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Area Three
(2)
Visitors
Romsey
and
District
Society
contact
Phoebe Merrick
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Look at Romsey
Town Design Statement for Romsey
Tadburn Valley
Prepared by a team of volunteers in the area under the auspices of the
Romsey and District Society.
Settlement Pattern
The earliest building in the area still standing is Orchard House, which stands next to the ‘Sun Arch’ (the eastern of the two railway bridges on Winchester Road) and is now known as Winchester House. (Its picture can be seen in the section on boundaries.) It was probably built in the 16th or 17th century, and re-built in 1760. In the 1980s it was restored and converted into 4 flats.
Workshop behind Chapman's TV shop
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The earliest building still standing in Botley Road is thought to be that at the rear of Chapman’s TV shop. Built in brick, it was originally a bakehouse and stable. It is now used as a workshop for electrical repairs but the door to the hayloft is still in place at the upper storey.
The other houses in Winchester Road, and Botley Road as far as the Spittal Bridge, were built between 1860 and 1914. The electrical goods shop itself, which previously sold general goods, was built on the site of the original tollhouse, which by then had been moved to the Southampton Road. A similar general store was run by Mr Tom Viney from a bungalow at 23 Hillside Avenue for some years.
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| The only other shop now remaining in Tadburn Valley is Cycle World in Winchester Road. This was formerly a small supermarket and has been owned by the Whales family for several generations. Lloyds British, a crane company, operated its business from 86 Winchester Road for many years, until in 2004 the house and land was sold for re-development. Planning permission was then granted for the erection of 12 flats.
In the early part of the twentieth century, Tadburn Valley would have consisted of a small number of dwellings, a large area of farmland and the cemetery, which was opened in 1857 in order to meet the requirements of the Burial Act 1853. |
Cycle world in Winchester Road
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During the 1930s construction of new homes took place on farmland on the outskirts of town, to accommodate workers at the brewery and Wills Nursery. Rosedale Avenue, Hillside Avenue and Oakleigh Gardens were developed and Hampshire County Council acquired adjoining land for a Boys’ Home, known as Palmerston House.
Aerial picture of Botley Road in the 1940s
Apartment Block in Botley Road
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In 2004, Palmerston House, latterly a Social Services area office, and a pair of semis in Oakleigh Gardens were demolished to make way for the most recent housing development in the area, the first phase of which consisted of a block of 12 apartments. Land to the rear was given outline planning permission for further residential development. In 2006 it was proposed to build two residential blocks as care homes for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation. |
Tadfield Road development also began in the early 1930s with the last houses being completed in the 1950s.
| After the Second World War, the return of many servicemen, combined with the baby boom of the late 1940s, saw the town in urgent need of more housing. 20 emergency prefabricated bungalows were built on farmland behind Hillside Avenue which was named Symes Road. In 1947, work began on the construction of family houses in Chambers Avenue and Allan Grove, on land bought by the local authority from the brothers of Montfort College. |
Flats in Symes Road
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The prefabs in Symes Road were replaced in 1971 by 4 two storey blocks of flats and 4 similar blocks completed the development of Chambers Avenue. These remained the property of the Borough Council until the 1980s when tenants were offered the right to buy. A considerable proportion of the residents in this area have been there since the original housing was built but younger tenants with families are beginning to move into the area.
Farmland to the north of Symes Road, originally owned by Romsey Abbey but having passed through several subsequent owners, was finally sold for development in 1969. Symes Road and Hillside Avenue were then extended over the Tadburn stream and the Eight Acres /Field Close estate was built. At the same time, farmland belonging to local butcher, Mr Drew, at the rear of Rosedale Avenue was sold for the development of Queens Close.
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