How areas of Southampton got their names

Hampton Park

Hampton Park is a name that was applied in relatively modern times to the district bounded by Burgess Road to the north, Portswood Road to the east, and Broadlands Road to the south; presumably to make it sound pleasant when being marketed originally.

SeeSouthampton guide, Steve Roberts, once recalled that Hampton Park was his postal address in Portswood Road.

The name is rarely used now, though it still appears on some maps, on estate agents' adverts and retirement homes in Anglesea Road have been given the name Hampton Place.

Hampton Park

The photograph above shows Hampton Park between Portswood and Swaythling, near the bottom of Bowden Lane in about 1910. The first Council houses were built here in the 1920s.

The Hampton Park Hotel, which is now a Mcdonald's, had a reputation for being rough.

Chapel

Chapel takes its name from ancient Chapels in the area.

Our Lady of Grace Chapel was a medieval place of pilgrimage tended by a hermit. Henry VIII visited him in 1510. Our Lady of Grace Pilgrimage to the site was revived in 2016.

Trinity Chapel, either in the same place or on the same site, was one of the traditional chapels of St Mary's Church.

Chapel or Trinity Fair was held in the area from at least 1500 to 1928.

Chapel Riverside.

Chapel Mill was a tidal mill dating back to medieval times. Rebuilt in 1740, by the mid-19th century, it was used as a store and offices until its demolition in 1960.

A separate Steam Mill, built on what is now American Wharf in Elm Street in 1781, provided ship’s biscuits for the Royal Navy during the American War of Independence. It still survives and is awaiting restoration.

During the 19th and early-20th centuries, many dockworkers and seafarers lived in Chapel.

Much of that housing was demolished as part of the slum clearances in the 1930s, replaced with blocks around the Golden Grove area.

There is now a large commercial area with new housing at the southern end and on the riverside.

Hollyrood

The Holyrood Estate was constructed to replace a slum bombed in Second World War, situated between Queensway to the west, Threefield Lane to the east, Bernard Street to the south and Lime Street to the north. It was named after Holyrood Church on the High Street.

Owen Hatherley described the estate as a "straightforward scattering of low and medium-rise Modernist blocks, using stock-brick and concrete." He praises the estate's layout over its aesthetic.

Holyrood flats.

In 2009, a series of metal sculptures were erected in tribute to the area's role in the history of Southampton.

In 2012, tiled murals depicting scenes from Southampton's heritage were installed on the estate's blocks and they were added to more recently. R&B musician Craig David, who was born in 1981, grew up in the Holyrood Estate.

Kingsland

Kingsland is an area to the east of the modern city centre, bounded by North Front, South Front, Palmerston Road and St Mary Street.

Some say the name indicates a Saxon King’s landholdings.

When William Conqueror arrived, he parcelled out the land in the country to his followers, retaining areas in each place for himself – so the name may indicate that this was one of his holdings. Either way, in the Domesday Book it is mentioned under the name of “terra regis” and it was at that time part of the endowment of South Stoneham Church.

Kingsland market.

In the medieval period it was open ground, in the 12th century it was given by Richard I to St Denys Priory, and in the 13th century, it was purchased by the town.

At the turn of the 20th century, Kingsland Market occupied Kingsland Square. The market's history can be traced back to a medieval charter. In the 1980s it was moved into a covered area adjacent to the Square and in the 1990s the Council sought to abolish it, although it continues in a truncated form.

The name also survives in the Kingsland Tavern, Kingsland Court etc.

 

Jack Wilson is a tour guide with SeeSouthampton.co.uk .