Woolston, Hampshire Totally Explained

Everything about Woolston Hampshire totally explained

Woolston is a district of Southampton, England, located on the eastern shore of the River Itchen. It is bounded by the River Itchen, Sholing, Peartree Green, Itchen and Weston.
   The area is rich in maritime and aviation history. The ancient hamlet had grown as new industries came to the area, and was formally incorporated into the borough of Southampton in 1920. At this time, various street names were changed to avoid conflicts with street names that were already in use in Southampton, for example what is now Swift Road was formerly named Onslow Road.
   Development of the Itchen bridge in the 1970's caused some significant changes.
   In the early part of the 21st century, Woolston is again experiencing a period of major change.

Industry

The Oswald Mordaunt shipyard on the banks of the River Itchen at Woolston was established in 1860. This is also reported as being opened by TR Oswald from Sunderland in 1876 . The yard later belonged to Fay and Co. In June 1904 John_I._Thornycroft_&_Company relocated to Woolston where it acquired the shipyard from Mordey, Carney and Co., who had been operating the yard since 1900.
   In 1966 John_I._Thornycroft_&_Company merged with Vosper & Co. to form Vosper Thornycroft. The various shipbuilding companies on this Victoria Road site were thus the major employer in Woolston until 31st March 2004 when Vosper Thorneycroft vacated the site having relocated its operations to Portsmouth.
   The other major employer in Woolston, from 1913 to 1960, was Supermarine. This company built seaplanes on its Hazel Road site that were ultimately successful in the Schneider trophy. Those seaplanes were further developed by R. J. Mitchell to create the iconic Supermarine Spitfire. Alongisde its simpler and more numerous counterpart, the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire played an important part in World War II and the Battle of Britain. This made Woolston an important target for the Luftwaffe.
   The Sopwith Aviation Company opened a small factory in Woolston in 1914, building sea-planes for the Admiralty during World War I.
   The Royal Navy had a large site between Archery Road and the waterfront. Built in 1917, this building was half a mile long and was originally used as a rolling mill, to produce brass strip that was used to make small calibre shell cases. The depot was subsequently used as Royal Navy stores, finally closing in the 1980's.
   The Hazel Road area of modern Woolston still has some industrial activity, including the Jubilee Sailing Trust.
   The only industry left in Victoria Road, now that Vosper Thorneycroft have closed, is the sewage treatment plant.

Wartime history

With a major shipbuilding yard situated just a short distance downstream from the Supermarine factory, Woolston attracted much unwanted attention from the Luftwaffe during World War II. This bombing did much damage in Woolston and completely destroyed the Supermarine factory and the neighbouring Itchen Ferry village on 26th Septemebr 1940, but it didn't stop production of the Spitfire which, by then, had been safely dispersed around the country.
On 17th August 1943 military restrictions were introduced to facilitate a military exercise prior to the invasion of Europe and D-Day in 1944. The southern parts of Woolston were explicitly listed by the Chief Constable (6th August 1943) as one of the areas that would be affected by the exercise . For the next 9 months Woolston was part of a huge military camp that was established in Hampshire, known as Area C. The ruins around Itchen Ferry Village were used for training troops that would be fighting in similar conditions on mainland Europe.

Other history

In 1762, Walter Taylor built a water-powered wood-working mill on the stream that runs through what is now Mayfield Park. Granville Augustus William Waldegrave (1833-1913), 3rd Lord Radstock and his heirs previously owned the Mayfield estate in Woolston. Mayfield contains a monument to Whig politician Charles James Fox. That Obelisk has given its name to a local street and a public house in Woolston. Amelia Earheart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic came ashore at Woolston on June 19 1928.
The worlds first international flying boat service from Woolston to Le Havre was introduced by Supermarine in 1919. HMS Woolston (1918), was a W Class escort destroyer, built towards the end of World War I, which saw action on escort duties in World War II. It was scrapped in 1947.
In 1928 Oliver Simmonds formed the Simmonds Aircraft Co.Ltd and produced the Simmonds Spartan aircraft. The prototype was built in his house in Woolston, the first production model was assembled at the Royal Navy Rolling Mills building, off Archery Rd in Woolston .

Schools and Colleges

St. Marks Infants school in Church Road moved to new premises in Florence Road in 1974, becoming Woolston first school. The original school building is now a Community Centre. At the time, there was debate about moving Woolston School, the secondary school, to a neighbouring site on Inkerman Road . Both the Florence Road and Inkerman Road sites had sustained bomb damage in World War II and were available for redevelopment.
Apart from two Nissen huts which stood there until the late 1970's, the Inkerman Road site was awaiting redevelopment. Demolition of a large number of houses to make way for the Itchen Bridge altered the demography of the area. Inkerman Road was no longer such an obvious site for a school after the development of the Itchen Bridge. Woolston School thus stayed where it was in Porchester Road, operating an Annexe in the old school building on Peartree Green, another in Mayfield House in Portsmouth Road and a dining room in Porchester Road. With major developments in the 1990's, all facilities were finally relocated to the Porchester Road site. The metalwork, woodwork and technical drawing facilities at Woolston School provided many apprentices to Vosper Thorneycroft. The school has subsequently evolved into a successful Language College, but just a decade after the multi-million pound expenditure on the Porchester Road site, Woolston School will finally close its doors in September 2008. It is to merge with the Grove Park Business and Enterprise College in Weston.
With the Vosper Thorneycroft site about to be redeveloped for more housing, the demography of Woolston is about to change again. The Inkerman Road site that was once reserved for Woolston School was used for housing in 1992/93, but will now be at the centre of the residential area of Woolston.

