Locks Heath
| Locks Heath | |
|---|---|
 Locks Heath
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| Locks Heath shown within Hampshire | |
| Area | 6.58 sq mi (17.0 km2) |
| Population | 7,104 |
| • Density | 1,080/sq mi (420/km2) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Southampton |
| Postcode district | SO31 |
| Post town | Fareham |
| Postcode district | PO14 |
| Dialling code | 01489 |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Hampshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Locks Heath is a western residential suburb of Fareham, in the south of Hampshire, England. Locks Heath is immediately surrounded by a collection of villages including Sarisbury to the West, Swanwick, Park Gate and Whiteley to the North, Warsash to the South West and Titchfield to the South East. The population of the village itself in 2011 was 7,104 whilst the wider Locks Heath residential area (including surrounding villages) equaled 43,359 as of 2011.
The heathland surrounding Locks Farm.
In the late 19th and early 20th Century, the most important local activity in this area was strawberry growing. The industry developed as a result of the 1866 Enclosure Acts which allowed the common land to be split into a large number of small plots. The new plot owners needed a crop that would give them a quick income from a small outlay. The combination of suitable soils and a mild climate, free from spring frosts, proved ideal for the production of early cropping strawberries. Their early ripening made them desirable in markets across the country. Swanwick railway station opened on 2 September 1889 and helped to facilitate the transportation of large quantities of strawberries to customers all over the country.
Strawberries were transported to the waiting trains by horse and cart. A lasting reminder of this is a rail on the outside edge of what is now the pavement leading down the hill to the station. This was used to line up the wheels of the horse-drawn carts, so as to enable easy unloading of the carts. The station was also originally much bigger with what remains of a second branch line still visible under the tarmac of what is now the station car park. A short way from the station a warehouse can be seen which used to be the 'Swanwick and District Basket Factory' which supplied the baskets to pack the strawberries into for transportation. The outline of the old signage is still visible on the outside of the building.
The strawberry industry hit its peak in the 1920s and then began to slip into decline. This was caused by a variety of factors, including the demand for development land, competition from abroad and the increasingly strict requirements of retailers for standardised products.
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Wikipedia