Knowle, Hampshire
| Knowle | |
|---|---|
 Knowle
|
|
| Knowle shown within Hampshire | |
| OS grid reference | SU5599409540 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | FAREHAM |
| Postcode district | PO17 5xx |
| Dialling code | 01329 |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Hampshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Knowle is a village and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Wickham. Its nearest town is Fareham, which lies approximately 2.9 miles (3.5 km) south-east from the village.
Knowle is built on land which, until 1849 was Knowle Farm. The farm was located between the town of Fareham and the villages of Funtley and Wickham. The original timber framed farmhouse, dating from the 17th century was converted into two cottages in the 20th century and is now a Grade II listed building. It stands as part of the cluster of houses known as Farm Cottages, on Mayles Lane, just North of the former hospital site.
In 1845, the County Asylums Act and Lunacy required that every United Kingdom county should build an asylum if they had not already done so, or should join with another neighbouring county to achieve the same goal.
For the Hampshire asylum, a committee of nine JPs were appointed at the Easter Quarter Sessions in 1846 to superintend the erecting or providing of a lunatic asylum. They selected Knowle Farm as the most suitable available site, comprising 108 acres (0.43706 km2).
Construction of a 400-bed asylum, began in 1850 and what became known as the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum opened in December 1852.
By 1856, the asylum had expanded to take 400 patients, and growth continued throughout the century - with over 1,000 patients at the asylum by 1900. In the 1950s, Knowle housed almost 2000 patients. Both male and female patients were admitted, and were expected to work on the farm, in the kitchens and in other trades to help support their community.
The asylum was renamed Knowle Mental Hospital in 1923 and then became Knowle Hospital in 1948, before finally closing in 1996.
From 2000 onward, the hospital site was redeveloped by a group of developers (Berkeley Homes (lead developer), Bovis Homes, Westbury Homes, Try Homes, Barry Jupe and A2Dominion) as the 'Knowle Village' development. This was a development of apartments (using the former hospital buildings) and new houses over 53 acres (210,000 m2) of the grounds. The principal northern (east-west) building, northern administration building, south block, superintendent's house, chapel and staff cottages were retained and converted to other uses, whilst the central north-south connecting structure and other periphery buildings were demolished. 130 new dwellings were created within existing hospital buildings. As part of this redevelopment there are affordable homes available at Knowle Village, through the government-led shared ownership initiative part-buy, part-rent, with Thames Valley Housing Association.
...
Wikipedia