Stoneham Park House
From The Muniment Room, a resource for social history, family history, and local history.
- This is an article about Stoneham Park House built in 1913. It is to be distinguished from the Georgian mansion North Stoneham House.
Stoneham Park House, also known as the Hampshire Home of Recovery and Fred Woolley House, was a villa house at North Stoneham Park on the Stoneham Estate.
Stoneham Park House was built in 1913 within North Stoneham Park, and for four years John Edward Arthur Willis Fleming and his family lived between there and at Puckhouse on the Isle of Wight. The architect was Henry Leonard Gauntlett Hill (1893-1947). The estate accounts show that the house cost £5,341 to build.
The family never liked the new house, and in 1922 it was sold to become the new Hampshire Home of Recovery.
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Hampshire Home of Recovery and Fred Woolley House
In the early 20th century, Miss Ethel Fraser Tyler set up an experimental convalescent ‘Home of Recovery’ at the Grange in Swaythling - conceived to be a halfway house between home and hospital. This had closed in 1912, but Miss Tyler continued to raise funds and interest, campaigning for recovery homes for injured servicemen. Although she died in 1919, her work led to a grant from the Red Cross of £10,000, and a new suitable property was sought.
The Fleming Estate sold Stoneham Park House, with 22 acres, in 1922, and in September 1922 it became the new Hampshire Home of Recovery. It was sold for £7,250 (and not gifted, as is sometimes suggested).
All the first patients were men, many of whom were ex-servicemen of the Great War.
In 1935, the chapel there was dedicated by the Bishop of Southampton, and two stained glass windows were gifted by John & Violet Willis Fleming in their son Richard’s memory. The stained glass was designed by Christopher Webb, and represented St. George and St. Giles.
Despite a long campaign against its closure, Fred Woolley House was closed in 1996, and sold for development. Through the intervention of Mrs Anne Bakes, the developer Nigel Shannon donated the two windows to the parish of North Stoneham.
Following the National Health Service Act in 1946, the Home was transferred to the Southampton Group Hospital Committee, and in 1950 given the name Fred Woolley House, in memory of the former mayor of Southampton.
Fred Woolley House was closed in 1996, and is now residential apartments.
