OLD Winton Road perfectly describes exactly what it is – the old road to Winchester that ran up over the Ladies Walk, to join the route of the present road through Wherwell. Centuries ago it was called Wherwell Way. What we now call Winchester Road was the turnpike road from Newbury to Hursley from which there is a branch off to Wherwell a mile or so out of Andover. The point where that road bends to the south is where the old Winchester road met the road down into Wherwell. In those days, the road went straight down the steep hill into the village at the White Lion public house and it was not until 1826 that the hairpin bend was created in order to ease the slope. It may have been at that time when the old Winchester road became disused and that the Newbury-Hursley turnpike road became the main route to Winchester.

The population of Andover stayed under 5,000 for much of the 19th century, reaching 6,000 in 1891 and then 6,500 by 1901. The next 10 years saw the number increase by another 1,000, so Andover was growing during this period and there was a need for houses. One of the roads chosen for development was the old Winchester road, which was christened Old Winton Road as dwellings started to proliferate there. However, in contrast with today when a planned development is undertaken by one building firm which buys the land and then builds the houses, the mechanism of building was then haphazard and involved a whole range of individuals.

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Andover Advertiser: Old Winton Road, Andover, c.1906A succession of building plans deposited at Hampshire Record Office show how the separate building plots of varying size were often bought by individuals who then employed a builder to erect a detached house, a pair of semi-detached ‘villas’ or a block of cottages. In some cases, where sufficient capital could be spared, both owner and builder were one and the same, with a successful sale of the first project being able to finance a second.

The first builder to erect eight cottages - called Windsor Terrace - in Old Winton Road was carpenter and builder Thomas Newton who started building there as early as 1891. These were on the western side of the road, much of which remained undeveloped for years as building was concentrated on the opposite side of the road. Whether he retained ownership of the whole terrace and collected rent from the tenants or sold them on to a third party is unknown but he did move into one of them himself on completion. Two years later, Newton complained to the council about the state of the road which was in need of repair, saying that there were eight cottages already built and likely to be more if the road was decently made up.

Windsor Terrace was built just at the time that the council were laying water mains around the town, having taken over the unsuccessful Andover Waterworks Company in 1890. An extension up Winchester Road in September 1891 enabled ‘the several cottages now in course of erection in the old Winchester road to have water laid on by the owner of the same.’

From 1901 onwards the development of Old Winton Road accelerated considerably as private individuals bought plots on which builders and carpenters such as Henry Cook, Sydney Bell, Frank Beale, Ralph G Cable and Frank Sainsbury erected houses. In just a few years, the development of the eastern side was complete.

If you are interested in local history, why not join Andover History and Archaeology Society? Details can be found at andoverlocalhistoryarchaeology.uk.