About Chandler’s Ford:
Author: Mike Sedgwick
About half way along the road from Southampton to Winchester were three fords, nearby lived a family named Chaundler. This was the case in the 16th century. Earlier, there is no mention of Chandler’s Ford in the Doomsday Book though Eastleigh, Otterborne, Chilworth and Twyford are there.
Nothing changed in this wooded land until the 19th century when a large brickyard developed in what is now Chandler’s Ford Industrial Estate. You may have noticed Brickfield Lane. Possibly because of the bricks, the Salisbury to Southampton railway built a station in 1847. The population was said to be a mere 170 at the time rising to 1000 by 1897 when the Council Parish of Chandler’s Ford was established. St. Boniface Church was built in 1904.
An Ordnance Survey map of 1903 shows nothing much but Chandler’s Ford is defined as a Y shaped village, like a cocktail glass. Bournemouth Road represents the stem and the sides are defined by Hursley Road and Winchester Road. The rim is formed by Hocombe Road.
During the 1920’s building began in the cocktail glass filling it as far as Hiltingbury Road. There are said to have been 1400 dwellings by the start of World War II. After hostilities the remainder of the space was filled and housing spread to Scantabout and Peverells to the East with Miller’s Dale and Knightwood to the West. The long awaited M3 was finally completed in 1995 and forms the eastern boundary.
The role of Chandler’s Ford during World War II was as a camp and storage depot prior to the invasion. Nearby Eastleigh airport and Southampton docks were of interest to the Luftwaffe and unsurprisingly a few stray bombs landed on Chandler’s Ford.
Has Chandler’s Ford any claim to fame?
Has Chandler’s Ford any claim to fame? Certainly not architecturally though it boasted the first hypermarket in the UK which is now Asda. Not in terms of industry either though we are fortunate to have some notable businesses, Hendy Ford was the first Ford agency in the UK; Selwood and Draper Tools were forerunners of the industrial estate.
Do we have any famous people? Sir Isaac Newton lived for a while at Cranbury Park but that was before the present house was built in 1780 and is beyond the boundary anyway. R. J. Mitchell, designer of the Spitfire, lived in a house in Winchester Road and so did Captain John Treasure Jones, Master of the Mauretania, Saxonia and Queen Mary. It is said that his house used many of the fitting from the Mauretania when she was scrapped in 1934, I wonder if they are still there.
Environmentally Chandler’s Ford is a jewel. The housing stock is good and modern. People coming to Chandler’s Ford now number over 21,000. They took delight in their new houses and planted decorative trees and shrubs in their gardens. The planning authorities ran an effective tree preservation order so much of the woodland is preserved.
As for communications; where in the country can you have access to the motorway network, mainline rail, an international airport, cross channel ferries and luxury cruise ships all within a short distance? Finally there are two things Chandler’s Ford lacks that makes life sweeter for us all: traffic congestion and parking meters.
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Information:
- Chandler’s Ford History: WW2 in Chandler’s Ford
- Barbara J Hillier: Chandler’s Ford: A Pictorial History. 1994, Phillimore, ISBN 0 85033 896 4
- Barbara J Hillier: The Story of Chandler’s Ford. Paul Cave Publications Ltd, ISBN 0 86146 052 9
- Barbara J Hillier and Gerald Ponting – The Chandler’s Ford Story. 2005, Millers Dale Publications, ISBN 0 9517423 7 X
- Fascinating Books About Chandler’s Ford
- Mike Sedgwick: About Chandler’s Ford
Related Article Series about Chandler’s Ford on Chandler’s Ford Today
Martin Napier: Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s (Part 1 – 8)
Doug Clews: My Memories of the War Years in Chandler’s Ford 1939 – 1945 (Part 1 – 6)
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