West End is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

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

in the borough of

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, o ...

, east of the city 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 ...

. The village of West End is small and generally classed as an area in the outer suburbs or rural urban fringe of the borough of Eastleigh because of the surrounding woodland and countryside, including Telegraph Woods and Itchen Valley Country Park. The village is mainly known for being home of the Rose Bowl, the stadium where

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Hampshire. Hampshire teams formed by earlier organisations, principal ...

plays, and occasionally England. Aside from a typical number of listed houses, main landmarks of the parish are

Moorgreen Hospital Moorgreen Hospital was a community hospital in West End, near Southampton. It was managed by Southampton City Primary Care Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the South Stoneham Union Workhouse designed by Charles Henman and William ...

— a large, ornate Victorian building, the original St James School, built in 1901, on the high street, and West End Fire Station — a museum in the centre of the village.

History

Early history

A series of round barrows, dating from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

(2000-600 BC), have been discovered in the Moorgreen area of the parish. There were five of these to the north of the former

site. A hilltop

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

was built on the ridge above the village around 600-100BC. A shutter

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

station operated from the site during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, forming part of the line connecting

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. It was this station that gave the name to the nearby Telegraph Woods. The village was originally a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

which grew up around a track between

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a historic market town in the county of Hampshire, England. Romsey was home to the 17th-century philosopher and economist William Petty and the 19th-century British prime minister, Lord Palmerston, whose statue has stood in the t ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. The hamlet had a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

by 1552 primarily for the use of the lords of the manor of Allington. When the track became a turnpike road in the early 19th century, the hamlet began to grow.

19th century

Moorgreen Hospital (main building) - geograph

In 1838, a national school was opened to house 192 children. St James' Church was founded in the same year. The hamlet was mostly within the tithing of Shamblehurst, with a small section at the northern end in the tithing of Allington, both within the parish of

South Stoneham South Stoneham was a manor in South Stoneham parish. It was also a hundred, Poor law union, sanitary district then rural district covering a larger area of south Hampshire, England close to Southampton. These last four South Stoneham divisions ...

. The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

of West End was established in 1840, two years after the construction of the original St James' Church. In 1846 a

Bible Christian The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist denomination founded by William O’Bryan, a Wesleyan Methodist local preacher, on 18 October 1815 in North Cornwall. The first society, consisting of just 22 members, met at Lake Farm in Shebbear, ...

chapel was constructed in Chapel Road. A

poor house A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. Workhouses In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), ‘workhouse’ has been the ...

had existed at the eastern end of the village for some time, and in 1848 this was replaced by a red-brick

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

. This eventually became

. An extra room was added to the national school in 1866. In 1871 an independent school for younger children was opened, having been built by Mrs Harriet Hazlefoot. In 1890, the spire of St James' was struck by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

and the building was replaced. The

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

was established in 1894. A number of boundary changes have taken place since then. Harriet Hazlefoot's school became the infants' department of the national school in 1894.

20th century

During the 20th century, the school moved again into a new (third) building and was renamed St James' Primary School. The second school building became Hilldene Community Centre, where a number of

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

courses and other activities take place. In 1900, two further

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

chapels were built, one in the Moorgreen area and one in Swaythling Road. In September 1904 the children of the national school were moved to a new location with the old school building becoming the parish hall. The

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

was opened in May 1939 by Mrs Pearson of Oaklands in Allington Lane. The station was crewed by a mixture of

National Fire Service The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942. The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalga ...

and

Auxiliary Fire Service The Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) was first formed in 1938 in Great Britain as part of the Civil Defence Service. Its role was to supplement the work of brigades at local level. The Auxiliary Fire Service and the local brigades were superseded i ...

personnel, and the station housed a

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

''New World''

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

. In 1954,

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Haref ...

was transferred out of the civil parish and into

. A

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church building was opened in the village in 1961.

Richard St. Barbe Baker Richard St. Barbe Baker , Hon. LL.D. F.I.A.L., For.Dip.Cantab., ACF (9 October 1889 – 9 June 1982) was an English biologist and botanist, environmental activist and author, who contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. As a ...

did a lot of his career work in West End, where he made a Project costing £180,000 to improve West End's High Street, by upgrading pavement slabs, plus adding safety rails, better lighting, removing all graffiti and damaged planters. The scheme also produced CCTV cameras managed by S & P Southampton Ltd. Near the end of the High Street, a plaque in his honour was made to thank all good things he has done for West End, plus a road named after him (Barbe Baker Avenue) was also created. The fire station was closed in 1996 and the building was transferred to the parish council to run as a community venue. West End Local History Society established at the same time set up its museum in the building.

21st century

The Rose Bowl cricket ground was built in 2000 along with an accompanying

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

facilities and a 18-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. It has hosted several international cricket games and a number of well known musical acts such as

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

and

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

Government

Matters such as social events, footpaths and sports facilities are governed by the (civil) parish council. Much greater expenditure is managed by the local Borough and

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

s. The civil parish council has 14 seats across three

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

: West End North, West End South and Kanes Hill.

Culture and community

The annual West End Carnival takes place each June, although it did not run in 2009 or 2010 due to a lack of volunteers. The parish has an active local history society which runs a museum in the old fire station in the village centre.

Education

There is one primary school in the village of West End, St. James School. Its predecessor is on the High Street built in 1901 which for a time during the late 20th century became St James's Pre-School.

Sport

's home ground, the Rose Bowl, is in the east of the parish between the M27 and Telegraph Woods. It has a hotel adjoining.

Notable people

Forester and environmental activist

was born in West End.

RMS Titanic rescuer and engineer

Sir Arthur Henry Rostron

In the West End's Old Burial Ground, Sir Arthur Henry Rostron is buried. As captain of the he was famous for rescuing 706 of her passengers and crew when sank on 15 April 1912 and was awarded many honours, including being created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), as well as being awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. In the latter part of his life, he decided to spend his retirement in West End, where he stayed until he died in 1940.

James Jukes

Henry James Jukes was a West End born and brought up man, who lived in Camlens House, Moorgreen Road, West End. James' parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Jukes, ran a garden holding and James was soon to be married. James was on board the ''Titanic'' as a part of the engineering department, or as it was better known, the 'black crew', but, aged 35 years, dived into the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, and went down with the ship. In his honour, in 2002, a housing development on Moorgreen Road was named 'Jukes Walk'. There are plaques in West End Museum for both Rostron and Jukes.

References

External links

West End Carnival

West End Local History Society

West End Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Civil parishes in Hampshire Borough of Eastleigh