Harefield 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 t ...

near

Bitterne Bitterne is an eastern suburb and ward of Southampton, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, 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 w ...

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, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Harefield Ward consists of a small

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

estate built around 1952/3 on the estate of Harefield House and additional private housing. Harefield Ward had a population of 14,448 at the 2021 Census, and is adjacent to

Bitterne Park Bitterne Park is a suburb and Wards of the United Kingdom, Electoral Ward of Southampton, England, on the Eastern bank of the River Itchen, Hampshire, River Itchen, built on sloping parkland which once formed part of Bitterne Manor. Bitterne P ...

, Peartree,

Sholing Sholing, previously Scholing, is a suburb on the eastern side of the city of Southampton, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. It is located between the districts of Bitterne, Thornhill and Woolston. Various explanations fr ...

and

wards.

History

Harefield House was a country house of Elizabethan style built in 1834 for Sir Edward Butler, chairman of the Southampton and Salisbury Railway Company. The location is now the grounds of Harefield Infant and Junior Schools on Yeovil Chase. Edwin Jones, the Southampton draper whose store ultimately became part of

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...

bought the house in 1887. Harefield House is often mistakenly reported as burning down in 1915, this misconception is printed in the book Memories of Bitterne by Irene Pilson and seems to have stuck. The house actually burnt down on May 6, 1917, as reported in the Southern Daily Echo at the time. Daily_Echo_Monday_May_7th_1917

The Jones family sold the estate in 1917 and there was some building in the 1920s but it was not developed in earnest until after the Second World War. The area was part of 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of West End when it was established in 1894, but was transferred into Southampton in 1954. The street names on the western edge of the estate are all named after

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

place names by the private housing developers active in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The later council housing extended these streets and added more to the west that are named after

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, ...

villages. The development of the housing estate included two public houses (the Exford Arms and the Hare and Hounds), two shopping parades, two primary schools (Harefield and Moorhill, each consisting of infant and junior schools), and Moorhill Secondary School (named after Moorhill House, which stood just outside the estate in West End). The Moorhill schools and the Exford Avenue shopping parade were constructed in 1964–65. Until then there was a Post Office in a

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

opposite the Exford Arms. The Hare and Hounds was open between 1963 and 2016 before being demolished in early 2018. Moorhill Secondary School was renamed as Woodlands Community School in 1984 and subsequently demolished and rebuilt in 2003. It is now known as Woodlands Community College.

Election Results

Transport links

Harefield has had several different local bus services over the years. It now only has the number 13 First Bus service that goes to Bitterne, Woolston, and the City Centre with no bus service on Sundays.

Public Art

Harefield is also known for its public art, including the Mosaic Way; a trail of permanent mosaics that were created by local residents and installed in 2021

References

{{Districts of Southampton Wards of Southampton