Did You Know?

Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire but there was a village called East leah as long ago as the year 932. Leah was a Saxon word meaning a clearing in a forest. The little hamlets of Eastley and Barton continued to exist through the centuries until 1838. In that year the London and SouthWestern Railway Company built a railway from Southampton to Winchester. It passed through the small village of Barton.

The modern town of Eastleigh lies on the old Roman road, built in A.D.79 between Winchester (Venta Belgarum) and Bitterne (Clausentum). Roman remains discovered in the area, including a Roman lead coffin excavated in 1908, indicate that a settlement probably existed here in Roman times.

The railway company began to build cottages for its employees by the new station. By 1851 Eastley had a population of 213. In 1852 a cheese market was opened by the railway station. It soon became Hampshire's leading cheese market.

In 1868 the two villages of Barton and Eastley were combined into one parish. A new church was built called the Church of the Resurrection. A woman named Charlotte Yonge from Otterburn donated 500 pounds (a huge sum of money in those days) towards the cost of building the new church.

The first school in Eastleigh opened in 1870. The new community continued to grow rapidly in the 1880s and 3 new streets were laid out in 1890. By 1891 Eastleigh had a population of 3,613.

In 1893 a Local Board was formed in Eastleigh. Until then there were no sewers or drains and no street lights. Roads were in a very poor condition. The Local Board set about creating drains and street lights.

Eastleigh has seen a rapid and controlled expansion in residential, industrial and commercial development over recent years. The borough  was ranked the "9th best place to live in the UK 2006" by a Channel 4 programme.

Famous people to live in here include Benny Hill, Scott Mills and Colin Firth who went to college here.  Come and see the plaque where once stood the old Dairy that Benny Hill used to work in and which probably inspired his classic ‘Ernie, the fastest milkman in the West’. There is a heritage trail that can be enjoyed locating this and many other historical attractions.