Chandler's Ford (originally The Ford[2] and historically Chandlersford) is a largely residential area and civil parish in the Borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. It had a population of 21,436 according to the 2011 Census.[1]
Chandler's Ford lies on the old Winchester to Southampton road and the 'Ford' is thought to refer either to the ford of Monks Brook[3] on the Hursley Road (shown on the Hursley map of 1588 as "Charnells foord")[3] or on the Winchester-Southampton road.[2] The "Chandler's" prefix was possibly added in the late 16th century,[2] although there are numerous theories for the origin of the word.[4][5][6][7]
Hiltonbury Farm (now a public house) appeared on a map of 1588 and may originally have been owned by the Hursley Park Estate in nearby Hursley. It was later sold to Cranbury Park Estate and stopped being a working farm in the late 1970s, when the surrounding area was developed. Other communities revolved around other farms in the area but Chandler's Ford was very sparsely populated until the 19th century.
In the mid 19th century, Bell's brickfields was one of the biggest in England, producing 35 million bricks for the construction of the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand.[11]
In 1889, an iron church and some schools were constructed.[12] The civil parish of Chandlersford was created in 1897, from portions of North Stoneham, North Baddesley, and Ampfield, although the railway station remained in the North Baddesley parish.[12]
In 1929 Herbert Collins, a well known Southampton based architect designed the Congregational Church in King's Road.[13] This is now the United Reformed Church. The original building has been extended but the original style of the building remains.
Chandler's Ford used to be a town with mainly housing estates, however there are now various developments of shops and schools that have been built in the area. In the 1920s, building took place in the King's Court, Merdon and Hiltingbury areas. Later, development in the Hursley Road area happened, followed by housing across the Hiltingbury, Scantabout, Peverells Road, Spring Hill and Oakmount areas. More recently, developments in North Millers Dale, South Millers Dale and the 'new town' of Valley Park to the West of Chandler's Ford have completed the mix of housing. Chandler's Ford is considered to be the development to the West of the M3 motorway and now forms the majority of the Eastleigh urban area.
Due to the development of the town, there is little identifiable 'town centre'. The main commercial centre is in Fryern Arcade (built 1967),[14] the area of the Halfway Inn (near the old tollhouse for Winchester-Southampton), but other smaller shopping areas include the Central Precinct and the area around St Boniface Church (built 1904). An Anglican church was added in Hiltingbury in the 1960s, with the Roman Catholic Church of St. Edward the Confessor and Methodist churches existing on the main Winchester-Southampton route.
Although a mainly residential area, Chandler's Ford has a significant industrial estate located mainly off School Lane and in between the B3043 – Bournemouth Road. The companies on the industrial estate now cover a wide variety of industries from light engineering and manufacturing, distribution, retail and outsourcing. A number of employers on the estate are of particular local interest. Peter Green Furnishers were once regarded as the biggest furniture and carpeting store in the whole of Hampshire.[15] Selwoods is also another company of interest having been in the area since 1946[16] and with its head office on the corner of School Lane.
A library was constructed over two years starting in 1981.[14]
In 2018, an Aldi supermarket opened in replacement of the old Homebase DIY store in the retail park on Chestnut Avenue - introducing new jobs and competition with Asda (located opposite on the main roundabout).
Chandler's Ford is represented by Compton and Chandler's Ford Cricket Club which formed in 1995 when Chandler's Ford Cricket Club (CC) merged with Compton and Shawford CC.
The name Chandler's Ford is used for the civil parish, some (but not all) individual electoral wards, and sometimes a wider geographic area; the boundaries are not entirely consistent.
Chandler's Ford Parish Council, responsible for the most local matters, has 18 members[17] elected from 5 wards (Chandler's Ford East & West, Hiltingbury East & West, Velmore).[18]
Two wards on Eastleigh Borough Council, Chandler's Ford and Hiltingbury, cover most of the parish and lie fully within it. However Velmore is included in the Eastleigh South ward.[19] Each ward elects 3 councillors.
On Hampshire County Council, the Chandler's Ford division includes most of the parish. But a significant portion, made up of the Chandlers Ford West and Velmore parish wards, is located in the Eastleigh South division.[19] Each division elects one councillor.
Similarly, most of the parish formed around a quarter of the Winchester parliamentary constituency from 2010, with Velmore in the Eastleigh constituency.[19] From 2024 the whole of Chandler's Ford is part of Eastleigh. [20]
Since the 1990s, Chandler's Ford elections have principally been contests between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.[21] As at November 2024 the Parish and Borough councils are both controlled by the Liberal Democrats, with members of both parties representing Chandler's Ford. The County council is controlled by the Conservatives, although both representatives from Chandler's Ford are Liberal Democrats. The Eastleigh parliamentary constituency is represented by the Liberal Democrat Liz Jarvis.
Most of Valley Park, which is sometimes included in a wider area portrayal of Chandler's Ford, lies outside the parish, and forms part of Test Valley Borough and the Romsey and Southampton North parliamentary constituency.
