North Stoneham Park, also known as Stoneham Park, was a landscaped parkland and country house of the same name, north of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

North Stoneham North Stoneham is a settlement and ecclesiastical parish located in between Eastleigh and Southampton in south Hampshire, England. It was formerly an ancient estate and manor. Until the nineteenth century, it was a rural community comprising a nu ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. It was the seat of the Fleming (subsequently Willis Fleming) family. The park was remodelled by

Lancelot Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English lan ...

in the 18th century. It is listed in the Hampshire Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In 2011, controversial plans were announced to build 1,300 new houses on the surviving portion, Avenue Park.

Origins

The deer park at North Stoneham was probably part of a Saxon ecclesiastical estate in the early Middle Ages. Later it belonged to

Hyde Abbey Hyde Abbey was a medieval Benedictine monastery just outside the walls of Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was dissolved and demolished in 1538 following various acts passed under King Henry VIII to dissolve monasteries and abbeys (see Dis ...

. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the manor was acquired in 1545 by

Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton (pronunciation uncertain: ''RYE-zlee'' (archaic), ''ROTT-slee'' (present-day) and ''RYE-əths-lee'' have been suggested) (24 April 1545 – 4 October 1581), was an English peer. Family Henry Wrioth ...

. In 1599,

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, (pronunciation uncertain: "Rezley", "Rizely" (archaic), (present-day) and have been suggested; 6 October 1573 – 10 November 1624) was the only son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of S ...

sold the North Stoneham estate to Sir Thomas Fleming, whose descendants owned it until 1953.

Stoneham War Shrine

The Stoneham War Shrine was built in 1917–18 in the Avenue Park portion of the parkland by John Willis Fleming, in memory of thirty-six local men killed in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, including his own son Richard. (An identical shrine was built at

Havenstreet Havenstreet is a village on the Isle of Wight, located about 2 miles southwest of Ryde, in the civil parish of Havenstreet and Ashey. History The Isle of Wight Steam Railway Museum is located in Havenstreet, along with a station. Activities ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

). The Stoneham War Shrine was sited on Cricketers' Hill, facing towards St. Nicolas' Church along the line of the former Avenue. The monument was designed by the architect

Christopher Hatton Turnor Christopher Hatton Turnor (23 November 1873 – 19 August 1940) was an English author, architect, and social reformer. He is known for having designed the Watts Gallery, Surrey and the Stoneham War Shrine, Hampshire. Turnor was ...

, who had designed the

Watts Gallery Watts Gallery – Artists' Village is an art gallery in the village of Compton, near Guildford in Surrey. It is dedicated to the work of the Victorian-era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts. The gallery has been Grade II* listed o ...

in Surrey. The Shrine was dedicated on 28 July 1918 by

James Macarthur James Gordon MacArthur (December 8, 1937 – October 28, 2010) was an American actor with a long career in both movies and television. MacArthur's early work was predominantly in supporting roles in films. Later, he had a starring role as ...

Bishop of Southampton The Bishop of Southampton is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Winchester, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the city of Southampton in Hampshire. The current b ...

. During the late 20th century, the Shrine fell into an advanced state of dereliction. In 2011, it was restored to its original condition, and was re-dedicated on 22 May 2011.

Preservation of the Avenue portion of the Park

In 1967,

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

described in his ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...

: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight'' how the parkland formed "a narrow but effective green belt between

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, ...

and

". From 1991,

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is an English council that governs eleven of the thirteen districts geographically located within the ceremonial county of Hampshire. As one of twenty-four county councils in England, it acts as the upper tier of ...

recognized that efforts should be made to conserve, restore, and enhance North Stoneham Park as a viable historic and natural landscape, and commissioned a number of surveys and evaluations. Following these surveys, the need to protect and restore the remaining parkland was built into local and regional plans
The Eastleigh-Southampton Strategic Gap Planning and Management Framework (1993)
set out the objectives to reduce further damage to the landscape, bring portions of land into public ownership as a ‘recreational and educational resource’, and protect and reinstate surviving features. The Framework was adopted in 1995 by Eastleigh Borough Council and

Test Valley Test Valley is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England, named after the valley of the River Test. Its council is based in Andover. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by a merger of the boroughs of Andover and Romsey, a ...

Council, and the restoration of Avenue area took place in phases between 1995 and 2011. In 1996, the southern portion (61 acres) of the Avenue was placed in public ownership. In 2000, a well-received landscape restoration project to the whole of the Avenue area, including Eastleigh Borough Council’s northern portion (13 acres). The ''Southern Daily Echo'' reported: 'The huge restoration project of the vital green lung on Easteigh's southern boundary with Southampton has been made possible through a partnership of Eastleigh council with local people.' The £100,000 restoration was funded by developers' contributions following the redevelopment of North Stoneham Rectory. In 2008, Heritage Lottery-funding was awarded towards the project in order to return the Stoneham War Shrine to its original condition and further the conservation of the surrounding parkland.

Plans to build 1,300 houses in the Avenue portion of the Park

In 2011, Eastleigh Borough Council published th
Draft Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2011-2029
which included the recommendation that up to 1,300 houses plus community facilities should be built on the surviving Avenue area of North Stoneham Park. The designated area includes the Avenue area that was placed in public ownership in 1996 and restored in 2000. The Plan states that the area "is not subject to major environmental constraints" and that "it is acknowledged that it forms part of an historic landscape, but much of this has now become degraded." The Council's 13-acre countryside site however would not be included: "The part that is of most interest (the woodland surrounding the Shrine) would be protected". The plan states that "whilst the site was previously part of the strategic gap separating Southampton and Eastleigh, it is considered that the contribution that development on this site would make to addressing housing needs outweighs the limited erosion of this gap."

References

{{Reflist Country houses in Hampshire British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Buildings and structures demolished in 1939 Borough of Eastleigh Gardens by Capability Brown