Havant and Waterloo

 

(hă'vănt) , city (1991 pop. 50,098) and district, Hampshire, S England. The city's manufactures include pharmaceuticals, kitchen equipment, electronic components, automobiles, and toys. The old town of Havant was known for its parchment.

Borough of Havant
	Shown within Hampshire
Geography
Status:	Borough
Region:	South East England
Admin. County:	Hampshire
Area: - Total	Ranked 294th 55.33 km²
Admin. HQ:	Havant
Grid Ref.:	SU717062
ONS code:	24UH
Demographics
Population: - Total (2006 est.) - Density	Ranked 174th 116,800 (borough) / km²
Ethnicity:	98.5% White
Politics
Havant Borough Council http://www.havant.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:	Conservative
MPs:	Michael Mates, David Willetts

Havant is a town and district in Hampshire on the South coast of England, between Portsmouth and Chichester. It has good railway connections to London, Portsmouth and Brighton, being served by Havant railway station. The A27 road runs past its Southern side, beyond which lies Langstone, and then Hayling Island. To the north lies Leigh Park, a large council estate suburb which lies within Havant's boundaries, and beyond that Staunton Country Park. To the east is Emsworth, another small town, whilst to the west lies Bedhampton and Portsdown Hill. The A3(M) motorway passes to the west. The old centre of the town dates from Roman times, but the town has grown a lot since World War II, currently forming a conurbation with Langstone, Bedhampton, Leigh Park, Denvilles and Warblington.

Geography

The old centre of the town is on a classic crossroad configuration, with the four streets being named North Street, East Street, South Street and West Street, and St Faith's church at the crossing. At least one axis (and evidence suggests both) is a known Roman road.

There are several natural springs in the area, including one a short distance South-west of the church on West Street at the end of Homewell. This used to be the home of the premier parchment making facility in Southern England which later became a glove making factory and leather processing plant.

The main shopping centre is called Meridian Shopping (formerly known as The Meridian Centre), as well as a pedestrianised section of West Street. The old town hall now houses Havant Arts Centre. Havant is home to the local community radio station, Angel Radio which specialises in music and memories of the pre-60s era.

History

Much of Havant was destroyed by fire in 1760, leaving only the church and the adjacent late 16th or early 17th century cottages. The cottages are now known collectively as "The Old House at Home", and are now used as a pub. It is claimed that the two main beams in the lounge bar were recovered from the Spanish Armada, and that the "Bear Post" within once had the last dancing bear in England tethered to it. The oldest undisturbed part of St Faiths church date from the early 13th century; some of the foundations however are believed to date from Roman times.

Education

Havant also has one of the more favoured colleges within the Portsmouth district, Havant College, located just to the north of the town centre. This success is partly due to the transport connections Havant has, including bus, train and roads, allowing students to commute from nearby towns. The college performs consistently well at AS/A-level[1], which encourages this, especially since several nearby areas either lack a state sector sixth form (e.g. Petersfield, or the local college significantly underperforms by comparison (e.g. Fareham[2]).

Sport

The town's senior non-league football side are Havant & Waterlooville F.C. they are a good team and makeing good progress, Havant RFC are a successful rugby side and Havant HC are three times winners of the National Hockey League. The latter contributed several players to the British Olympic gold medal winning side of 1988. Havant Hockey Club also contributed two players to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The astroturf was provided by the National Lottery Fund.

References

External links

• Havant council's website
• Havant Business Group

Districts of South East England

Adur • Arun • Ashford • Aylesbury Vale • Basingstoke and Deane • Bracknell Forest • Brighton & Hove • Canterbury • Cherwell • Chichester • Chiltern • Crawley • Dartford • Dover • Eastbourne • East Hampshire • Eastleigh • Elmbridge • Epsom and Ewell • Fareham • Gosport • Gravesham • Guildford • Hart • Hastings • Havant • Horsham • Isle of Wight • Lewes • Maidstone • Medway • Mid Sussex • Milton Keynes • Mole Valley • New Forest • Oxford • Portsmouth • Reading • Reigate and Banstead • Rother • Runnymede • Rushmoor • Sevenoaks • Shepway • Slough • Southampton • South Bucks • South Oxfordshire • Spelthorne • Surrey Heath • Swale • Tandridge • Test Valley • Thanet • Tonbridge and Malling • Tunbridge Wells • Vale of White Horse • Waverley • Wealden • West Berkshire • West Oxfordshire • Winchester • Windsor and Maidenhead • Woking • Wokingham • Worthing • Wycombe Counties with multiple districts: Berkshire • Buckinghamshire • East Sussex • Hampshire • Kent • Oxfordshire • Surrey • West Sussex

Coordinates: 50.85088° N 0.98284° W

Donate to Wikimedia