Knowle is a village with mainly 21st century shops and businesses in the
Winchester
Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
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, that sits high on the
left bank
In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water.
Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography.
In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...
of the
Meon between 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, ...
and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
conurbations. It is in the south of the
parish of Wickham and Knowle in which it ranks in population about 25% behind Wickham. Its nearest town is
Fareham
Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...
, adjoining an inlet of
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a / biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area.
It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it ...
approximately south-east.
History
Knowle is built on land which, until 1849, was Knowle Farm. The farm and a little surrounding woodland which remains, mainly in the
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...
, was between
Fareham
Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...
's small nascent exurb community of
Funtley
Funtley – from the Anglo-Saxon, "Funtaleg", " spring field (clearing)", is a hamlet or exurb north of Fareham, Hampshire, England. It forms a projection towards the South Downs National Park and is generally included within Fareham's popul ...
and another farm associated with
Wickham. The original timber framed farmhouse, dating from the 17th century was converted into two cottages in the 20th century and is now a Grade II listed building. It stands as part of the cluster of houses known as Farm Cottages, on Mayles Lane, north of the former hospital site.
Knowle Hospital
A committee of nine
JPs were appointed at the Easter Quarter Sessions in 1846 to superintend the erecting or providing of a lunatic asylum. They selected part of Knowle Farm as most suitable, namely .
In December 1852, after two years building, Hampshire's first
County Lunatic Asylum was completed on Knowle Hill in the north of the present village. By 1856 it had taken its original capacity of 400 patients; growth ensued and by 1900 it housed over 1,000. It was named 'Knowle Mental Hospital' from c.1923 to 1948, when it was renamed 'Knowle Hospital'; it closed in 1996.
The hospital's successor is Ravenswood House, a medium-security mental health hospital which opened in 1985 to care for those afflicted by serious mental illnesses or
personality disorders
Personality disorders (PD) are a class of mental health conditions characterized by enduring maladaptive patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experience, exhibited across many contexts and deviating from those accepted by the culture. T ...
. It can accommodate 77 patients and is complemented by the Southfield Low Security Hospital in the New Forest. Ravenswood is the base of the Wessex Forensic Psychiatric Service.
Birth of the village
From 2000 onward the former complex of buildings was redeveloped by a group of developers (
Berkeley Homes
The Berkeley Group Holdings plc is a British property developer and house-builder based in Cobham, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The firm was founded in 1976 by Tony Pidgl ...
(lead developer),
Bovis Homes,
Westbury Homes,
Try Homes, Barry Jupe and A2Dominion) adding to Knowle Village (village). This comprised 130
apartments
An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...
(using the former
hospital
A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...
buildings) houses over . The principal northern (east-west) building, northern administration building, south block, superintendent's house, chapel and staff cottages were retained and converted to other uses, whilst the central north–south connecting structure and other periphery buildings were demolished.
The redevelopment, coupled with the hamlet which pre-dates, created the first village in Hampshire in over a century, one without a church but with many other amenities.
Demolished station
Knowle for many decades had
Knowle Halt, a
railway halt
A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such a ...
, on the
Eastleigh to Fareham and
Meon Valley lines. The station closed on the 6 April 1964 with the platforms demolished shortly thereafter.
Chapel
Part of the old hospital was a red brick Chapel, with small belfry dressed in stone, built in 1875 to free up space in the main building.
As part of the redevelopment of the complex, the chapel was refurbished by Berkeley Homes, at a cost exceeding £400,000. They later transferred ownership of the building to Winchester
City Council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
for £1, with an additional gift of £28,000 to provide some funding for future maintenance costs. The building, which is
listed, was leased by the Knowle Community Buildings Association (KCBA) for community use.
Amenities
Business Park
Knowle Village Business Park was gradually built from 2003.
Community Hall and cricket club
The KCBA vacated the former Chapel for a new build Community Hall adjacent to the cricket pitch, and the chapel was sold in July 2012 for £220,000 by Clive Emson Auctioneers.
Memorials
Cemetery
Over 5,500 former patients of the asylum are buried in Knowle
Cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
. Before 1886 the location of any specific body was not recorded. Up to four patients could be buried per grave, never on the same day. The last burial at the site took place in 1971. A few remaining iron crosses, generally being the memorials, were removed in 2001 for secure storage pending a decision to relocate them.
War memorial
In 1920 a war memorial was erected at Knowle Hospital to honor the 16 staff and estate residents who died during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, two further names were added to the memorial. Following the closure of the hospital, the memorial was moved from the site due to the redevelopment. With a contribution from the
War Memorials Trust, it was relocated to the churchyard of St. Nicholas in Wickham. By 2010, the memorial had been moved back to Knowle and now stands outside the former hospital chapel.
References
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Villages in Hampshire