Hawthorn Cottage, built in 1818 on Southampton Common, once stood on the land now occupied by The Hawthorns Urban Wildlife Centre

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Mar 20, 2025 in Local History, News | 0 comments Info courtesy of Paul Lipscombe, Southampton History Photos. “Very few people remember the Hawthorn cottage that graced Southampton common it was built in 1818 by Thomas Ridding, in Georgian style. Although named Hawthorn Cottage it was a substantial country house. John Ransom, a local shipbuilder, lived here from 1851 until his death in 1886. The house survived the war but did suffer some...
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The Rise and Fall of Bevois Mount House Stag Gates, article in The Echo by Group Heritage Writer – Ian Crump (14/02/25)

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Feb 16, 2025 in Local History, News | 0 comments Did you know that the wrought iron gates, when Stag Gates was demolished, found a new home at the entrance to the Old Cemetery? Read the article below: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/24929722.lost-southampton-landmark—history-bevois-mount-house/
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Herbert Collins, Worker for Peace, 1885 to 1975

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Nov 16, 2024 in Local History, News | 0 comments Herbert Collins was a British architect who designed suburban houses in Southampton from 1922. His housing estates had a distincive style, usually with rows of terraced houses set around wide areas of greenery. He lived at 34 Brookvale Road, Highfield, Southampton from 1930 to 1973, on one of the main Collins Estates in Southampton. The above information was taken from Wikipedia. More below:...
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The site of the old gallows on Southampton Common

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Oct 6, 2024 in Local History, News | 0 comments The last public hanging on the Common was of William Shawyer on 27th July 1785. Info courtesy of: Secret SouthamptonSouthampton Archaeology Society Map can be seen on Facebook here: eSodpsrnto2g7Ylt9i045cisug2ru1a0:gh6i7h9ea97e8ml8yd0cu8htc The last public hanging on the Common was of William Shawyer on 27th July 1785.
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452-464 Portswood Road 1967 – now demolished.

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Sep 30, 2024 in Local History | 0 comments Courtesy of: Southampton Hidden History nepoSrtsdoe2u8etS3he1 :52mm23tr890f5hp92058 gc0u8g2 g8al19bi   452-464 Portswood Road Now demolished, these building were situated on the east side of Portswood Road almost opposite Sirdar Street. Nos 452-458 were built at the turn of the century. 452 was Sanger’s hairdressers; 454 was Locke’s fried fish shop; 458 was Bowey’s signwriters....
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Exploring a Victorian Cemetery: 2pm, Sunday 8th September!

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Sep 6, 2024 in Local History, News | 0 comments All info below courtesy of Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery: “This event is part of Southampton’s Heritage Open Days and is also celebrating 21 years of FoSOC. Come and walk in a ‘Porch of Eternity’, the original part of Southampton’s Old Cemetery (opened 1846), along paths that the Town’s Victorian inhabitants would have trodden. Find out why a burial...
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Previously ‘Peter Rhodes Books’

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Jun 24, 2024 in Local History, News | 0 comments Now the Bookshop Alehouse in Portswood Road. Courtesy of: Bevois Mount History Southampton By Ann Ridley. Now,of course, the Bookshop The Bookshop Alehouse.
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The history behind Stag Gates, along The Avenue

Posted by Highfield Residents' Association on Jun 16, 2024 in Local History, News | 0 comments Courtesy of: Mick AthowHistory Photos World Wide Stag Gates The Stag Gates stood at the entrance to Lodge Road from the Avenue, and originally formed the entrance to Bevois Mount, a large country house and estate created by the Earl of Peterborough in c.1723. Lodge Road was originally one of the carriageways to the house. In 1844 the estate passed to William Betts, who made many improvements to...
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