Bitterne derives its name not from the similarly named bird, the bittern, but probably from the bend in the River Itchen; the Old English words byht and ærn together mean "house near a bend" or possibly bita ærn; "house of horse bits",[2][3] either most likely a reference to Bitterne Manor House. A reference from the late 11th century spells the name Byterne.[3]
The focal point of Bitterne today is the former location of Bitterne Village (and is still occasionally referred to by that name), but the village is predated by the settlement at Bitterne Manor, the site of the original Roman settlement of Clausentum, the forerunner of today's City of Southampton.[4]
Bitterne is not mentioned in the Domesday Book but first appears in a late 11th century entry in the Bishop of Winchester's register as Byterne.[5] This is, however, a reference to Bitterne Manor, not to the settlement known as Bitterne today.
In 1665, the population of Bitterne was estimated to be 75 inhabitants, across 15 houses, which included Bitterne Manor House and Peartree House.[5]
A new estate was built in 1760, known then as Bitterne Grove and today housing St Mary's Independent School.[5] A number of workers' cottages were erected to support the estate and the farming activities at Bitterne Manor and Townhill Park; the cottages were in the Mousehole area of Bitterne.[5] In the 1790s, frequent royal visits to Southampton encouraged a spate of land-buying in the area, and further estates were added to the Bitterne area, including Ridgeway, Sydney Farm and Midanbury Lodge.[5]Townhill Park House was also built around this time, and Chessel House was built in 1796 by David Lance.[5] Aware that access to his land was poor, Lance encouraged the building of a bridge over the River Itchen linking Bitterne Manor to Northam, and another bridge over the River Hamble at Bursledon, with a road linking the bridges meeting another new road, to Botley, at the location known as the centre of today's Bitterne.[5] Construction of this new road and the bridges was completed in 1801.[5] Although this new junction on an important communications route would eventually stimulate the growth of Bitterne Village, an account of 1826 mentions only the estate houses and not any hamlet or collection of cottages.[5]
By the 20th Century, Bitterne Village was swallowed up by fast expanding Southampton. During the 1950s, Bitterne underwent extensive renovation, with the destruction of Victorian cottage housing areas to be replaced with flats and estates on the old farm land. The Angel pub went to be replaced by Sainsbury's, the Methodist church by Lloyds Bank (with the Methodists joining with the Anglican church).
During the 1980s, work was carried out to bypass the bottleneck of the main high street by looping the A3024 from the top of Lances Hill eastwards through some of the poorer housing to a new junction with the Hedge End road and demolishing the old post office and United Reformed Church. This enabled the pedestrianisation of the old high street.
Government
Bitterne is a ward within the unitary authority of Southampton, returning three councillors to the city council. As well as Bitterne itself, the Bitterne ward represents the neighbouring suburb of Thornhill and had a combined population of 13,800 at the 2011 census.[1] As of May 2021, the three councillors representing the ward are Terry Streets, Elliot Prior and Matthew Magee (Conservatives).
Geography
View over Southampton from Bitterne
As with many city suburbs the boundaries of Bitterne itself are not well defined; however the ward (which includes neighbouring Thornhill) comprises an area of 2.47 square kilometres (0.95sqmi).[1] The area is entirely suburban in nature, and located 3.5 kilometres (2.2mi) northeast of the Bargate in Southampton City Centre. It is atop a raised part eastern shoulder of the lower Itchen valley, with views over much of the city visible from parts of the suburb. The road up the valley shoulder from the floodplain was named Lance's Hill after David Lance, who owned Chessel House and encouraged the construction of the Northam Bridge linking Bitterne to central Southampton. The road now bypasses the central shopping area and is a dual carriageway, carrying the A3024 road. Because the Northam Bridge is the southernmost toll-free bridge into Southampton from the east, traffic on this route can be heavy: in 2014 the annual average daily flow was 25,936 motor vehicles (not including motorcycles), 474 motorcycles and 110 pedal cycles.[6] The bypassed section of the road is pedestrianised, forming a popular shopping precinct.
