Settlement Pattern

Cedar Lawn

Braishfield Road runs straight northwards from Winchester Road. A triangle of houses is formed by Winchester Road, part of Braishfield Road and the west side of School Road. This land once belonged to Woodley Grange, the big house which is now called Cedar Lawn and is a nursing home. It is one of the oldest buildings in this part of Romsey.

Within this triangle there are above-average sized detached houses and bungalows in large suburban gardens. There is a small close off Braishfield Road called Cedar Lawn, like the house. The houses in Cedar Lawn are closer together than those in the rest of the triangle, although detached with ample gardens.

The buildings along the east side of School Road are a mixture of detached or semi-detached bungalows and cottages. Two pairs of semi-detached houses were built in the 1890s. The other houses in this road have been built from the 1950s onwards.

Cottages in School Road

Woodley Village Hall

Hunters Inn

School Road also contains Woodley Village Hall and, facing Winchester Road, the Hunters Inn. This is the only commercial facility in this part of Romsey.

Short Hill, leading to Hunters Crescent

The houses in the remaining part of Woodley and Ganger lie to the east of Braishfield Road and School Road. The largest area is reached from two access roads, namely Ganger Farm Lane and Short Hill. These two roads lead to the main spine of the area, Ganger Road and Hunters Crescent. Ganger Road is straight and runs into Hunters Crescent. A number of minor roads and closes open off Ganger Road and Hunters Crescent

Only a short length of Ganger Farm Lane is public highway, with a few houses built along one side. After a short distance it turns into a private track which is barred by a locked gate.

Ganger Farm Lane

Close in Ganger Road

There is a series of closes which open off Ganger Road. The houses in them are all terraced. These terraces are of differing lengths. Those to the west, uphill from the road are arranged around four greens

Longer terraces lie to the east of Ganger Road and the groups are named Footner Close, Anderson Close and Norris Close. They are arranged so that the front doors face onto footways and most traffic circulates around the back of the houses

Anderson Close

Hunters Crescent forms a flattened loop. There are houses around the edge and within the loop where Dibben Walk forms something of a spine. North Close and South Close join Dibben Walk to Hunters Crescent.

The houses of Hunters Crescent include both terraced and detached houses, with one or two semi-detached pairs.

Cottage houses in Hunters Crescent

The detached houses on the lower, eastern side are built on steeply sloping land and some are reached by flights of steps. The stream lies beyond them. Most of the rest of Hunters Crescent is made up of terraced housing, particularly on the side nearest to School Road. The same is true of The Green that lies behind them. Short Hill has four detached houses.

At the southern end of Hunters Crescent, there are two small closes, Peel Close and The Copse. The houses in these two closes and between them in Hunters Crescent are all detached houses standing in their own grounds.

Larger houses in North Close

Woodley Way and its service road

Woodley Way faces Braishfield Road and runs north from the junction with School Road towards Ganger Farm Lane. Woodley Way is made up of four blocks of terraced housing arranged at angles to Braishfield Road.

Woodley Way has its own service road, separated from Braishfield Road by footpath and hedge. It is linked to Ganger Road by a narrow footway. There are semi-detached nineteenth century cottages facing Braishfield Road between the end of Woodley Way and Ganger Farm Lane.

At the northern end of Woodley and Ganger, Woodley Close is a detached estate, approached directly from Braishfield Road, although a narrow footpath links it to Ganger Farm Lane. It has mixed housing types, including terraced houses, maisonettes and small blocks of flats. The individual homes are fairly small, but the terraced houses have long gardens.

Two terraces face Braishfield Road as does a terrace of maisonettes, although they are set quite well back from the road. Within the estate, some houses face Woodley Close and others are away from it and arranged around three sides of three squares. In addition there are some terraces which are further from the main spine of the Close.

The houses at the eastern end of the Close and the nearby flats look out over fields and countryside. The street is arranged so that cars do not pass the front doors of most of the houses apart from those that face the main spine of the road. The first of these estates was built in the 1950s and the others at intervals since.

Garages in Hunters Crescent

Most of the detached houses and bungalows have their own garages or space to park in their own gardens. The same is true in much of Woodley Close, but not all of it and some provision has been made by lines of garages set behind the houses. Similarly in the area served by Ganger Road, there is a mixture of garages built in back gardens and separate blocks of garages. In Woodley Way, people park in their front gardens, on the service road or in a block of garages. There is a shortage of parking space in some roads, especially in Hunters Crescent.