West End, Hampshire

West End
The old West End fire station, designed by Herbert Collins
OS grid reference	SU471138
Civil parish	West End
District	Eastleigh
Shire county	Hampshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SOUTHAMPTON
Postcode district	SO30, SO18
Dialling code	023
Police	Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Fire	Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Eastleigh (constituency)
Website	West End Parish Council

The Parish of West End in Hampshire is situated within the borough of Eastleigh, and to the north east of the city of Southampton. As well as the village itself, the parish contains the Chartwell Green suburb of Southampton. The village is small and generally classed as an area in the outer suburbs or rural urban fringe of Eastleigh because of the surrounding woodland and countryside, including Telegraph Woods and Itchen Valley Country Park.

The Village is mainly known for being home of the Rose Bowl, the stadium where Hampshire County Cricket Club plays, and occasionally England.

West End also homes Moorgreen Hospital a classic Victorian building, rich in history, the original St James School, built in 1901, on the high street, and West End Fire Station, which nowadays is a museum in the centre of the village.

History

Early history

A series of round barrows, dating from the Bronze Age (2000-600 BC), have been discovered in the Moorgreen area of the parish. There were five of these, all situated behind (i.e. to the north of) the present Moorgreen Hospital site. A hilltop fort from the Iron Age was built on the ridge above the village around 600-100BC. A shutter telegraph station operated from the site during the Napoleonic Wars, forming part of the line connecting London to Plymouth. It was this station that gave the name to the nearby Telegraph Woods.

The village was originally a hamlet which grew up around a track between Romsey and Portsmouth. The hamlet had a chapel by 1552 primarily for the use of the lords of the manor of Allington. When the track became a turnpike road in the early 19th century, the hamlet began to grow.

19th century

The main building of Moorgreen Hospital, originally a workhouse

In 1838, a national school was opened to house 192 children.

The hamlet was within the parish of South Stoneham until the ecclesiastical parish of West End was established in 1840, two years after the construction of the original St James' Church. In 1846 a Bible Christian chapel was constructed in Chapel Road.

A poor house had existed at the eastern end of the village for some time, and in 1848 this was replaced by a red-brick workhouse. This eventually became Moorgreen Hospital.

An extra room was added to the national school in 1866. In 1871 an independent school for younger children was opened, having been built by Mrs Harriet Hazlefoot.

In 1890, the spire of St James' was struck by lightning and the building was replaced. The civil parish was established in 1894. A number of boundary changes have taken place since then.

Harriet Hazlefoot's school became the infants' department of the national school in 1894.

20th century

During the 20th century, the school moved again into a new (third) building and was renamed St James' Primary School. The second school building became Hilldene Community Centre, where a number of adult education courses and other activities take place.

In 1900, two further Methodist chapels were built, one in the Moorgreen area and one in Swaythling Road. In September 1904 the children of the national school were moved to a new location with the old school building becoming the parish hall.

In 1954, Harefield was transferred out of the civil parish and into Southampton.

During the 1970s, Maurice Robinson represented the ward on Hampshire County Council as a member of the Conservative Party.

A Roman Catholic church building was opened in the village in 1961.

Richard St. Barbe Baker did a lot of his career work in West End, where he made a Project costing £180,000 to improve West End's High street, by upgrading Pavement Slabs, plus adding Safety Rails, Better Lighting, Removing all Graffiti, and Damaged Planters. The scheme also produced CCTV cameras managed by S & P Southampton Ltd. Near the end of the Highstreet, a plaque in his honour was made to thank all good things he has done for West End, plus a Road named after him (Barbe Baker Avenue) was also created.

21st century

The Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl cricket ground was built in 2000 along with accompanying hotel and conference facilities and a 9-hole golf course. It has hosted several international cricket games and a number of well known musical acts such as Oasis, The Who, Neil Diamond, R.E.M. and Billy Joel.

Government

West End is governed by its own parish council as well as the Borough of Eastleigh and Hampshire County Council. The parish council has 14 seats across three wards: West End North, West End South and Kanes Hill. All of the council members at present are either affiliated to the Liberal Democrats or sit as independents; no other political party contested any of the seats at the last election on 6th May 2012.

Culture and community

The annual West End Carnival takes place each June, although it did not run in 2009 or 2010 due to a lack of volunteers. The parish has an active local history society which runs a museum in the old fire station in the village centre.

Education

There are two primary schools in the village of West End, St.James school, situated in Monarch Way, and also The Kings school, which is a private school that is situated on Quob Lane. The Original St.James School is on the High Street and was originally built in 1901, but after the school moved to Monarch Way, in the newer, larger, more modern school, the older school was left, until it was used as a Pre-School, in the near past, being named St James Pre-School.

Sport

Hampshire County Cricket Club's home ground, the Rose Bowl, is located in West End. The stadium is right on the main road into West End, and has a capacity of 25,000. Eastleigh F.C. is based in the 3,000 capacity Silverlake Stadium, very near to West End itself. The side plays in the Conference South.

Notable people

Forester and environmental activist Richard St. Barbe Baker was born in West End.

Local Titanic Heroes

Sir Arthur Henry Rostron

In the West End's Old Burial Ground, Sir Arthur Henry Rostron is buried. Famous for rescuing 706 passengers and crew when RMS Titanic sank on the 15th April 1912. Arthur rescued 706 people on his ship RMS Carpathia and was awarded many honours, including being created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), as well as being awarded a Congressional Gold Medal There are plaques in West End Museum for Rostron and RMS Titanic crew member (from West End) James Jukes.

In the later parts of his life, he decided to have his retirement in West End where he stayed until he died in 1940.

James Jukes

Henry James Jukes was a West End born and raised man, who lived in Camlens House, Moorgreen Road, West End. James' parents Joseph and Elizabeth Jukes ran a Garden holding and James was soon to be married. James was on board the Titanic and apart of the Engineering Department, or as it was better known, the 'black crew', but, aged 35 years, dived into the North Atlantic Ocean, and went down with the ship.

In his honour, there was a housing development made in 2002 on Moorgreen Road (where he lived) in West End, named 'Jukes Walk'.

External links

• West End Carnival
• West End Local History Society
• West End Parish Council

Media related to West End, Hampshire at Wikimedia Commons