Consultation by the University of Chichester Academy Trust on Name for new-build primary academy, West of Waterlooville.

Dating back to around 20,000 BC the almost arctic conditions across South Hampshire were warming and the area was becoming completely covered in trees, such as Lime and Elm, with the Oak dominating.  After the Norman conquest of 1066, the area where the academy will be sited, known as the Forest of Bere, was established as one of the Royal Forests of Hampshire.

The word ‘Forest’, from the latin ‘foris’, means ‘outside’ and the area was subject to Forest Law rather than the Law of England for 800 years.  Charles I was the last recorded monarch to hunt in the Forest in 1628 and the Forest of Bere was one of the last Royal Forests in England to be broken up.   The Forest also supplied timber for ship building which was in great demand in the C[entury] 18 and early C19 and may have supplied timber for the building of HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.  

It is suggested the name Newlands is a direct comment on the process of clearance derived from Saxon times; in this context Newlands being ‘land newly reclaimed from waste’.   

As we jump forward, this remains relevant today, with the Berewood development approved in 2012.  In 2019, the parish boundaries of Denmead and Southwick & Widley moved to create a new parish which was named Newlands Parish where the new academy is located.

Steeped in history, Newlands, originally thought to be part of the tenure of Peter de Cosham, became part of the estate of the Augustinian Southwick Priory in C13 until the Dissolution in 1546.  

A dwelling on Newlands Farm, built to replace an earlier one, dates to late C17 and was modified in C19 and C20. Newlands Farm is situated on Newlands Lane which runs adjacent to the new academy, with Newlandsmoor Coppice nearby.

‘Rivers run through our history and folklore and link us as a people.  They nourish and refresh us and provide a home for dazzling varieties of fish and wildlife and trees and plants of every sort.  We are a nation rich in rivers’.  - Charles Kuralt.

The River Wallington flows through Waterlooville and Southwick before finally entering Portsmouth Harbour. On the Berewood development the river forms its northern boundary and in 2013 work commenced on the restoration and ‘rewilding’ of the River, including creating bridges and a community nature reserve that residents are able to enjoy, watching the activity along the river bank across changing seasons, with the Dunnock, Moorhen and Skylark nesting this year.  The western end of the river, close to the new academy, connects to the community nature reserve.

The impact shipbuilding had on the forest, together with enclosures for farming changed the character of the landscape.  The emphasis turned from a Royal Forest to a more manageable forest for timber production.

This included from 1810 selling off allotments of the forest which it is believed resulted in the settlement and formation of what would become Waterlooville.  

Woodland, in British woodland management, means ‘tree-covered areas which arose naturally, and which were then managed, rather than a forest which is usually more extensive, or hunting forests’.

During the Second World War woods near to Berewood development provided cover for thousands of troops massing for Operation Overlord (D-Day, 6 June 1944).   In 1945, the ‘Ladies of Waterlooville’ were thanked for the ‘small battle flags’ gifted.  One flag was taken through the famous field of Waterloo, from which Waterlooville takes its name, and on to Germany.

In 1952 Waterlooville was still bounded by woodland and close to the new academy remain many woodlands or coppices.