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Phoebe Merrick

Settings/Landscape & Views Settlement Pattern Open and Other Spaces Building Form, page 1 Building Form, page 2 Materials, Fenestration & Chimneys Streets & Street Furniture Footpaths Trees and Hedges Boundary Features Consultation Process

Building Form 1940 onwards

1940 - 1970

Mountbatten Avenue

The land between Alma Road and the canal was allocated for council housing in the late 1930s. Work was interrupted by the war, with some houses being built at the beginning of the war and the rest of the estate afterwards. Mountbatten Avenue and Mitchell’s Close were created to provide access to these houses. The development contains two storey dwellings with a mixture of terraced and semi-detached houses. They are brick faced with hipped roofs and small chimneys.

A glimpse of Priestlands

Landsdowne Court

The defunct Romsey Borough Council was also responsible for building a substantial number of houses to the west of Greatbridge Road in Priestlands. They form a circle to the north of the Romsey School. They also contain a mixture of semi detached and terraced houses, together with a few maisonettes and some bungalows. Lansdowne Court is a three-storey brick built block of flats opposite the school entrance.

Landsdowne Gardens

In the early 1960s a housing estate was built within the walls of Lansdowne Gardens. It contains a mixture of two storey houses and bungalows in a garden setting. The houses are cedar-clad and plastered and the bungalows have a plaster render.

On the opposite side of Greatbridge Road, St Clement’s Close was developed at about the same time in the grounds of St Clement’s House.

St Clement's House

Entrance to Romsey School

The first part of the Romsey School was erected nearby in the 1950s since when it has been greatly expanded. Much of the school is system built, using coloured panels but the latest buildings are brick built. Some of the buildings are two storeys high and the sports hall is taller than any of the blocks of classrooms.

At the southern end of Alma Road, there are several service buildings including the fire station, a doctors’ surgery, an undertakers and the telephone exchange. No building line has been maintained here so that the road lacks cohesion.

Fire Station with Mottisfont Lodge behind.

Petrol Station.

The lack of harmony continues in nearby Winchester Road both east and west of Alma Road. In particular the canopy of the petrol station dominates the skyline, and its sign obscures the historic Bishop Blaize building.

By contrast the Scout and Guide huts stand back from Alma Road in a little road of their own, Baden Powell Way. However, the age of the buildings and the need to make them secure results in their being rather bleak and the street being impersonal. It is to be hoped that the plans to rebuild the Scout hut will improve this road.

1970 - 2006

An estate was built in the grounds of Harrage House in the early 1970s. The development consists of a number of large detached houses and some smaller terraced houses. The detached houses have mansard roofs with grey tiles that reach down to gutters below the first floor windows. The terraces have conventional pitched roofs and are brick faced on both storeys.

Distinctive houses in The Harrage.

Comrades Club.

Garages are commonly provided in separate blocks, although most can be reached from the back gardens of their owners. The Comrades Club that lies between The Harrage and the By-pass was rebuilt in the 1980s.

The last estate to be developed in this part of Romsey is Knatchbull Close built in the 1980s. It consists of small terraced houses and maisonettes. The buildings stand in small scattered groups around courtyards. The buildings are brick faced and have brown window frames.

Knatchbull Close with ducks!

Rayco Garage.

Knatchbull Close lies behind a garage that fronts on to Winchester Road and deals in the sale and maintenance of cars. It has a prominent canopy and the forecourt is always full of cars for sale. The effect of its forecourt canopy is offset by the nearby railway bridge.

Since the estates were built, there have been a number of smaller developments across the area, where houses have been built on vacant or brown-field sites.

Quoyne Court, Station Road.

Fleming Place.

Amongst the recent residential buildings are Quoyne Court and Fleming Place, each of which has involved building on a corner plot, and has used the fact to make a statement about the location one with a hexagonal tower and the other with a square tower. Both are red brick faced, and include some decorative brickwork in a contrasting yellow brick.

The retirement apartments, Mottisfont Lodge, were recently built behind the Fire Station and form a substantial building which has an unusual arrangement of windows.

New houses in Duttons Road

Smaller properties have been built on vacant land around Mountbatten Avenue and Princes Road. These include maisonettes as well as some bungalows for the disabled. There has also been some infilling of vacant land in Duttons Road.

Across the area, some garages have been provided in conjunction with former council housing. They are mostly in the form of separate blocks under flat roofs and the areas are not well lit.

The major change in this period was the development of land between Station Road and Alma Road. Two large retail units have been built there and a substantial amount of car parking space created in the vicinity.

SCATS

Royal British Legiion on the left, Waitrose on the right

There is a substantial canopy along the front of each shop that protects pedestrians from the elements. The shops, although large, are in scale with the surrounding area and do not dominate the skyline of the town.

The Romsey County Infant School was built in the 1970s, but is set behind the Plaza Parade and is screened on the west by the bushes of the canal so is not seen from the highway. It consists of single storey buildings set in their own grounds.

Design Recommendations

	Maintain the integrity of terraces.
	New building should be urban in form, not suburban, for example terraces rather than semi-detached properties.
	In groups of buildings, fenestration should have a natural flow and rhythm.
	Large commercial properties and their signs, within the town centre, should be designed with respect for the street and their surroundings

Materials

The normal building material in this part of Romsey is red brick and most older properties are made of this material. Some have been painted or rendered and painted. The station building is unusual in that it is built of yellow brick.

Winchester Road, opposite Plaza Parade

Offices in the converted Fleming Arms, seen from Station Approach

The roofs of this part of town were normally covered in slate although many replacements have used other materials. Most of the newer buildings have roofing materials of composite materials which look like slate. The older houses have chimneys.

The nineteenth century houses commonly have sash windows, although some have been replaced, whereas the later houses either have windows that do not open, or ones that are hinged.

Beauchamp House, 100 The Hundred

Design Recommendations

	Unless they are of exceptional architectural quality, new houses should be faced with local red brick and have slate (or good imitation) roofs
	Owners of older properties should be encouraged to renovate them using traditional forms and shapes