The Guide To South Emsworth
18Th And 19Th Centuries
Emsworth has a long maritime history. It was once an important port, shipbuilding and grain trading was once the predominant industry. The town is built around The Town Quay which dates from the 14th century but most of today's quay dates from 1864 when it was rebuilt as part of the Albert Dock project to make Emsworth a major port. During this period many of the Georgian buildings in Emsworth were built, giving Emsworth its Victorian feel.
During the 19th century, Emsworth was a very important port, where trade with Portsmouth and Southampton was developed by Thomas Croser, who became mayor of Emsworth in 1866, This Is Hampshire (thisishampshire.co.uk). At this time, the area of Newtown was very large and covered all land between East Street and the railway line. Newtown had around 30 shops, and two pubs, The Railway Tavern (now a Co op) and The Henry IV (now The Hunters Lodge). The old harbour has since silted up and in the 1920s was partly filled in as part of plans to build more housing.
Culture And Community
Emsworth Museum is an independent museum which occupies the former hospital building in Emsworth. It contains items of local interest, including ship models, photographs and documents, as well as a fine collection of glass-plate negative prints from around 1900. The museum is run by volunteers who give guided tours and run talks for visitors. Its exhibition rooms are open on summer Sundays. The town's main library opened in May 2015 and has been named after local founder member of Townlink, William James Tunnadine.
Modern Emsworth
Following the end of World War II Emsworth grew rapidly as a residential area. Between 1946 and 1955, 1,000 new houses were built. In addition, the town's first public swimming pool was opened in 1957. By the mid-1990s up to 1,500 people were moving to Emsworth each year. The population of the town was estimated at 10,000 in 2004, though it is not clear how this was measured or indeed if it is accurate.
The most notable feature of the town in 1910 was the railway viaduct carrying the line to Havant across the Meon Valley. The viaduct is an impressive structure which crosses just to the west of Emsworth, and has 25 arches along a length of 604 feet (184 m). Its height above ground level is 85 feet (26 m). It was built by John Wilson's firm, whose offices have been preserved as the Railway Tavern. Emsworth has always been a small town with a lot of heart.
I’ve lived here for most of my life and have seen the English village grow to a comfortable little market town. For many years Emsworth was divided into two camps, those who lived on the west side of the railway line and those who lived in East Emsworth. Emsworth Library was considered for closure in 2020 but following public consultation, was reprieved. Emsworth Maritime & Historical Trust. The town is twinned with Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in Normandy, France.
Politics
The constituency's MP is Alan Mak, of the Conservative Party, who was elected in May 2005. He has stated he will stand down at the next election before 2022. Anne Milton, Minister for Portsmouth and Portsea (the local government constituency) and all associated with Portsmouth outside the borough/seat of Havant, served as MP for 80 days of May 2010 before resigning on 8 August 2010 to take up her ministerial post that she had been appointed to earlier that year; Havant's then-incumbent MP Mike Hancock was elected as her choice to replace her (Milton was not permitted to select herself.
). The Conservative Party have been very popular in Havant throughout the town's history, winning the local seat at every election since the constituency was created in 1983. The Liberal Democrats came second most recently in 2005, but not before gaining second place in 1992 when David Chidgey won by a small margin of just 16 votes. Before that, Labour were the main challengers, with Andrew Mitchell their candidate in 1997 and 2001. Similarly to national trends however, they have seen a decline in support since 2001.
The Conservative candidate was Andrew Phillips, a former UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the Maldives. Phillips defeated his Labour opponent Nick Kent, who had been Havant's member of parliament (MP) since 1997. Phillips received 16,231 votes to Labour's 15,509. The constituency has deep Conservative roots and Havant was the last Hampshire seat to be won by a Labour candidate (Tony Benn in 1983). In the 2005 general election, it was the 94th-safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.
Transport
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's branch line to Portsmouth was opened on 1 September 1847. It initially terminated at a temporary platform just west of Emsworth railway station, from where passengers had to walk to the ferry. The line was extended to Havant on 8 December 1847, and a proper station at Emsworth was built soon afterwards. In July 1853 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's rival, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), opened an extension of its Chichester branch line from Pulborough which included an intermediate stop at Emsworth Bridge.
The two routes were not connected until 1870, by which time the LSWR had obtained a majority shareholding in the LB&. This station was opened on 1 June 1869 as "Emsworth and Waterlooville" by the Portsmouth Direct Railway. On 9 May, 1874 it was renamed to its present name. On 20 December 1887 the station was again renamed, becoming "Emsworth and Waterlooville for Tipner", although the addition of "for Tipner" was short-lived. The bus station, situated on Portfield Road in Emsworth town centre, is a hub for Stagecoach services from the villages around Emsworth to local towns and surrounding cities.
Wilts & Dorset buses also run through Emsworth from Portsmouth and Chichester to Poole, Bournemouth, Salisbury and Southampton. Emsworth is a small town in Hampshire, UK, with a population of about 3,000. It has the typical layout of a small English town. There are two main streets running through the centre – one going east-west and the other north-south. Emsworth lies off the A259 at the point where it bypasses Westbourne enjoying its lowest density of houses (108 per km²).
Here the A259 changes names to Portsmouth Road and the A27 joins from Southampton. Emsworth railway station is on the West Coastway Line. It has services that run to Portsmouth, Southampton, Brighton and London Victoria. The station and all trains are operated by Southern. The area of the old harbour is now occupied by boatsheds. Boats are no longer built or repaired in Emsworth, although some yards have survived. Boatbuilding was reintroduced by Dave Andrews‘ business when he started building wooden canoes in 1971.
