Place Names
Alvercliffe
Alvercliffe was the name of the residence built for army commanders responsible for the fortifications being built around Gosport on what would at one time have been a low cliff above the sea, now the site of new army quarters built on the site of the old residence with the access road being Alvercliffe Drive.
Brodrick Hall
Canon Alan Brodrick arrived in 1888 as Rector of Alverstoke and Rural Dean. The Brodrick Hall was built in 1908 in memory of his wife.
Crescent Garden
The gardens were designed to complement the houses of the Crescent and included a terrace walk with marine views and, at its centre, a reading room with bath houses on each side, the footprint of which can be seen opposite St Mark's Road.
Jellicoe Avenue
One of the first examples of a highway planned specifically to ease communications named after the first Earl Jellicoe who distinguished himself as Admiral in charge at the battle of Jutland during WW1.
Little Anglesey Road
In 1831 Thomas Ellis Owen built six Regency styled semi-detached houses on the side of Alverstoke Creek. They became known as Little Anglesey and the track along the northern side of the creek became Little Anglesey Road.
Palmerston Way
Named after the 19thC Prime Minister whose fear of a French invasion lead directly to the construction of the moat along Stokes Bay filled in during the 1960s.
Village Road
By 1774 Alverstoke was a tiny rural community of scattered farms+. The bed of the creek had been partially drained and transformed into agricultural land which would be snapped up by Victorian developers on either side of the new Village Road which ran along the bed of the creek.
Anglesey Road
Originally Stoke Lane and renamed after the first Marquis of Anglesey who, having lost his leg at Waterloo, was a patient at Haslar Hospital. A frequent visitor was Robert Cruickshank who was raising funds, buying land and laying down roads for his vision of a spa. The Marquis agreed to lay down the foundation stone of the first of many villas.
Burney Road
Dr William Burney was the founder of the 18thC Burney's Academy in Clarence Square which specialised in the training of Naval Officers and East India Company officials. Bay House was turned into a rival Burney's Naval College concentrating on "Seamanship for the Sons of Gentlemen".
Gilkicker
The southernmost of the two stone and brick towers, both sea marks built in 1643 by the Earl of Warwick who, as Admiral of the Fleet, had lost three ships during the Civil War when they ran aground. The towers were designed to guide sailing ships through Spithead and into Portsmouth Harbour. The 1860 Fort Gilkicker took its name from this seaward tower demolished in 1779 to make way for Fort Monckton. The origin of the name is not known.
Little Church
Little Church of St Francis: built in 1937 for the National Children's Home: deconsecrated in 1984: converted in to a luxury home with an indoor swimming pool
St Mark's Road
Originally North Terrace, St Mark's Church was built in 1841 to save the residents of The Crescent having to travel to the church in Alverstoke. The church was demolished in 1912 but gave its name to the road.
Workhouse Lake
The Alverstoke House of Industry, also known as the Alverstoke Workhouse, was situated on Ewer Common opposite the bridge that crosses Workhouse Lake which presumably accounts for the name.
Ashburton Road
First mapped with just three houses in 1872 and named after the third Lord Ashburton who had built himself the magnificent Bay House, also laying out plantations of young trees today forming the grounds of the school and Stanley Park.
Crescent Road
The marine villas, hotel and the magnificent Regency Crescent together with Bath House and Reading Rooms were the brainchild of Robert Cruickshank's ambitious scheme to create a spa with racecourse, chapel, baths, gardens and fine townhouses called Anglesey Ville.
Jackie Spencer's Bridge
Although originally known as the Anglesey Viaduct, it was Jackie Spencer who lived in the railway cottage alongside the track resulting in its more common name although it is also referred to as The Black Bridge.
Kickergill
Kickergill, 60' high, was one of a pair of towers designed to guide sailing ships through Spithead and into Portsmouth Harbour. It stood in the field at the end of Alverstoke Creek until 1965 when it was demolished in order to widen Clayhall Road: more than half of its plan area lies under the road and footpath. The origin of the name is not known.
Monckton
Fort Monckton, constructed in the 1780s on the site of the former castle Hasilworth, was originally known as the Fort of Gilkicker but had its name changed to Fort Monckton after the Governor of Portsmouth General Robert Monckton who had ordered it to be built.