Ashurst, Hampshire

Ashurst
Ashurst
Ashurst shown within Hampshire
Population 2,093 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid reference SU3408810704
Civil parish
  • Ashurst and Colbury
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LYNDHURST
Postcode district SO40
Dialling code 023[2]
Police Hampshire
Fire Hampshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament
Ashurst Station

Ashurst is a village in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England, which together with Colbury hamlet makes the parish of Ashurst and Colbury. Ashurst is on the A35 road near the Southampton conurbation. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 2,011, increasing to 2,093 at the 2011 Census.[1] The parish is on the edge of the designated New Forest National Park area. The village has a campsite, some shops and a railway station. The parish is bounded to the west by Netley Marsh parish and the Bartley Water, to the north by the A326 road and Totton and Eling, and to the south by Denny Lodge parish in the New Forest.

Ashurst is close to the City of Southampton and is often considered an exurb of it, a large percentage of its population being commuters.

Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic, was living in Ashurst at the time of her death in May 2009 at the age of 97.[3]

Pubs

Ashurst has three pubs; 'The Happy Cheese', 'The Forest Inn' and 'The New Forest Hotel'. A pub named 'The Angry Cheese' used to be located opposite The Happy Cheese, across the road, which became a hairdressers and was eventually demolished to make way for new houses. The original Happy Cheese was a small hotel and restaurant owned by Micheal Leonard. It burned down in 1980 and was rebuilt as the current Happy Cheese pub several years later. In June 2010, The Forest Inn closed after the business went into liquidation. However, it reopened on 12 November 2010 under new management following total refurbishment.

Shops and Amenities

There are five restaurants along the main road through Ashurst. These are: 'The Jumbo House' Chinese and English takeaway, the 'Little Friar' fish and chip shop, the 'Herb Pot Bistro' (serving many cuisines), The 'Asha' Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant and takeaway, and the 'Lite Bites' sandwich bar. There is also a vet, upholsterer, Post Office, newsagent, two hair salons, a car accessories shop and a car dealer.

There is also a Welcome food store, part of the Co-operative chain, located further along the main road towards Colbury.

Education

There are two educational establishments in Ashurst, Foxhills Infant School and Foxhills Junior School. Foxhills Infant School teaches pupils between the ages of four and seven and as of May 2011 had in total 210 pupils on roll. It shares its grounds with Foxhills Junior School, where many of the Infant School pupils progress onto. The Junior School was opened as a middle school in September 1977 when the buildings and facilities of the original Junior School, which had been established ten years previously, were substantially enlarged and extended to provide for the 8-12 middle school age range. In 1993, it became a Junior School once again taking in children aged between 7 and 11. The school had around 332 children on roll in September 2010 and the current Headteacher is Andrew Shore. The majority of pupils come from the neighbouring Foxhills Infants School, Eling Infants School or Hazelwood First School. In its most recent Ofsted inspection report in 2010, it received a Grade 2 (good).[4]

Both schools enjoy a 16-acre site with large playgrounds and lots of resources, including a 6-acre nature reserve with a pond. The reserve, during the last few years, has benefited from a £22K grant from the Millennium Heritage Fund which allowed construction paths and access routes for year-round use. The whole school building area is protected by CCTV and a private patrol company.[5]

Also on the same site is Ashurst Pre-School that currently takes 86 children from two years nine months to five years on roll.

Ashurst is well served by transport links, the largest being the Ashurst railway station, run by South West Trains. The line runs from London Waterloo to Weymouth. Ashurst is also on the Bluestar 6 Bus Route (recently replacing the Wilts and Dorset's 56/56A route) that runs from Lymington to Southampton.

References

  1. 1 2 "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  2. ↑ http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/numbering/
  3. ↑ Burgess, Kaya. "Millvina Dean, last remaining survivor of the Titanic, dies aged 97". The Times. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  4. ↑ Considine, Joy. "Foxhills Junior School Inspection Report". Ofsted Inspection Reports. Ofsted. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  5. ↑ "Foxhills Junior School Introduction". Foxhills Junior School Website. Foxhills Junior School. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
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