Demography
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2024)
Bitterne Ward had a population of 13,800 in the 2011 census, of which 3,079 (22.3%) were under 15, 8,429 (61.1%) of working age and 2,292 (16.6%) aged 65 or over. Proportionately Bitterne has fewer people of working age than Southampton as a whole (69.6%), and more people in both the younger and older age groups. However the population of all three age groups in Bitterne had increased since the 2001 census.[1]
The area is predominantly indigenous, with white British comprising 91.1% of the population. No other ethnic group accounts for more than 2.6% of the population. The only ward in Southampton with a higher indigenous proportion in the 2011 census was neighbouring Sholing, with 92.4% being white British. This is against an average for the city of 77.7%.[1]
54.5% of Bitterne's population identified as having a Christian belief in the 2011 census, with 35.9% identifying as having no religion. The next largest religious group in the ward are the Muslims, who accounted for 1.3% of the population.[1]
In the 2011 census, 7% of Bitterne Ward's population assessed themselves as being in bad or very bad health; the highest proportion of any ward in Southampton identifying as such. Bitterne also had the highest proportion of the population affected by a long-term health problem or disability that limits day-to-day activities.[1]
An article in The Guardian in 2014 identified Bitterne as a working-class community.[7]
Economy
There are no significant industrial estates or manufacturing facilities in Bitterne so employment in the area tends to be oriented around the service industry, and retail in particular. In addition to the permanent stores in the shopping precinct, Bitterne hosts a weekly street market, which was approved by the city council in 2009 following a successful pilot which began in October 2008.[8][9]
Community facilities
Bitterne Library
Bitterne Library is one of the largest libraries in Southampton and a number of regular activities take place there, including various reading groups, an IT club, job club, and family history group.[10] There is an active local history society[11] which has published a number of books and runs a charity shop and museum on Peartree Avenue.
Bitterne Leisure Centre is managed by Active Nation, a national sport and exercise charity, and offers a wide range of activities, including swimming, exercise classes, table tennis, a gymnasium, badminton, martial arts and children's activities, including birthday parties. There is a commercial gymnasium above Sainsbury's supermarket on the precinct, a location which formerly housed a ten-pin bowling centre. This was opened in 1965 as the Excel Bowl before being taken over by AMF Bowling and renamed "Bitterne Bowl". The centre moved to the Swan Centre in Eastleigh as part of a redevelopment project there in November/December 2008.[12]
Between the library and leisure centre is Bitterne Health Centre, which houses a GP surgery and emergency dental service, as well as an NHS walk-in centre; however the latter is currently earmarked for closure.[13] There are also a number of other GP surgeries in the area.
Transport
Traffic on the A3024 Bitterne by-pass
Bitterne is at the junction of the A334 and A3024 roads, providing easy access by road to the M27 motorway to the east and Southampton City Centre to the southwest. As a result, Bitterne is well served by a number of bus routes with operators including Bluestar and Xelabus.
Primary schools in the area include the Bitterne's Church of England Primary school, Glenfield Infant School and Beechwood Junior School.
There are no public sector secondary schools in Bitterne itself but it is well served by the surrounding areas, with Bitterne Park School, Woodlands Community College and Sholing Technology College all within walking distance. As well as the sixth form at Bitterne Park School, the nearby Itchen College offers a range of further education courses.
Religious sites
Church of the Holy Saviour, Bitterne
Bitterne's parish church is dedicated to the Holy Saviour and its spire is a local landmark. The church is an Anglican and Methodist partnership following the merger of the two congregations and the sale of the Methodist church building in the late 20th century. It is a Grade II listed building.[14]
Bitterne United Reformed Church is located at the top of the pedestrian precinct, next to the parish church, and occupies the first floor of its building with retail outlets underneath. The retail premises are currently occupied by the local Iceland supermarket.
The Christ the King Roman Catholic Church is another local landmark on the main A3024 road, located between the health centre and library. Bitterne Spiritualist Church was established in 1947 and is located at the top of Lances Hill.[15]
Related Research Articles
The River Itchen in Hampshire, England, rises to the south of New Alresford and flows 26 miles (42 km) to meet Southampton Water below the Itchen Bridge. The Itchen Navigation was constructed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries to enable barges to reach Winchester from Southampton Docks, but ceased to operate in the mid-19th century and is largely abandoned today.
Southampton, Itchen is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Royston Smith, a Conservative member of parliament. Discounting the Speaker returned in the early 1970s in two elections, local voters have elected the MP from only two parties alternately for various periods, with one party reaffiliation (defection) between elections when the Labour Party split in the 1980s.
