Harnham


Harnham is a suburb of the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England, centred about south of Salisbury Cathedral and across the River Avon. Harnham is split into the areas of West Harnham and East Harnham.

History

Early history

The area has had human habitation since the Iron Age; a settlement is marked on Ordnance Survey maps underneath several modern houses in Harnwood Road/Old Blandford Road, a straight Roman Road.

Middle Ages

Until the 19th century formation of urban and rural districts, the area lay within the Cawdon and Cawsworth Hundred of Wiltshire. Harnham appears in the 1086 Domesday Book.
Road access to the city was improved in 1244 by the building of Ayleswade bridge, leading traffic from the south through Harnham instead of the older route to the west through Wilton.

Post Industrial Revolution

In 1848, Samuel Lewis described the settlement in a topographical dictionary based partly on 1841 census statistics:
East Harnham spent less than ten years as a civil parish. Anciently a tything of Britford, a new ecclesiastical parish was created in 1855 after the opening of All Saints church. East Harnham continued to be part of Britford civil parish until 1896, when it was made a separate civil parish. In 1904, when Salisbury became a single civil parish, East Harnham was abolished and its area transferred to West Harnham, Salisbury and Britford.
The ancient parish of West Harnham was separated from Netherhampton to its west by the course of a Roman road. West Harnham civil parish was established in 1904, gaining part of East Harnham. In 1927 its urban part was transferred to Salisbury, and in 1934 the remainder was transferred to Netherhampton.

Geography

Harnham is a suburb in the southwest of Salisbury and is linked to the city by road via the Ayleswade Bridge in East Harnham, originally built across the Avon in 1244, and by foot via the Town Path across the "historic and important landscape" of the Harnham Water Meadows in West Harnham.
The meadows lie between two branches of the River Nadder and extend into the outskirts of the city. They are part of an extensive irrigation system of floated water meadows, dating from the mid-seventeenth century. Now a Site of Special Scientific Interest known as East Harnham Meadows, they are still used for grazing and were voted the Best View in Britain by Country Life magazine in 2002. The meadows were made famous in John Constable's painting "Salisbury Cathedral – A View from the Water Meadow". The meadows are managed by the Harnham Water Meadows Trust, and owned by the Trust jointly with the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral. In the 13th century, Salisbury sited its new Cathedral on the flat fertile plain encircled by the Avon and protected by Harnham Hill, a chalk escarpment which rises steeply to the south. Harnham Slope comprises an area of woodland on the northern slope of Harnham Hill, including the West Harnham Chalk Pit, a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. The upper slope is now managed as a public amenity space which, from its highest point, offers views across Harnham to the city, including the Cathedral's spire.
In 2012, Harnham was the suburb of the city with the largest area of housing valued at more than £400,000.

East Harnham

East Harnham is centred on a busy roundabout and is 0.8 miles south-south west of Salisbury city centre. The roundabout is one end of the A3094 to Quidhampton and is also the intersection of the A338 and the A354. Attractions in the area include Salisbury Lawn Tennis Club, Bishop Wordsworth's school playing fields and the River Avon which separates it from the rest of Salisbury. The suburb is near the Britford park and ride site, where regular Salisbury Reds bus services connect the area to the city centre.

West Harnham

West Harnham is an outer suburb of Salisbury, bisected by the A3054/Netherhampton Road, and is north west of Old Blandford Road. The suburb is home to the Harnham trading estate as well as the local water meadows. West Harnham was incorporated into the city after East Harnham, being further from the city centre.

Governance

In 1904, when the city of Salisbury was made into a civil parish, its boundary was extended to include most of East Harnham. In 1927 the city expanded further to include West Harnham.
The first tier of local government is Salisbury City Council, established in 2009 upon the abolition of Salisbury District. Harnham ward, with three councillors, covers most of the area although the streets north of the Netherhampton Road are in the St Martin's & Cathedral ward.
The ward elects one councillor to the Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for many local government functions.

Religious sites

Church of England

In 1881 the longstanding church at West Harnham was united with the newer church at East Harnham. Today the name of the parish is 'St. George and All Saints Harnham' and both churches are part of the same Christian community.

St George

It is certain that the West Harnham church was built or re-built by 1115, the date when King Henry I signed a charter granting certain churches to Salisbury Cathedral, including the church at Harnham. A mid-12th-century door survives in the north wall of the nave; the font bowl is also from that century. The chancel was lengthened in the "E.E. style", and probably in the early 14th century the Trinity Chapel on the south side was built.
St George's had some remodelling c1300, and 1300–30 is the indicated date of the south chapel; its tower mostly early 19th century, probably on the site of an earlier tower. William Butterfield led its careful restoration. He was responsible in the 1850s for the great church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London which broke new ground in its use of brick and of extensive polychromy detailing. The church was designated as Grade II* listed in 1952.

All Saints

designed the small All Saints church at East Harnham, completed in 1854. The work was paid for by Isabella Lear, widow of Francis Lear, in memory of her husband who had been Dean of Salisbury. Previously part of Britford parish, a new parish was created for All Saints in 1855.

Methodist

A small Methodist church was built in Saxon Road in 1952, closed in the 1980s and later demolished.

Notable buildings

Mill House and Old Mill

Dating from the 12th century, this Grade I listed building in the lower part of West Harnham has details around its doors and windows from 1250. The building was converted in the 16th century from ecclesiastical use to Wiltshire's first paper mill, when the River Nadder was diverted to flow under it.
In the early twentieth century, the property was converted into a country club by Mary Fox-Pitt, daughter-in-law of Augustus Pitt Rivers. The atmosphere was praised by the food writer Florence White, author of Good Things in England. She quotes the artist Augustus John saying "It is the best cookery in England."
The building is now a hotel and the mill race can still be seen from its restaurant.

Rose and Crown Terrace

Rose and Crown Terrace is the largest of the listed buildings in East Harnham; nos 53-61 are listed and all but one have thatched roofs; the style is formal early 19th century Regency.

Amenities

Two schools share one site: Harnham Infant School and Harnham CofE Junior School.
Recreational amenities include path-laid riverside walks, a thriving lawn tennis club and pitches for both local cricket and football clubs.
There is accommodation at a number of local hotels and bed & breakfasts, making the area popular with both UK and overseas visitors. As well as the Old Mill, local pubs include The Rose and Crown and The Grey Fisher.
Harnham Social Club is adjacent to the football pitch below Harnham Slope and there are community halls close to both parish churches.