An exploration, by walking, the main areas of houses designed by local
architect Herbert Collins and taking in some interesting sights
along the way - how many people would say there were no thatched cottages
in Southampton ?. [postcodes in square brackets for entering into http://local.live.com
or Google maps for aerial views ]
The main streets containing Herbert Collins
houses are marked with a red "H" on my map and numbers
referring to the photos . I've made it a circular
walk starting in Abbotts Way, Portswood, close to where he
lived between 1930 and 1973.
The walk, excluding any exploration
of the Swaythling/Mansbridge estate, is about 7.5 miles long.
By the end of it you should be able to recognise a Collins house
anywhere. His main "signature" is highlighted on picture 9 ,the 3 slivers
of tile, placed instead of a single brick, sometimes as header, sometimes as
stretcher. Making a virtue out of necessity, filling in the holes in the
brickwork, where the wooden scaffolding had purchase, putlogs/putlocks.
Also the visual illusion "arches" over window reveals. Complex
parallelogram, or maybe made as wedge-shape bricks, in a fan pattern with a protruding "keystone"
of 3 bricks at the centre. Doors that are 5 inches wider than
normal, for coach-built prams. He liked to use pantiles on the roofs and
header string courses in the brickwork. Makes you wonder what happened
if the brickies missed out any of these features. He seemed to like
planting apple trees, - eaters,cookers and crabs and even trellises
are part of his signature. I wonder if there
is an image processing plug-in for auto-removal
of wheelie bins ?
Blue numbers on the map indicate the photo number and the blue line
the direction found in and around the map.
(1) is 38 Brookvale Rd with blue plaque, showing HC lived here 1930 to 1973.
Opposite there is a short walkway to the end of Orchards Way [SO17 1RF]
and Uplands Way. (1) shows on the left the shingles covered
spire of the church (2a),(2b) - unusual for UK. To cover this
area fully you need to backtrack on yourself a few times but its
well worth it. Post Box (4) with plaque is at the first bend in OW. (3) is
Highfield Close with ornamental pond [SO17 1QZ]. (12) is Glebe Court [ SO17 1RH].
(10) even garages have their own pantiled pitched roofs,
unfortunately Austin 7 size. The modern equivalent of coach-built
prams got smaller and the replacement for Austin 7s got larger.
(13) and (14) are 68-78 Highfield Lane going up to High Crown St.
Unfortunately there is no exit down High Crown St so next to the
pub you have to turn left into Hawthorn Rd, then Oakhurst Rd
to join the common path. This path skirts the university, ignore
that fork, to the right,
and keep natural untended woodland on the other. Cross Burgess Rd at
the pedestrian lights and go
up Glen Eyre Rd.
At the mini roundabout turn right
into Copperfield Rd, First Right into Parkway then Hurlingham Gardens.
Up the stepped footpath and turn right into the path that goes between
the two arms of Parkway or get to the continuation of this path via the narrow
path opposite No 45 .
Down to the brook with a sign showing it to be Forestry
Commission ground. Then over the bridge and along
the made-up path uphill and you come out at The Orchard
area of Bassett Green Village [ SO16 3NA], not down the boarded
path going in the same direction as the stream. (16) and (17) are on Bassett
Green with another interesting house (16a) between those 2 and
also on bassett Green Rd opposite the junction to the green.
(17) is St Christophers with its own sewer vent pipe.
Don't miss out Field Close [SO16 3DY]
and Binstead Close in the area of Ethelburt Ave [SO16 3DF]
all with unadopted roads. Ethelbert name conflated from his name and that
of his sister Ethel. HC houses are only in the lower
end of Leaside Way. The bungalows in Summerfield Gardens
maybe HC but according to a local resident he only knew they
were built by Tizzards in 1950s. There is a small path between
Summerfield Gardens to Greenways then L, first R, in Stoneham
Lane and down Channels Farm Rd to (21) Channels Farm House.
There are 2 paths either side of Phillimore Rd to
get to Market Buildings residential/shop developement.
Under the railway arch , back at the end of Bassett Green Rd
on corner of Wide Lane is another HC commerce developement.
Unfortunately practically all the houses in the Swaythling
and Mansbridge area have rendered elevations.
Going down Wessex Lane you come to Connaught Hall
[ SO18 2NS] and then around the bend Montefiore House.
At the bus stop go into the grounds of the hall,
down the track and behind the church is
some sort of neglected hidden garden which onetime
probably had statuary but now just a Portland stone
edifice and cut beech hedge and lawn.
Doubling back at Wessex Lane the access to the 12 century South Stoneham
St Mary's Church looks like an access road to Connaught
Hall of student residence. The footpath goes between
Connaught and the church. Don't be tempted to stray towards
the river or you may get a shotgun levelled at you from the
keepers of the salmon hatchery hidden in that area.
Herbert Collins estate is off to the left of this path [ SO18 2LS] .
Continue on to Mansbridge , that tiny humpback bridge
was part of the A27 up till the 1970s. There is a sign
here for the start of the Itchen Navigation walk up
to Winchester. If you should do that walk , inspect
the remnants of the "flash locks" on the Itchen Navigation
and research how they were used. The return leg of this walk is
along the River Itchen, freshwater section to Woodmill
and then tidal after that. There are more HC houses in Southampton eg
Thornhill Park Estate, Ascupart House Portswood Rd, medieval Bitterne Manor House
conversion and addition etc, if anyone shows interest I could do a followup.
Council car parks are marked with red "P", the one at
Parkville Rd, opposite Market Buildings, Swaythling has
an impressive display of tag graffiti.
To return to graffiti file
