Area Eight
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Romsey
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District
Society
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Phoebe Merrick
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Look at Romsey
Town Design Statement for Romsey
Romsey Old Town
Prepared by a team of volunteers in the area under the auspices of the
Romsey and District Society.
Building Form
| Many of the houses in the commercial streets have three storeys. Some of these larger buildings were created with industrial uses in mind and have since been converted into domestic accommodation.
Elsewhere, the normal arrangement is two storeys, except for those buildings designed for multi-occupancy. The upper floors of the shops were originally the living space of the shop-keepers, but many are now used as business premises, although a few are still residential. |
Market Place
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Cellar entrance in Cherville Street
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Some of the taller buildings have parapets shielding their roofs thereby giving a greater impression of height than is truly the case. Some of the older buildings have cellars, but these are normally approached internally so their existence is not readily apparent from the outside of the building, except for occasional coal chutes as may be seen in Cherville Street. |
Cherville Street
Terrace, Latimer Street
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The houses in the town that were originally built as homes are mostly two-storey. Many of them are small and with small rooms and relatively low ceilings, although larger rooms are often found in the three-storey buildings.
Although there are many terraces of houses they are mostly short. Many of them were built on plots of land that had once contained a single large house. Test Cottages in Middlebridge Street and the blocks of housing in Cherville Street are examples of this sort of change.
There is a terrace of houses in Latimer Street and another in Mill Lane called Industry Row, both of which are losing their overall unity of design due to alteration to windows and doors.
Industry Row in Mill Lane
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| The houses that face west in The Abbey are of particular importance to the town, enhanced as they are with balconies and a long-established wisteria. By contrast, there are threats to the appearance of the old streets from inappropriate placement of satellite dishes.
Among the larger buildings are several blocks of flats. Most of them were built in the 1960s although more recently Test Mill was rebuilt and converted into flats, the exterior shape of the building being retained. The flats built in the 1960s and 1970s have fairly plain exteriors and flat roofs. Many of those belonging to Testway Housing have small balconies.
However although balconies are not usual in Romsey, they are a feature of Comley Court where they enhance the upper stories, although the open area underneath seems somewhat dark. |
Balconies and wisteria in The Abbey
Balconies of houses in Cherville Mews
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Much of the sheltered accommodation is on one or two storeys, mostly covering fair-sized plots. Edwina Mountbatten House is built around a central courtyard and reached through an entrance arch, as is Bridge Court. There are a few bungalows in the central part of Romsey, mostly in Mill Lane where they provide homes for disabled people.
The town’s non-Conformist churches were built in the nineteenth century, whilst the Abbey church is medieval and St Joseph’s is twentieth century. The Abbey church is one of the finest Romanesque churches in England. The URC is built in the Gothic tradition and has battlements and a turret reminiscent of a medieval castle.
Social Services Office,
once the Magistrates' Court
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The public buildings in the town are individual and largely reflect the era when they were built. For example the Town Hall, built in 1864 is a typical Italianate building, whereas the Crosfield Hall reflects the 1930s when it was built and has elements of art deco about it. The Corn Exchange once looked exactly like the Town Hall, both having tall arched windows reaching up much of the front of the building. The windows in the Corn Exchange were changed in the 1930s and now the front of the building has two rows of rectangular windows. The Post Office and the Social Services building opposite it, formerly the magistrates’ court, in Church Street were built around 1960. |
Wykeham House, The Hundred
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Rivermead House and adjacent terrace
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Within the town centre, there are a number of larger houses, often detached, that were built as homes by wealthy people in previous centuries. These houses have some of the most striking designs in the town, whether of decorative brickwork, attractive fenestration or overall pleasing proportions.
| Some houses have garages, often to the rear of the properties. Parking is problematical in the town centre despite the provision of numerous garage blocks. Many of these are flat-roofed. Recently new doors were fitted to the garages behind Broadwater Road which has enhanced their appearance. By contrast, the new part of Newton Lane has pitched roof car ports and garages which are much more attractive. |
Garages and parking at Broadwater Road
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Design Recommendations
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More thought should be given to blending garage blocks into the townscapes, e.g. with pitched roofs.
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Satellite dishes should be sensitively placed so that they do not detract from the street scene.
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New buildings should be well-designed with interesting features and avoiding a plain block appearance.
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Fenestration should have rhythm.
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Every effort should be made to maintain the diversity of building styles, including details.
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Owners of terraced houses should be encouraged to recognise the benefits of retaining the unity of the group.
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