Waterlooville
| Waterlooville | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 London Road, Waterlooville | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU682092 |
| Location: | 50°52’48"N, 1°1’48"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Waterlooville |
| Postcode: | PO7 & PO8 |
| Dialling code: | 023 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Havant |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Meon Valley / Havant |
Waterlooville is a town in the south of Hampshire, approximately 8 miles north of Portsmouth.
The town has a population of about 20,000 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendworth, Cowplain, Lovedean, Clanfield, Catherington, Crookhorn, Denmead, Hambledon, Horndean and Widley. The town formed around the old A3 London to Portsmouth road and today it forms a part of the South Hampshire conurbation, and one of the less attractive towns within that area.
History
The village was named after the public house that stood at the centre of the village, then known as Wait Lane End, where the stage coach horses waited to change places with the team that pulled the coach up and over Portsdown Hill.
The Heroes of Waterloo was so named because, on its opening day, in 1815, soldiers who had just disembarked at Portsmouth, returning from the Battle of Waterloo, decided to stop there and celebrate their victory. According to local legend, many of them settled there. The public house was renamed in their honour and the area around the pub became known as Waterlooville.
The original "Heroes" public house was at a crossroads near the main bus-stop. It was demolished in 1966 and replaced with a bank; a new pub took the name and is located at the northern end of the shopping precinct. There are two other pubs in the town centre, The Wellington, at the southern end of town, and the Denmead Queen, which is adjacent to the Heroes and part of the JD Weatherspoon pub chain.
The local electrical shop, Eric Jackson's Ltd, has been open since 1928 and is the oldest retailer in the town. The business, now in its 3rd generation was started by Eric, then passed down the family to Michael and then to Peter Jackson.
The town centre was closed to traffic in 1981 when a bypass was constructed to take traffic away from the main shopping area. The bypass, initially anonymous, was named Maurepas Way sometime after the two towns were twinned in 1995. An underpass was constructed for pedestrians walking up along the Hambledon road. Between 1982 and 83 the old road was then fully converted to a pedestrian precinct. The precinct had a fountain and raised area at the northern end, near the Heroes pub, however regular vandalism of the fountain soon resulted in its removal.
GEC Marconi built a site at Waterlooville for their Underwater Systems in the early 1980s, for the Stingray anti-submarine torpedo. A peace camp was set up near the construction site. After completion of the GEC building, a free music festival was held at Old Park Farm in Waterlooville called Torpedo Town. A second Torpedo Town festival was held in August 1987 at Bramdean Common near Winchester.
Near the town centre is the rebuilt St George's church. During the 1950s and 1960s the surrounding area saw extensive growth in housing, when large suburban public and private housing estates were constructed. This resulted in the original Victorian church failing to cope with the population growth. Plans for a new church were started and in 1970 the new church was built on the site of the old church. Parts of the old church were retained.
In August 2012 the northern part of the shopping centre underwent a £700,000 renovation, the raised area holding the former fountain was removed and new block paving installed. The renovation increased the area available to the weekly Friday market and improved pedestrian accessibility. In addition a "smoking-shelter" style band-stand was installed at pedestrian T-junction with The Boulevard.
Sport
Waterlooville also has a swimming pool which is home to Havant & Waterlooville Swimming Club.
Waterlooville Cricket Club play their home games at Jubilee Park, they run 3 Saturday sides and have a youth team. They currently compete in Hampshire League Division 1.
There is also a thriving bowls club with a carpet green in Jubilee Park.
Development
Much of Waterlooville as well as Purbrook, Cowplain and Horndean, has 'spread' out from London Road. However to the west of Waterlooville and Purbrook, (the area bordered by Hambledon Road and London Road) contains much undeveloped land. As a result, the centre of Waterlooville borders fields to the west just a few hundred meters away, while to the north, east and south it is bordered by housing estates and Cowplain and Purbrook respectively. This is due to the fact that Waterlooville, which is part of Havant Borough Council, is bordered by Winchester City Council and so has hindered any plans in the past. This is much evident with the lack of street lights on a stretch of Hambledon Road between Denmead and Waterloovlle.
However, in 2009, years of planning and joint involvement of Havant and Winchester councils came to fruition with the 'West of Waterlooville Major Development Area' housing scheme, starting with Maurepas Roundabout, being enlarged to accommodate for a new road and increased traffic that comes with the new homes. The work was delayed for some time, but continued in January 2012.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Waterlooville) |