Demography
As of April 2011, the Chandler's Ford and Hiltingbury council wards (which form a continuous built-up area, and make up the main part of what is referred to as "Chandler's Ford") had a population of 21,436, across 8,896 households.[1] The ethnicity of the population was mainly white, with 310 mixed race people, 937 Asian or Asian British people, 100 Black or Black British people and 224 in other ethnic groups.[1] In 2001, 13,531 of the population were Christians, 5,528 professed no religion, and 1,477 did not state their religious beliefs. There were 59 Buddhists, 205 Hindus, 29 Jews, 263 Muslims, 289 Sikhs and 55 people of other religions living in the ward.[1]
Bluestar's route 1 connects Chandler's Ford with Southampton and Winchester. Xelabus X6/X7 runs between Hiltingbury and Eastleigh and X5 connects Southampton Parkway and Chandlers Ford stations.[23]
Road
The M3 runs past the eastern border of Chandler's Ford with access from junction 12 from the north and junction 13 from the south.
Chandler's Ford made national headlines in September 2007 when an armed bank robbery was foiled: On 13 September 2007, the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad, in conjunction with the Hampshire Constabulary, foiled the robbery outside the HSBC bank in the central precinct on Winchester Road in Chandler's Ford.[24] The police had been tipped off and hid behind the nearby toilet cubicles, before shooting dead two of the robbers. A third fled the scene by car and was later arrested.
There was a theft from the same bank on 24 January 2011, when a cash box was stolen from a security guard.[25]
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
The Borough of Eastleigh is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England. It is named after its main town of Eastleigh, where the council is based. The borough also contains the town of Hedge End along with several villages, many of which form part of the South Hampshire urban area.
Hursley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England with a population of around 900 in 2011. It is located roughly midway between Romsey and Winchester on the A3090. Besides the village the parish includes the hamlets of Standon and Pitt and the outlying settlement at Farley Chamberlayne.
Romsey was a seat of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament 1983–2010 which accordingly elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It is virtually tantamount to its replacement Romsey and Southampton North which takes in two typical-size local government wards of the United Kingdom named after and approximate to the Bassett and Swaythling parts of Southampton.
Winchester is a constituency in Hampshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Danny Chambers, a Liberal Democrat.
Eastleigh is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Liz Jarvis, a Liberal Democrat.
The ceremonial county of Hampshire, which includes the unitary authorities of Portsmouth and Southampton, is divided into 19 parliamentary constituencies: 9 borough constituencies and 10 county constituencies. One of the county constituencies, Farnham and Bordon is split between Hampshire and Surrey
The Eastleigh–Romsey line is the railway line from Eastleigh to Romsey in Hampshire, England. At Eastleigh, trains join the South West Main Line for onward travel to Southampton. At Romsey most trains terminate. The line is not electrified and all trains are diesel-powered.
Chandler's Ford railway station serves the Chandler's Ford area of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. It is on the Eastleigh to Romsey Line, 75 miles 25 chains (121.2 km) measured from London Waterloo.
Ampfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Test Valley in Hampshire, England, between Romsey, Eastleigh, and Winchester. It had a population at the 2001 census of 1,474, increasing to 1,583 at the 2011 Census.
Fair Oak is a large village to the east of the town of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. Together with the village of Horton Heath, which lies to the south, it is part of the civil parish of Fair Oak and Horton Heath.
Bishopstoke is a village and civil parish in the Eastleigh district of Hampshire, England. It is recorded as "Stoke" as early as 948AD when King Eadred granted land there to a thegn called Aelfric. Stoke later came into the possession of the Bishops of Winchester, giving rise to the modern name. The village is about a mile east of Eastleigh town centre, and is on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It adjoins Fair Oak on the east.
North Baddesley is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated 3 mi (5 km) east of the town of Romsey and 6 mi (10 km) north of Southampton. It occupies an area of approximately 9.15 km2 (3.53 sq mi), and is home to a population of just over 10,000 people, reducing to 7,000 at the 2011 Census. It is located in the Test Valley; a river famous for trout fishing.
West End is a parish in Hampshire in the borough of Eastleigh, five miles (8.0 km) east of the city of Southampton. The village of West End is small and generally classed as an area in the outer suburbs or rural urban fringe of the borough of Eastleigh because of the surrounding woodland and countryside, including Telegraph Woods and Itchen Valley Country Park.
Monks Brook is a river in the English county of Hampshire. It is a tributary of the River Itchen, which it joins at a medieval salmon pool in Swaythling. The brook is formed from seven streams that rise in the chalky South Downs, with the official source of Monks Brook being known as Bucket's Corner. Monks Brook drains a clay catchment of 49 square kilometres (19 sq mi). The brook is designated a main river, which means the operating authority for managing it is the Environment Agency, not the local government authorities for the areas through which the river runs.
Allbrook is a settlement and civil parish in the Eastleigh district in Hampshire, England.
Cranbury Park is a stately home and country estate situated in the parish of Hursley, Winchester, England. It was formerly the home to Sir Isaac Newton and later to the Chamberlayne family, whose descendants continue to own and occupy the house and surrounding park and farmland in the 21st century. The house and park are not generally open to the public, although open days are occasionally held.
1 2 3 Cox, Gordon Daubney (2005). Around Eastleigh, including Chandler's Ford, Bishopstoke and Botley. Salisbury: Francis Frith Collection. p.72. ISBN1-84589-029-9.
↑ Herbert Collins 1885-1975 Architect and Worker for Peace by Robert Williams published Paul Cave Publications Ltd. in conjunction with The City of Southampton Society 1985 ISBN 0-86146-049-9
1 2 O’Brien, Charles; Bailey, Bruce; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Lloyd, David W. (2018). The Buildings of England Hampshire: South. Yale University Press. pp.200–201. ISBN9780300225037.
↑ Martin, Wendy (3 June 2014). "Mrs". Chandlers Ford Today. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
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