Hello and a warm welcome to St Bartholomew’s, one of the two oldest suburbs of Chichester, on the western Roman Road out of Chichester to Bitterne and Winchester. It’s been here since at least the 3rd Century, as that is the date of the cemetery underneath the garages behind the Georgian Priory at the top of the street.
We’re rubbish
Romans and later generations buried their dead outside of the city walls – and also put their dirty industries there too. Many of our back gardens, if you dig deep enough, have a medieval midden with lots of interesting rubbish to sift through (if you are an archaeologist of course). The number of oyster shells that surface each year is quite amazing and it’s not for nothing that some of our gardens are so lush…
Because the river ran through here too, a brewery was set up. Industries also arrived that smelled worse than boiled hops, were a health hazard and needed their effluent to be carried out to sea – animal slaughter and leather tanning being two which have left their mark on the street.
But not any more. They finally disappeared in the 1950s-1970s and nowadays this street and its tributaries are in the top three of the most sought-after addresses in the City with many of its buildings listed in one of Chichester’s most significant and cohesive conservation areas.
Colin Hicks 2025
The Westgate Residents Association
Surprised to be here? Please note that the Westgate Residents Association website currently redirects to here.
Westgate is now a desirable place to live but this has not always been the case. When it first started to form as a suburb outside the West Gate on the road to Fishbourne, St Bartholomew’s was a poor industrial area. The Fishbourne road developed into the main road along the coast to the west, known as the Portsmouth Road; and in 1762 the road became the Chichester to Cosham turnpike, which meant that it was a toll road and better maintained.
Traffic levels increased and in 1938 the Chichester bypass was opened to enable traffic, to avoid Westgate and the narrow city streets. In 1955 the Henty & Constable brewery closed. In the 1970s the large site was still vacant, and plans were put forward to develop this as a commercial site. The Westgate Residents Association (WGRA) was formed to oppose this and support a plan for housing, Westgate by now being a popular residential road. The Association were successful, and ‘Henty Gardens’ and ‘The Maltings’ (now The Grange) are the result. It is interesting that, despite the bypass, there were still considerable complaints at that time about the level and type of traffic using the road. However, having achieved their primary objective, the WGRA lost momentum and closed.
About 10 years later, Tesco submitted plans to build a large supermarket between Westgate and the bypass. This caused concern that the traffic levels would increase enormously and the WGRA was revived. Again, the campaign was successful and a “Westgate Relief Road “(now called Via Ravenna) was built. Thanks to a vigorous campaign by the then Chair, traffic calming measures were introduced on Westgate to reduce the number and speed of vehicles. Once again, after the campaign was over, interest waned and the association ceased to function.
The third life of the WGRA started in 2014 with the threat of the building of 1600 houses on the land of Whitehouse Farm. Immediately south of the Parklands Estate, a Southern Access Road was proposed, opening directly onto Westgate. This obviously raised the threat of more traffic on the road past the houses, some of whom it must be remembered do not have modern foundations.
Colin Hicks and I were prime movers with some other concerned residents in resuscitating the residents’ association. Colin built a website and in 2015 started publishing a series of articles about the history of Westgate. These were very interesting and a great deal of work. With the closure of the Association website, we became concerned that this body of work could be lost – and this new website is the result.
I had further information about Westgate, as I know do other residents. I felt that it would be helpful to collect as much as possible of this together and save it in a format where it is more likely to survive and be available to all residents – as well as for any persons thinking of moving into the street and seeking information to help their decision. A book – ‘The Westgate Story’ – has been the result, which is now lodged with the County Records Office. We are now in the process of transferring some of these new elements to this website.
Richard Brownfield, June 2025
Site Navigation
This is mainly a history website with three other elements: Community which is about activities by or for our community; Environment which is about everything that surrounds us; and Gallery if you just want to peruse photographic evidence. These are all accessible from the top menu or, if you want to drill down a bit more, use the search box and tag cloud below. Please click on the translate button below if you wish to read this website in another language.