At Hazel Road, Woolston — opposite the Yacht Tavern
The Legend says:
Close by the foreshore once lived an ancient community known as Itchen Ferry. During the 1939 – 1945 war attacks aimed at the nearby Supermarine works devastated the area to such an extent that restoration was impractical. In time all trace of Itchen Ferry disappeared. However, in 1985 Class 3B at Ludlow Middle School, while studying the area, learned of its former importance. This plaque is the result of their wish to provide a memorial to Itchen Ferry.
Itchen Ferry , was an historic crossing point of the River Itchen since before the middle ages and once the home of fishermen and crews of many of the J-Class Racing Yachts of the 1920’s. At one time the centre of aircraft design with Noel Pemberton Billing and later, Vickers-Supermarine, building World Class flying boats, floatplanes that won the Schneider Trophy outright in 1931 and the Spitfire which first flew in 1936. World War II bombing destroyed the Village and the aircraft factories in 1940, with 96 local people killed, to whom these Memorial Gardens are a lasting tribute. These Gardens and Memorial are provided with a hope they will bring you much enjoyment and time to reflect on what our Country owe to the Residents of the now “lost village” of Itchen Ferry.