Portswood is a suburb and

Electoral Ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

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 ...

, England. The suburb lies to the north-north-east of the city centre and is bounded by (clockwise from west)

Freemantle Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. There are similarly named places in Hampshire: notably Henry II's hunting lodge in Kingsclere; a suburb of Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. These were formerly t ...

, Highfield, Swaythling, St. Denys and

Bevois Valley Bevois Valley ( ) is an inner city area of Southampton, England, within Bevois Electoral Ward, and includes areas called Bevois Town and Bevois Mount. The area lies south of and adjoins Portswood and is within easy walking distance of the city ...

. Portswood Ward comprises Portswood, Highfield and St. Denys, and had a population of 14,831 at the 2011 Census. It is a largely residential area adjacent to the main campus of the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, and as such more than a quarter of residents are students.

History

The Manor of Portswood, which originally included the modern-day Bevois Town, Swaythling,

St Denys St Denys is a partially riverside district of Southampton, England, centred north north-east of the city centre facing variously Bitterne Park and quay across the River Itchen estuary. The river is here spanned in the mid-east extreme of ...

and Highfield, was first named in a charter dating from 1045. The name ''Portswood'' comes from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''Porteswuda'', meaning "wood of the town". The manor was granted to St. Denys Priory by

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

in 1189, and it remained under their ownership until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

in 1536. The land, and the title

Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

, were purchased by Francis Dawtrey in 1538, and passed through several hands before being bought by Giles Stibbert in 1771. Stibbert,

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

and later Commander-in-Chief of India, built the first Portswood House on the estate to the design of a Mr. Crunden. The house, which stood in the area now bounded by Spring Crescent and Lawn Road, was demolished in 1852 to make way for more housing, and the name Portswood House transferred to the nearby Portswood Lodge. The estate was gradually sold for development, and the second Portswood House was demolished in 1923, allowing the whole estate to be sold by 1928. In 1871 an attempt by the Southampton board of health to improve the local sewage system was opposed over concerns about higher taxes. Improvements were eventually begun in 1875.

Governance

Prior to 1894, Portswood was a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

in 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 divis ...

, a parish more than ten times the size of Portswood Ward today, stretching as far as Eastleigh to the north. A parliamentary paper from 1837 indicates that the Village of Portswood consisted of about thirty houses at this time, and in the 1861 Census, the population of the entire tithing was placed at 3,546. The

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

divided South Stoneham into multiple parts, and Portswood became a

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 authorit ...

in its own right. The population of Portswood

was 10,038 in 1891, grew to 17,958 in 1901, and had reached 22,501 by 1911. Portswood parish at that time included parts of

Bitterne Bitterne is an eastern suburb and ward of Southampton, England. Bitterne derives its name not from the similarly named bird, the bittern, but probably from the bend in the River Itchen; the Old English words ''byht'' and ''ærn'' together mean ...

and was approximately 1,037 acres (1.62 square miles) by comparison with today's 690 acres (1.08 square miles). Today, Portswood is an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

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 cover ...

, and falls within the Southampton Test constituency of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

. The ward elects three councillors to Southampton City Council. Although having never won the seat, it's the Southampton ward where the Green Party have historically polled the best, winning 38.9% of the vote in the 2022 local elections for example.

Education

Portswood Ward includes the main Highfield Campus of the

. The University's first presence in Highfield was in 1914, although the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

meant the site became a military hospital and was not used for lectures until 1920. The ward has three state-run primary schools; Portswood Primary School on Somerset Road, Highfield School on Hawthorn Road, and St Denys School on Dundee Road. There is also a small independent primary school, St Winifred's School, on Winn Road. The nearest secondary schools are

Cantell School Cantell School is a secondary comprehensive school in Bassett, Southampton. In 2013, Ofsted judged Cantell to be a 'Good' school. History The school occupies the site that was previously home to Glen Eyre School. Cantell was formed as an amal ...

Bassett Green Bassett Green is a suburb of Southampton, which has grown from the original small village of Basset. It remains part of the electoral ward of Bassett (q.v. for population). The area is mainly residential, with a mixture of Herbert Collins-design ...

, and

Bitterne Park School Bitterne Park School is a large mixed secondary comprehensive school in the Bitterne Park suburb of Southampton, Hampshire, in the south of England. The school last received an Ofsted inspection on 29 and 30 November 2017, in which it was rat ...

Public services

Portswood Library opened on 25 October 1915 despite a failed application for Carnegie funding in 1914 and the subsequent outbreak of the

. Built immediately to the north of the old Palladium Cinema on Portswood Road, the building was designed by J A Crowther, the Borough Surveyor, on land acquired by Portswood councillor Sidney Kimber following the break-up of the Portswood House estate. Portswood Police Station on St Denys Road, run by the

Hampshire Constabulary The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in South East England.Hampshire Constabulary, 2012 Retrieved 27 April 2012 The force area inc ...

, serves the local policing areas Banister Park & Bevois, Bassett, Highfield, St. Denys and Swaythling. Portswood is served by the

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Hampshire, including the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, and the county of the Isle of Wight on the south coast of ...

and by the fire station in St Mary's.

