Before the railway was built in 1845, Romsey town came to a stop at the northern end of Latimer Street. 

The construction of the station meant that a new road had to be created from Latimer Street and it was called Station Road.

Before that the whole area had been a large field known as Hog Gaston. Then later in the century a new road, Duttons Road was created to join Greatbridge Road. This was to provide Ralph Dutton, a director of the railway company, a short cut to his home at Timsbury.

In the 20th century, much of Hog Gaston was bought by Romsey Borough Council, who built a council estate there between the wars, along Duttons Road, and the new roads, Princes Road and Jubilee Road. Malmesbury Road was created later.

READ MORE: Buttercross and Hyde Abbey Gate: work to start on spruce up

Hampshire Chronicle: Aerial photo of Romsey, 1930. It shows the newly built council houses in Duttons Road and Princes

They decided they did not need the land that fronted onto Station Road and sold it for expensive private houses, and in 1931 they sold the land behind these plots to Romsey and Stockbridge Rural District Council for their offices. This latter area came into the hands of Test Valley Council in 1974 and the offices were later demolished and replaced by Fleur-de-Lis Court.

Malmesbury Road took its name from the Earl of Malmesbury who was chairman of Hampshire County Council in the early 1920s. The road was originally intended to be part of the northern by-pass of Romsey, which route was never created. It is typical of inter-war by-passes, being relatively wide, with grass verges and tree lined.

Princes Road, which abuts the southern side of the library, was named after Alderman William George Prince, who lived in Cherville House. He had been a coal merchant but was also an active member both of Romsey Borough Council and Hampshire County Council. He died in 1943 at the age of 85 and still a member of both councils. 

Alderman Prince was looked after by his unmarried daughter. What became of her after her father’s death is not apparent from the Romsey Advertisers of 1944 and 1945. Her father’s house and furniture were sold and she would have been well provided for. Unlike her father she was not buried in Romsey.
Jubilee Road is a cut through between Duttons Road and Malmesbury Road. It was named after the Silver Jubilee of George V which took place in 1935.

Romsey Borough Council built council houses alongside all these streets and at the southern end of Station Road between the wars. More recently other council houses were built on vacant land in the area.