page_title: History of Woolston, Southampton
section_title: Industry
hierarchical_section_title: History of Woolston, Southampton / Industry
caption_attribution_description: English: Author/Source: Unessential Vosper Thornycrofts old ship building site in en:Woolston, Southampton
context_page_description: History of Woolston, suburb of Southampton, Hampshire.
context_section_description: An Ordnance Survey map (NC/03/17894), shows that a shipbuilding yard existed in Woolston in 1870.
  In 1876, Thomas Ridley Oswald, a shipbuilder from Sunderland, closed his yard on the River Wear due to financial difficulties and opened a new shipyard on the banks of the River Itchen, Hampshire at Woolston. In 1878 he formed a partnership with John Henry Mordaunt of Warwick, changing the name of the business to Oswald Mordaunt and Company.
  Between 1876 and 1889 the yard launched over 100 ships. Despite that success, the Woolston yard also experienced some financial difficulties. In 1881 an official receiver was appointed to manage the company. Shipbuilding continued at the yard for a few years, but in 1889, Oswald Mordaunt and Company sought a new yard in South Wales and closed the yard in Woolston.
  William Becket-Hill, who had been managing the yard as official receiver since 1886 soon formed a new consortium and shipbuilding resumed as the Southampton Naval Works under the management of J. Harvard Biles, a naval architect from the Clyde subsequently to become the first Professor of Naval Architecture at the University of Glasgow. The Southampton Naval Works built eighteen ships, but that business also experienced financial problems and went into receivership in 1893.
  The yard was then idle until the yacht building firm, J.G. Fay and Co of Northam, Southampton, expanded their business and took over the Woolston yard in 1897. That venture was also financially unsuccessful, so J.G. Fay and Co sought joint ownership with Mordey Carney and Co. in 1899.
   In June 1904 John I. Thornycroft & Company relocated to Woolston from Chiswick where it acquired the shipyard from Mordey Carney and Co..
  In 1966 John I. Thornycroft & Company merged with Vosper & Co. to form Vosper Thornycroft. The various shipbuilding companies on this Victoria Road site were thus the major employer in Woolston until 31 March 2004 when Vosper Thorneycroft vacated the site having relocated its operations to Portsmouth.
  The other major employer in Woolston, from 1913 to 1960, was Supermarine. This company built seaplanes on its Hazel Road site that were ultimately successful in the Schneider trophy. Those seaplanes were further developed by R. J. Mitchell to create the iconic Supermarine Spitfire. Alongside its simpler and more numerous counterpart, the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire played an important part in World War II and the Battle of Britain. This made Woolston an important target for the Luftwaffe.
  The Sopwith Aviation Company opened a small factory in Woolston in 1914, building seaplanes for the Admiralty during World War I.
  The Royal Navy also had a large building situated between Archery Road and the waterfront which they used as stores. Originally built in 1917 by the Ministry of Munitions as Rolling Mills for the production of brass strip for shell cases, this building is often thought of and referred to as being within Woolston but it was actually in the neighbouring district of Weston. It was built immediately behind Weston Grove House on land that was originally part of the Weston Grove estate.
  Situated slightly to the north of Woolston railway station was a small goods yard, accessible from Bridge Road. This yard was a busy place until it closed in November 1967.
  The Hazel Road area of modern Woolston still has some industrial activity, including the Jubilee Sailing Trust.
  The only industry left in Victoria Road, now that Vosper Thorneycroft have closed, is the sewage treatment plant operated by Southern Water.
caption: VTGroup Woolston
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