Swanwick, Hampshire

Swanwick (Template:IPAc-en) is a village in Hampshire, England, east of the River Hamble and north of the M27 motorway. The village is located within the borough of Fareham and is the site of the London Area Control Centre (LACC) and the London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC), part of National Air Traffic Services Air Traffic Control Centre, and Bursledon Brickworks, the last remaining example of a Victorian steam-powered brickworks.

Swanwick has no real village centre and the only commercial premises of note is the Elm Tree Public House. Since the 1980s, the gradual spread of housing developments has meant that Swanwick has partly merged with the new development of Whiteley although the only direct vehicular access is via Yew Tree Drive (once a bus only route).

Swanwick railway station on the West Coastway Line is approximately one mile south of the village and is nearer Park Gate than Swanwick.

The village's "twin" Lower Swanwick is situated two miles west of the village on the edge of the River Hamble.

History

Human activity at Swanwick dates back to the Bronze Age. It is understood that a ritual from the era involved the digging of shafts or wells to the underworld; one such shaft at Swanwick was found to contain 20 cylindrical loom-weights and a wooden post with organic residues believed to be the remains of flesh and blood.<ref name=Milisauskas>Template:Cite book</ref> A refuse pit dating from Roman times has also been found at Swanwick.<ref name=Holbrook>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the autumn of 877 AD Alfred the Great blockaded the city of Exeter in order to capture the band of pagans there; some of the pagans fled by sea and were pursued by king's ships to Swanwick where the pagans' boats were sunk after a month at sea.<ref name=Evans>Template:Cite book</ref> Some historians have debated whether this was at Swanwick in Hampshire, or a coastal settlement called Sanewick in Dorset.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some accounts indicate that the pagans, who were Danish, lost some 120 vessels at Swanwick.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=asc877>ASC 877 - English translation at project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2 May 2013</ref>

The Post Office Directory of 1855 listed Swanwick as a hamlet within the parish of Titchfield (itself the largest parish in the county of Hampshire at the time). The hamlet had an independent chapel and four residents were listed: a gentleman by the name of William B Gates, a farmer (John Crosskey), a blacksmith (Richard Hewett) and a grocer (Thomas Privett).<ref name="Kelly's 1855">Template:Cite book</ref>

Around the beginning of the 20th century the area around Swanwick was noted for its strawberry beds.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Strawberry farming remained a feature of the area, and in 1961 strawberries from Swanwick were being cooled immediately after picking as an experimental way of retaining quality and freshness for longer. Swanwick's cooled strawberries were being transported to markets as far away as Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The air traffic area control centre at Swanwick was brought into operation in 2002.<ref name=Khurana>Template:Cite book</ref> A control centre for London City Airport, Template:Convert away, was added in January 2021 using a remotely operated digital system.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Landmarks

The area houses Bursledon Brickworks Museum and Swanwick Lakes Nature Reserve. The Brickworks Museum, also known as 'Bursledon Brickworks', is a volunteer-run museum; it is purportedly the UK's sole surviving Victorian steam-driven brickworks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The nature reserve is an area of about 80 acres, that was formed from clay pit excavations. Owned by NATS, the site is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Both NATS and the Nature Reserve formed part of the original brickworks.

External links

• Burridge and Swanwick Residents Association serves North East part of the local community