Millbrook is a suburb and former

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 ...

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, ...

, in the ceremonial county 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. As the area developed, several settlements grew within the parish, some of them becoming parishes in their own right, thus reducing the extent of the Millbrook parish. As well as the Millbrook of today, the original Millbrook parish included

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; an area near Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. These were former ...

Regents Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically between Marylebone and ...

, and Redbridge. Some of these areas are still referred to as being part of Millbrook. The brook that Millbrook was named after is now known as Tanner's Brook.

History

On the 28 November 1830 in the context of the

Swing riots The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising in 1830 by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England in protest of agricultural mechanisation and harsh working conditions. The riots began with the destruction of threshing machines in the ...

there was a non violent protest in Millbrook and

Shirley Shirley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Shirley'' (novel), an 1849 novel by Charlotte Brontë * ''Shirley'' (1922 film), a British silent film * ''Shirley'' (2020 film), an American biographical film about Shirley Jackson * ''Shirley'' ( ...

by laborers demanding increased wages. In the same decade Summers, Groves and Day opened a foundry in Millbrook. By 1840 they had begun a move to Northam with the Millbrook foundry closing in 1945. Millbrook railway station was opened in 1861, and the parish formerly had open baths and a ferry to

Marchwood Marchwood is a village and civil parish located in Hampshire, England. It lies between Totton and Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and directly east of the New Forest. The population of the village in the 2011 census was 6, ...

. The Church of the Holy Trinity was built between 1873 and 1880 to a design by

Henry Woodyer Henry Woodyer (1816–1896) was an English architect, a pupil of William Butterfield and a disciple of A. W. N. Pugin and the Ecclesiologists. Life Woodyer was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, in 1816, the son of a successful, highly resp ...

. Previously the village church had been St Nicholas which became a

mortuary chapel A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of ...

John Ralfs John Ralfs (13 September 1807 – 14 July 1890) was an English botanist. Born in Millbrook, near Southampton, he was the second son of Samuel Ralfs, a yeoman of an old family in Hampshire. He has been commemorated in the names of many plant gro ...

, the notable 19th-century botanist, was born here, as were footballers Kevin Gibbens and

Phil Warner Philip Warner (born 2 February 1979) is an English retired semi-professional footballer, who played as a utility player in the Premier League for Southampton and in the Football League for Cambridge United and Brentford. After his release from ...

who both played for

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club is a professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, befor ...

, along with comedian

Mike Osman Mike Osman (born August 1959) is an English radio presenter, impressionist and entertainer. He was born in Millbrook, Southampton as the fourth of seven brothers. After leaving Millbrook Community Secondary School at 16, he was briefly an apprenti ...

. On 16 May 1925, Lucy Hodder and the English artist

Harry Epworth Allen Harry Epworth Allen (27 November 1894 – 25 March 1958)Batsford, J. (2005) – facsimile of birth certificate, p. 186 was an English painter. He was one of the twentieth century's most distinctive interpreters of landscape. Allen was recognis ...

were married at Holy Trinity Church. The village was bombed on the 20th July 1940. The old village was almost entirely destroyed by the widening of Millbrook Road. In 1965 Milbrook towers the then tallest building in the city was built in the estate to a design by Ryder and Yates. In 1969 the Church of the Holy Trinity was given grade II listed status. In August 2022 the Church of the Holy Trinity was put up for sale due to falling congregation numbers. In 1951 the civil parish had a population of 6386. On 1 April 1954 the parish was abolished and merged with Southampton and Eling. It is now in the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Southampton.

Millbrook today

Millbrook as a district is split by the A35 dual carriageway, Tebourba Way. In general, on the west are

council estate 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 ...

s, and on the east are private housing, including

and Freemantle. The estates consist of Millbrook Park, Mansel Park, Wimpson Estate, Redbridge Estate, Maybush, Brownhill and the Channel Islands Estate. There is also an industrial area close to Southampton container port, which shares a boundary with Millbrook. The main

A33 road The A33 is a major road in the counties of Berkshire and Hampshire in southern England. The road currently runs in three disjoint sections. Route Reading–Basingstoke The first stretch of the A33 is a relatively new road, built as the A33 re ...

route into the city centre from the west passes through Millbrook, effectively creating the boundary between the industrialised part of Millbrook (to the south) and the residential areas (to the north). Millbrook is home to the Western Community Hospital and a large

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

supermarket. There is also a small

retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. Retail parks form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, ...

with a bowling alley and two hardware stores. Along Millbrook point road, there is Goals soccer centre, a 12-pitch five-a-side football ground. There is a lot of green park land in Millbrook, hence its full title of Millbrook Park Estate, this includes Green Park, Mansel Park, Test Park, Millbrook Recreation Ground, as well as numerous school playing fields. A huge green belt cuts through the main estate, from Millbrook roundabout, to the Top Shops on Windermere Avenue.

References

{{Districts of Southampton Areas of Southampton Wards of Southampton Former civil parishes in Hampshire