Links to Southampton

The Itchen Bridge crosses the River Itchen, from Woolston (where the toll booths and control room are situated) to the Chapel area of Southampton near Ocean Village and the St. Mary's Stadium. The bridge was opened to traffic on 1st June 1977 and formally named on 13th June 1977 by Princess Alexandra with music provided by Woolston School Brass Band.
Costing £5.7 million, the high-level concrete bridge spans 107m between its central pillars and carries two lanes of traffic at a height of 24 m above the river, allowing large vessels to proceed further upstream to the wharves and quays in Northam. Tolls are charged for vehicles crossing the bridge, but pedestrians and cyclists travel free. Nearly 600,000 vehicles a month use the bridge to cross the river. This is considerably more than were ever accommodated on the Woolston ferry or Floating bridge, an historic cable ferry which served Woolston for 141 years and has been portrayed by L. S. Lowry.
Woolston is still served by the South West Trains rail service running from Southampton to Portsmouth. The railway station is situated conveniently at the end of the Itchen Bridge. On matchdays, it's a short walk from the railway station to the football stadium, via the bridge.

Changes

Development of the Itchen Bridge caused many changes in Woolston. Old terraces were demolished to make room for the new structure. The bus station that served passengers boarding and departing the Woolston ferry was no longer required, so it was demolished and many new townhouses were built in that area. Similarly, the Fire Station in Portsmouth Road was no longer required once the Itchen Bridge provided easy access for the fire crews at St Mary's on the Southampton side of the river. That old building is now a Doctors surgery.
   St Mary's Presbyterian Church in Portsmouth Road was demolished in 1972. It was replaced by a supermarket, demand for which subsequently declined due to the development of a Tesco Hypermarket at Bursledon and the demographic changes caused by the development of the Itchen Bridge. This new building has subsequently become a convenience store.
   The shopping area centred around the Victoria Rd/Portsmouth Rd crossroads was bypassed by the Itchen Bridge, killing the trade that existed in the once bustling area by the Floating Bridge. This is the same economic process that affected Itchen Ferry village when the Floating Bridge was first introduced. Business has further declined recently, due to the relocation of Vosper Thorneycroft.
   But this is a transitory phase. The shipyard site was acquired by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) in March 2003 and finally vacted by Vosper Thorneycroft on 31st March 2004 .

The ward of Woolston is one of the 119 priority wards in the South East. SEEDA took the initiative of acquiring the site in March 2003 to ensure that its medium to longer term development potential is fully maximised for the benefit of the local business, residential, and wider Southampton communities.

The South East England Development Agency have subsequently announced plans for the site, including a mixture of marine industry, offices and 1653 new homes. The Woolston Riverside development will include;

Feature	Description
North Quay	specialist working quay for repair and refit of vessels up to 75m
Centenary Quay	main commercial quayside housing vessels up to 76m.
Central Basin	working area focused around a large hoist dock or lift with associated pontoon berthing.
South Quay	new pier to accommodate feature vessels up to 65m.

The appointed architects are the Richard Rogers partnership The appointed developers are Dean and Dyball, who will build the 4 hectares allocated for marine and commercial uses, and Crest Nicholson who will develop the other 8.5 hectares for residential and retail purposes, under the brand name Centenary Quay.

There have been three quays identified on this stretch of the river. Centenary Quay is one of the original quays and to focus and strengthen the identity of the overall development, the name Centenary Quay has been suggested by all the partners as the residential/retail scheme's brand name.

The imminent redevelopment of that large waterside site seems likely to rejuvenate the shopping area, but the redevelopment has also been predicted to place extra burden on the Itchen Bridge and cause extra congestion in Woolston. Developers of the residential site are reported to be considering the possibilty of re-introducing a ferry service to Southampton .
Houses have already been built on the land where the Royal Navy stores once stood. Clearing that brownfield site was a major exercise, complicated by old munitions, including Mustard Gas shells which had been buried in the ground and asbestos.
Woolston is thus becoming more of a residential area, though it'll still retain some marine industry with facilities to berth vessels of up to 76m in length, including perhaps Tall ships.

Open spaces

Mayfield park is a partially wooded, partially open recreational area situated between Woolston and Weston.
The Archery Grounds, bounded by Swift Road and Archery Road adjoin Mayfield Park

Millennium Garden

The Woolston Millennium Garden was created for the residents by a local group who wanted to give something back to the area and inject some pride into the area. It features a huge feather which can be seen as you're walking into Woolston via the Itchen Bridge. Image:Peartree Common.jpg|View over the Itchen Valley to Southampton City Centre from Woolston Image:Woolston Vosper Thorneycroft site.jpg|View over the site of the shipyard and Southampton Water to Fawley Further Information

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