Knowle, Hampshire
Coordinates: 50°52′58″N 1°12′19″W / 50.882647°N 1.205410°W
Knowle is a village and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Fareham, which lies approximately 2.9 miles (3.5 km) south-east from the village.
Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum
In the mid-19th century the County Asylums Act and Lunacy Act (1845) made it a requirement that every United Kingdom county should build an asylum if they had not already done so, or should join with another neighbouring county to achieve the same goal. For the Hampshire asylum, a 100-acre (0.40 km2) site was located, known as Knowle Farm, close to Wickham. What became known as the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum opened in December 1852.
By 1856, the asylum had expanded to take 400 patients, and growth continued throughout the century - with over 1,000 patients at the asylum by 1900. In the 1950s, Knowle housed almost 2000 patients. Both male and female patients were admitted, and were expected to work on the farm, in the kitchens and in other trades to help support their community.
The asylum was renamed Knowle Mental Hospital in 1923 and then became Knowle Hospital in 1948, before finally closing in 1996.
Hospital Site After Closure
From 2000 onwards, the site was redeveloped by a group of developers (Berkeley Homes (lead developer), Bovis Homes, Westbury Homes, Try Homes, Barry Jupe and A2Dominion)[1] as the 'Knowle Village' development. This was a development of apartments (using the former hospital buildings) and new houses over 53 acres (210,000 m2) of the grounds. The principal northern (east-west) building, northern administration building, south block, superintendent's house, chapel and staff cottages were retained and converted to other uses, whilst the central north-south connecting structure and other periphery buildings were demolished. 130 new dwellings were created within existing hospital buildings.[2] As part of this redevelopment there are affordable homes available at Knowle Village, through the government-led shared ownership initiative part-buy, part-rent, with Thames Valley Housing Association.
Chapel
Part of the Hospital site housed a Chapel. As part of the redevelopment of the site, the Chapel was refurbished by Berkeley Homes, at a cost exceeding £400,000. They later transferred ownership of the building to Winchester City Council for £1, with an additional gift of £28,000 to provide some funding for future maintenance costs. The building, which is listed, was leased by the Knowle Communuity Buildings Association (KCBA) for community use.[3]
The KCBA eventually vacated the building for a new build Community Hall adjacent to the cricket pitch, and the Chapel was sold in July 2012 for £220,000 by Clive Emson Auctioneers.[4] The Chapel was purchased by entrepreneur Steve Kemp and is now offices to his business, Point 13 Media. The Chapel, which never previously had an official name or address, is now named The 13th Chapel.
Cemetery
Over 5,500 former patients of the asylum are buried in Knowle Cemetery. Before 1886 the burial locations were not recorded. Up to four patients could be buried in the same plot, although never on the same day. The last burial at the site took place in 1971. A few remaining iron crosses, used to mark the graves, were removed from the site in 2001 for secure storage, pending a decision to relocate them.
Station
Knowle was formerly served by Knowle Halt Railway Station on the Eastleigh to Fareham and Meon Valley lines.[5]
The station closed on the 6 April 1964.[6]
References
- ↑ "Open day at Knowle Village". Retrieved 2012-09-26.
- ↑ "Report of the County Planning Officer and the County Surveyor, Hampshire County Council Roads and Development Sub-Committee". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
- ↑ "Report of the Director of Development Services, Winchester City Council" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-27.
- ↑ "Auction Results July 2012". Retrieved 2012-09-26.
- ↑ Oppitz, L (1988). Hampshire railways remembered. Newbury: Countryside. ISBN 1-85306-020-8.
- ↑ Stone, R.A (1983). The Meon Valley Railway. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 978-1-870754-36-1.
