Hiltonbury Farm (now a
public house) appeared on a map of 1588 and may originally have been owned by the
Hursley Park Estate in nearby
Hursley. It was later sold to
Cranbury Park Estate and stopped being a working farm in the late 1970s, when the surrounding area was developed. Other communities revolved around other farms in the area but Chandler's Ford was very sparsely populated until the 19th century. In the mid 19th century, Bell's brickfields was one of the biggest in England, producing 35 million bricks for the construction of the
Royal Courts of Justice in
The Strand. In 1889, an iron church and some schools were constructed. The
civil parish of
Chandlersford was created in 1897, from portions of
North Stoneham,
North Baddesley and
Ampfield, although the railway station remained in the North Baddesley parish. This is now the United Reformed Church. The original building has been extended but the original style of the building remains. Chandler's Ford used to be a town with mainly housing estates, however there are now various developments of shops and schools that have been built in the area. In the 1920s, building took place in the King's Court, Merdon and
Hiltingbury areas. Later, development in the Hursley Road area happened, followed by housing across the Hiltingbury, Scantabout, Peverells Road, Spring Hill and Oakmount areas. More recently, developments in North Millers Dale, South Millers Dale and the new town of Valley Park to the west of the area have completed the mix of housing. Chandler's Ford is considered to be the development to the west of the
M3 motorway and now forms the majority of the Eastleigh urban area. Due to the development of the town, there is little identifiable town centre. The main commercial centre is in Fryern Arcade (built 1967), Selwoods is also another company of interest having been in the area since 1946 and with its head office on the corner of School Lane. A library was constructed over two years starting in 1981. In 2018, an
Aldi supermarket opened in replacement of the old Homebase DIY store in the retail park on Chestnut Avenue - introducing new jobs and competition with
Asda (located opposite on the main roundabout). The area is represented by Compton and Chandler's Ford Cricket Club, which was formed in 1995 when Chandler's Ford Cricket Club (CC) merged with Compton and Shawford CC. ==Governance==