottage. Parts of the building go back to the early 1600s.

During the last century it was occupied by several blacksmiths and wheelwrights. The forge was in the grounds of the cottage and is now the garage while an old brick shed still exists where rims of cartwheels were heated and bacon was once smoked. Durley Mill, the last photograph on the calendar, possibly stands on the site of one of three mills mentioned in the Domesday Book. The present mill was built in the early 1600s and continued working right up until April 1965.

For more information about the Durley millennium calendar telephone 01489 860587.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.