Romsey heritage: The history of the Chambers Avenue estate

The estate was built by Romsey Borough Council soon after the war in response to the desperate need for more houses in the town. 

Chambers Avenue was named after the many times mayor, Robert Chambers. Adjacent Symes Road and Allan Grove took their names from prominent borough councillors.

In 1945 councils were offered temporary houses to give immediate relief to their homeless residents.

Neither the borough council nor the rural district council liked the idea of this type of accommodation, although many people who lived in ‘prefabs’ as they were called, liked them very much. They were made from prefabricated panels and locally some were made by REEMA of North Baddesley.

A row of prefabs in Symes Road were later replaced by low-rise flats. Prefabs were also erected in Allan Grove. All three roads, Chambers Avenue, Allan Grove and Symes Road were created to serve the council estate: they did not exist until after the war. The prefabs had outer walls of corrugated sheets and had corrugated iron roofs. 

The houses in Chambers Avenue were also assembled from prefabricated sections and were mostly semi-detached. Like all council houses of that era, they had substantial gardens. Now many of the front gardens provide parking spaces for their residents’ vehicles. The road is difficult because it slopes from top to bottom and also at right angles across the road, so many of the houses on the upper side have not been able to provide off-street parking, and several those on the lower side have to park on steeply sloping land.

Under Thatcher’s government, a number of the tenants bought their homes in Chambers Avenue, and therefore had to bear the cost of maintenance themselves. Later the council refurbished its properties by encasing them with bricks and offered to do the same for the private owners at cost. However, some of the private owners could not afford, or did not want, such a change to be made, and the street ended up with some pairs of houses where one was brick clad and the other showing its original casing.

Halterworth School did not exist for many years after these houses were built and the children were sent to Romsey County Infants or Junior Schools, as appropriate. They continued to attend these schools after Halterworth School was opened until compulsory zoning was discontinued.
Chambers Avenue is particularly worth visiting in the run up to Christmas because many of the residents put up fine displays of decorative lights.