Horndean

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Horndean
Horndean shown within Hampshire
Population	12,639 ^[1]
OS grid reference	SU702134
Parish	Horndean
District	East Hampshire
Shire county	Hampshire
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WATERLOOVILLE
Postcode district	PO8
Dialling code	023
Police	Hampshire
Fire	Hampshire
Ambulance	South Central
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	East Hampshire
List of places: UK • England • Hampshire

Coordinates: 50°54′58″N 1°00′07″W / 50.9162, -1.002

Horndean is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, in the south-west of the district of East Hampshire. The village has a population of c.12,600.^[1] It shares the semi-rural character of other settlements in the district.

The village was probably best-known as the home of Gales Brewery, which existed in the village from 1850. Privately owned until November 2005, when it was bought by Fuller, Smith and Turner, it was closed in April 2006. It was the largest local employer until the opening of the Safeway, now Morrisons, supermarket in 1994.

1 History
- 1.1 Meaning of name
2 Community
3 Politics
4 Papers
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Horndean grew up in the early Middle Ages due to its convenient position as a staging post on the road from Portsmouth to London (now the A3). In the early 19th century it became home to the Hon. Sir Charles Napier Senior, father to the more famous Sir Charles Napier, whose house, Merchistoun Hall (named after his former home in Falkirk, Scotland), is now a Grade II listed building and serves as the village's major community centre. Horndean was bypassed by main line railways but was served by trams of the Portsdown and Horndean Light Railway until 1935 and thereafter by buses.

A three-storey workhouse was built during Victorian times to home the local poor. This stood on a site opposite the Good Intent public house (currently named The Colonial). This building had served a number of purposes including a local swimming pool. This was its primary function during the 1970s, provided by the use of a large polythene lined 'tank' on its ground floor. Using the pool was a fairly unpleasant experience by todays standards due to its small size, lack of poolside space and most of all - daylight. The first and second floors were used in latter years as a small lampshade factory. Defunct and dangerous, the entire building was demolished in spring 1982.

The village experienced significant expansion in the 20th century, particularly with the building of the Hazleton estate on the former grounds of Merchistoun Hall in the early 1960s, and the building of the A3(M) motorway in the 1970s, which passes under a bridge adjacent to the village centre. The easy access to the motorway has encouraged an influx of light industry to the village, most of it concentrated in three major estates, the most recent of which is Hazelton Interchange, built in the early 1990s.

[edit] Meaning of name

The name Horndean means "valley by a horn-shaped hill". Alternatively "Harne" is the old english word for Dormouse making it "valley of the Dormouse". Dean refers to the old English word "denu" meaning valley.^[2]

[edit] Community

Horndean's major community centres are Merchistoun Hall and Horndean Technology College. There is also a popular youth centre, RKdia. Other venues include Napier Hall, which was partially rebuilt in 2004, and the Jubilee Hall, opened in 2002 but as yet underused. The de facto parish church is All Saints in neighbouring Catherington.

The surrounding villages are Catherington, Cowplain, Blendworth, Rowlands Castle and Clanfield.