Landmarks

The lodge to the original Portswood House was preserved after the demolition of the house itself in 1852, and is now a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

, standing at 324 Portswood Road. Portswood once had two cinemas, both of which have since closed. While the Palladium Cinema (1913–1958) was converted into a supermarket and lost its distinctive facade, the old Broadway Cinema remains a prominent landmark. The cinema opened on 6 June 1930 with a showing of the film Rookery Nook and remained open for 33 years until 26 October 1963. After a period of time as a Mecca Bingo Hall, it is now a church.

Culture

Portswood has a dedicated live music venue—The Brook, on Portswood Road. The Brook is a 600-capacity venue which has seen performances from Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel (in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010), as well as

Steve Harley Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still tours, albeit with frequent and significant personnel changes. E ...

's 2-man (1998, 1999 and 2002), 3-man (2011) and 4-man (2003 and 2004) acoustic sets. More contemporary outfits such as

The Hoosiers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and

Mr. Scruff Andrew Carthy (born 10 February 1972), better known by his stage name Mr. Scruff, is an English record producer and DJ. He lives in Stretford, Greater Manchester and studied fine art at the Psalter Lane campus of Sheffield Hallam University. B ...

have also played the venue. The venue went into liquidation in May 2007, but it was put on the market for £900,000, and was saved in August that year. There are a number of pubs in the area covering different tastes from sports bars, student-friendly pubs and real ale pubs. A popular student club in Portswood is Clowns and Jesters nightclub, located on the

Hill. Other local venues include

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...

pub, The Shooting Star, and Sobar. Another hub of note is October Books, a bookseller run by a not-for-profit co-operative and based in Portswood's main high street. As well as mainstream publications, it also sells a range of Fairtrade and organic products, in addition to magazines and books focusing on environmental, political, social and vegan/vegetarian subjects. For these reasons, it is also a community focus for Southampton's left wing and alternative scenes and has regular seed swaps. Founded in 1977 on Onslow Road, it moved to Portswood in 2003 (raising £6,000 to cover the cost of its lease), before raising £500,000 from local and commercial sources to purchase a permanent home in the building of an old bank in 2018. For this latest move, 150 metres down Portswood High Street, October Books asked the local community to help it move the books to the new shop - the resulting human chain received national and international press coverage.

Transport

The nearest railway station is

0.8 miles away, which is on the London Waterloo to Weymouth mainline and the West Coastway Line. There are also regular bus services to the city centre and other parts of Southampton from Bluestar,

Unilink Unilink is the branded bus service operated under contract and serving the University of Southampton in Hampshire, England. The service was created in 1998 following the university's expansion onto several new campuses, requiring new transport ...

and

First Hampshire & Dorset First Hampshire & Dorset is a bus operator providing services in the counties of Hampshire and Dorset. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History First Hampshire & Dorset was created out of various different smaller companies which were merged o ...

. From 1879 to 1949, Portswood was home to one of the two

Southampton Corporation Tramways Southampton Corporation Tramways were in operation from 1879 to 1949. They were initially horse-drawn, but latterly powered by electricity. Background Southampton was a growing town in the nineteenth century. With the coming of the railway in ...

depots, and a tram service ran from the site on Portswood Road to Stag Gates, at the junction of the Avenue and Lodge Road. Many of the corporation's trams were built in the depot during this time. It was converted to a bus depot in 1949, and was the head office of

. The site now belongs to Sainsburys Superstore, which opened in February 2012. The site includes a Customer Restaurant, Underground Parking, and Play Park as well as an enclosed delivery bay for the store. There is also space above for retail property or a library although this has yet to be finalised.

Notable residents

R. J. Mitchell, chief designer of the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...

, lived at 2 Russell Place in Portswood during its development, and until his death in 1937. In 2005,

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

commemorated Mitchell with a

Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term ...

at his former home. According to a report in the '' Daily Echo'',

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...

drummer

Will Champion William Champion (born 31 July 1978) is an English musician and songwriter best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the rock band Coldplay. Raised in Southampton, he learned various instruments during his childhood, being influenced b ...

used to live in Portswood, and used to attend a youth activities group at Highfield Church.

Captain Edward J. Smith Edward John Smith (27 January 1850 – 15 April 1912) was a British naval officer. He served as master of numerous White Star Line vessels. He was the captain of the , and perished when the ship sank on her maiden voyage. Raised in a ...

, an English naval officer and ship's captain who commanded the

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger Ocean liner, liner, operated by the White Star Line, which Sinking of the Titanic, sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton ...

during her maiden voyage, lived in an imposing red brick, twin-gabled house known as "Woodhead" on Winn Road. The house no longer stands today and has been replaced with an apartment complex. Broadcaster and naturalist,

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series '' The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 ...

, lived in Portswood as a child, according to his memoir, ''Fingers in the Sparkle Jar''.

References

External links

portswood.info
— Portswood's local community news website {{Districts of Southampton Wards of Southampton