The Itchen Way is a 31.80-mile (51.18 km) long-distance footpath following the River Itchen in Hampshire, England, from its source near Hinton Ampner House to its mouth at Woolston. The walk finishes at Sholing railway station. The route has been promoted by the Eastleigh Group of the Ramblers with grant aid from Hampshire County Council and Eastleigh Borough Council. The route was altered and improved in 2008.
Northam is a suburb of Southampton in Hampshire. On the West bank of the River Itchen, it shares borders with St Mary's, Bitterne and Bevois Valley. Beside the border with St Mary's is the Chapel area, which has been home to some recent apartment building developments in Northam. The A3024 road runs through the suburb and crosses the Northam Bridge, which links Northam with Bitterne via Bitterne Manor. Although St Mary's Stadium takes its name from the neighbouring St Mary's, the stadium itself is in Northam, and home to Southampton F.C.
Bitterne Manor is a suburb of Southampton surrounding the manor house of the same name. It is located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen, across Cobden Bridge from St Denys.
Bitterne Park is a suburb and Electoral Ward of Southampton, England, on the Eastern bank of the River Itchen, built on sloping parkland which once formed part of Bitterne Manor.
St Denys is a partially riverside district of Southampton, England, centred 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north north-east of the city centre facing variously Bitterne Park and quay across the River Itchen estuary. The river is here spanned in the mid-east extreme of the district by Cobden Bridge, one of five within the city's broad boundaries, six including the railway bridge 100 m south. It is separated from the city centre by the districts sometimes known as Bevois Valley and New Town, in turn and to the south a riverside boardwalk allows pedestrian and bicycle access to the Mount Pleasant Industrial Estate and Northam.
Sholing, previously Scholing, is a district on the eastern side of the city of Southampton in Southern England. It is located between the districts of Bitterne, Thornhill and Woolston.
Woolston is a suburb of Southampton, Hampshire, located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It is bounded by the River Itchen, Sholing, Peartree Green, Itchen and Weston.
Midanbury is a small suburb of Southampton, England, bordering Bitterne, Bitterne Park and Townhill Park.
Southampton is a city in Hampshire, England. The area has been settled since the Stone Age. Its history has been affected by its geographical location, on a major estuary on the English Channel coast with an unusual double high-tide, and by its proximity to Winchester and London; the ancient and modern capitals of England. Having been an important regional centre for centuries, Southampton was awarded city status by Queen Elizabeth II in 1964 .
The Northam Bridge is a road bridge across the River Itchen in Southampton, England, linking the suburbs of Northam and Bitterne Manor. The current bridge was the first major prestressed concrete road bridge to be built in the United Kingdom. The bridge carries the A3024 road as a dual carriageway, with two lanes on each carriageway.
Harefield is a suburb and Electoral Ward near Bitterne in Southampton, England. Harefield Ward consists of a small council housing estate built around 1952/3 on the 238-acre (0.96 km2) estate of Harefield House and additional private housing.
The Woolston Floating Bridge was a cable ferry that crossed the River Itchen in England between hards at Woolston and Southampton from 23 November 1836 until 11 June 1977. It was taken out of service after the new Itchen Bridge was opened.
Peartree Green is an open space on high ground on the east bank of the River Itchen in Southampton. A 16/17th century building, Peartree House, still stands, though is today concealed by private housing. The house and the green take their name from a pear tree that grew near the parish church. Some of the original open space has been built on, but a large proportion remains as a recreational area. It contains a church and the remains of a boarding school. It overlooks the River Itchen to St Mary's Church in Southampton.
Bevois is an Electoral Ward in the Unitary Authority of Southampton, England comprising the suburbs Bevois Valley, Nicholstown and Northam, with a population of 16,844.
South Stoneham was a manor in South Stoneham parish. It was also a hundred, Poor law union, sanitary district then rural district covering a larger area of south Hampshire, England close to Southampton.
Southampton Corporation Transport motor bus services started in 1919 as a successor to Southampton Corporation Tramways. After Southampton achieved city status in 1964 it was renamed Southampton City Transport. In 1986, as a result of deregulation it became Southampton Citybus, an arms-length company that was sold to the staff in 1993. It continued trading as Southampton Citybus until it was bought by First Bus in 1997.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Southampton, Hampshire, England.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
