1848 – Waterlooville

I’ll be honest, the header picture bears no connection whatsoever with Waterlooville.

A quick story on how the town got its name as told through Google; Waterlooville got its name from soldiers returning from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, who stopped at a local inn, the “Heroes of Waterloo,” for a celebration, with many choosing to settle in the area, leading to the settlement being named “Waterloo” and later “Waterlooville” to distinguish it from other places with the same name, with the “-ville” added as the community grew into a formal parish. 

I asked if there were any building remaining from that time, and apparently, there are a few. But, it’s really the high street that I want to talk about.

Whilst I can’t give you specific, or even close, numbers of commercial units that aren’t in use, the impression that I get is that there are quite a few. I may even get around to doing a mini survey just to satisfy my curiosity. It just seems a bit sad, really.

It seems that Havant Council have a Master Plan for the town centre, here’s the link; https://www.havant.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-05/Waterlooville%20Draft%20SPD%20Web.pdf

Why the interest, you might ask; The locality in my Locality Stories blog can have a fairly broad brush.