NOWADAYS we take for granted that we can drive along Broadwater Road and turn into the Broadwater Road car park, but both road and car park are less than fifty years old.

Until 1875, all the land to the east of the Fishlake stream that led to Dukes Mill was in Romsey Extra and that south of The Hundred was agricultural. 

Back in 1841 the shop, now Boots, at no 1 The Hundred, and the land behind were owned by the 75 year old Abraham Naish who was a grocer. He called his land ‘The Garden’ but older records show it as ‘Periton’ which means a pear orchard. By the end of the century Alfred Elcombe and family were living there. He was a nurseryman and florist who also rented Lansdowne Gardens. He ran a very successful business for many years.

By the end of the 19th century, Elcombe’s the seed merchants had their headquarters there. The building was sometimes called ‘Bridge House’. The land we see as car park and bus station were used by Elcombe as a nursery garden.

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After the Elcombe business closed, Timothy Whites moved into the shop. The land behind became a jumble of outbuildings and allotment-type plots.

In the 1960s, Romsey Borough Council demolished most of the houses in Banning Street and put up several blocks of flats, known collectively as ‘the rear of the Hundred’. Access to them was along the old Banning Street.

Then in the 1970s Broadwater Road was created, linking Palmerston Street to the remains of Banning Street. To the north of this new road a fine bus station and car park were created. To enable pedestrians to have easy access, the stream beside no 1 The Hundred was covered over to make a walk through. For 18 months, the buses continued to park in the Market Place because they said the parking charges in the bus station were too high, but eventually that dispute was resolved and they moved to the new bus station. Then a few years later the space allocated to buses was reduced and a short-term car park was created. A building containing public conveniences and office accommodation for the bus companies was created, now also used by a taxi firm, as were covered stands for passengers. 

More recently an electronic display showing what buses are due has been added and Test Valley manages the area and collects the car parking charges.

With the council’s plans to re-develop the area, it will be interesting to see what happens next alongside Broadwater Road.