Ashurst is a village in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

district of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England, which together with Colbury hamlet makes the parish of Ashurst and Colbury. Ashurst is on the

A35 road The A35 is a major road in southern England, connecting Honiton in Devon and Southampton in Hampshire. It is a trunk road for some of its length. Most of its route passes through Dorset and the New Forest. It originally connected Exeter and Sou ...

near the

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

conurbation. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 2,011, increasing to 2,093 at the 2011 Census. The parish is on the edge of the designated

New Forest National Park The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

area. The village has a campsite, some shops and a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. The parish is bounded to the west by

Netley Marsh Netley Marsh is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, close to the town of Totton. It lies within the New Forest District, and the New Forest National Park. It is the supposed site of the battle between an invading Anglo Saxon army, under ...

parish and the Bartley Water, to the north by the A326 road and

Totton and Eling Totton and Eling () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hampshire, England, with a population of 28,970 people. It contains the settlements of Totton, Eling, Hampshire, Eling, Calmore, Hounsdown, Rushington and Testwood. It is situa ...

, and to the south by Denny Lodge parish in the New Forest. Ashurst is close to the City of

and is often considered an

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburbs, suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density, and rela ...

of it, a large percentage of its population being commuters. Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the sinking of , was living in Ashurst at the time of her death in May 2009 at the age of 97.

Amenities

There are many businesses along the main road through Ashurst, including pubs, restaurants, boutique clothing and accessories shop, a vet, an upholsterer, a hair salon, a car accessories shop and a car dealer. The post office closed at the end of January 2019.

Education

There are two schools in Ashurst, Foxhills Infant School and Foxhills Junior School. Foxhills Infant School teaches pupils between the ages of four and seven and as of May 2011 had in total 210 pupils on roll. It shares its grounds with Foxhills Junior School, where many of the Infant School pupils progress onto. The Junior School was opened as a middle school in September 1977 when the buildings and facilities of the original Junior School, which had been established ten years previously, were substantially enlarged and extended to provide for the 8–12 middle school age range. In 1993, it became a Junior School once again taking in children aged between 7 and 11. The school had around 332 children on roll in September 2010 and the current Headteacher is Andrew Shore. The majority of pupils come from the neighbouring Foxhills Infants School, Eling Infants School or Hazelwood First School. In its most recent Ofsted inspection report in 2010, it received a Grade 2 (good). Both schools enjoy a 16-acre site with large playgrounds and many resources, including a 6-acre nature reserve with a pond. The reserve, during the last few years, has benefited from a £22K grant from the Millennium Heritage Fund which allowed construction paths and access routes for year-round use. The whole school building area is protected by CCTV and a private patrol company. Also on the same site is Ashurst Pre-School that currently takes 86 children from two years nine months to five years on roll. During secondary school, most children enroll in Hounsdown, two villages across in Totton.

Transport links

Ashurst is well served by transport links, the largest being the Ashurst railway station, with services operated by

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

. The station is on the South West Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth. Ashurst is also on the Bluestar 6 Bus Route (recently replacing the Wilts and Dorset's 56/56A route) that runs from Lymington to Southampton.

References

External links

Ashurst and Colbury Parish CouncilFoxhills Infant SchoolFoxhills Junior School
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire