RIDGEWAY CASTLE was built for T.Lewin around 1795 and was set in 24 acres which extended down to the water’s edge of the River Itchen (until the Railway line was built to follow the bank of the river). James Ede owned the property from 1820 until his death c1840. Ede’s widow rented Ridgeway Castle to the Reverend W S Fowler after she moved to a smaller house.
F M Lewin owned Ridgeway Castle c1850 – c1855. Around this time the castle was demolished and a more ‘modest’ 5 bedroom property built for George James who lived there until 1878. From 1886 – 1891, Mrs Brown and then Reverend A C Crick (the curate of Peartree Chapel) were the occupants.
The jockey Herbert Mornington Cannon lived at Ridgeway before the end of the 19th Century. In 1902 Major Brown was the occupant and from then until the house was demolished c1920 to make way for a golf course it seems to have been left empty.
(Text adapted from THE LOST HOUSES OF SOUTHAMPTON by Jessica Vale which is available to browse at our Heritage Centre)
