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North Stoneham is a settlement and ecclesiastical parish in south Hampshire, England. It was formerly an ancient estate and manor. Until the nineteenth century, it was a rural community comprising a number of scattered hamlets, including Middle Stoneham, North End, and Bassett Green, and characterised by large areas of woodland. The former 1,000-acre North Stoneham Park was redesigned by Lancelot Brown in the eighteenth century, and was one of the largest ornamental parklands in Hampshire.
Contents
Map of North Stoneham, Eastleigh, UK
History
For some centuries, the Willis Fleming family of North Stoneham Park were lords of the manor of North Stoneham, and the principal landowners in the parish. The estate was purchased by Sir Thomas Fleming in 1599 from Henry Wriothesley, a young Earl of Southampton who inherited the title and estate at the age of eight. The church of St. Nicolas stands in Stoneham Lane, on the edge of the former park, while opposite is the former rectory, now an office complex for Mott MacDonald.
The aviation pioneer, Edwin Moon, selected the flat field at North Stoneham Farm for his first flight in 1910, on what is now Southampton Airport.
The Stoneham War Shrine was built in 1917–18 in memory of thirty-six local men killed in World War I. The Shrine was restored in 2011.
North Stoneham and neighbouring South Stoneham are together sometimes referred to as 'the Stonehams'.
Development plans
In the early 1990s, Southampton considered building a 25,000-seat stadium in the area to replace The Dell. However, by 1999 the plan had been abandoned in favour of a 32,000-seat stadium in the centre of Southampton, which opened in 2001. Following consultation with residents across the borough, North Stoneham was chosen as the preferred site for a new housing development, plans for which were put to the council in 2015. As well as 1,100 new homes, the plans for the £70m scheme include a new primary school, nursery, community centre, care home, shops and play facilities, to be built on a 62-hectare area of the former North Stoneham Park estate, which was landscaped by Lancelot "Capability" Brown.