Chandler's Ford

Chandler's Ford is a highly residential area near Southampton.

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Chandler's Ford lies on the old Winchester-Southampton roads and the 'Ford' is thought to refer either to the ford on the Hursley Road or on the Winchester-Southampton road. The origin of the 'Chandler's' remains a mystery.

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Hiltonbury Farm (now a public house) appeared on a map of 1588 and may originally have been owned by the Hursley Park Estate. 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 unti the 19th century.

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Chandler's Ford could be described as a town of housing estates and little else: 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 Hiltingbury, Scantabout, Peverells Road, Spring hill and Oakmount areas. More recently, developments in North Millers Dale and the 'new town' of Valley Park to the West of Chandler's Ford have completed the mix of housing. Due to the development of the town, there is little identifiable 'town centre': a small clutch of shops revolves around the Halfway Inn (near the old tollhouse for Winchester-Southampton) but other smaller shopping areas include the Precinct and the area around St Boniface Church (built 1904). Another Anglican Church was added in Hiltinbury in the 1960s, with the Roman Catholic and Methodist churches existing on the main Winchester-Southampton route.

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