Late Victorian Development

c. 1870-1900

In the final decades of the nineteenth century, Waterlooville began to grow more rapidly. New houses were built along London Road and the side streets, a school was opened, and the range of shops and services expanded. The population rose as working families moved to the area, attracted by the relatively cheap land and the healthy location away from the crowded and insanitary streets of Portsmouth. Waterlooville remained a village rather than a town, but the foundations of the later urban growth were being laid. A parish council was formed, giving the community its first formal governance. The village still lacked a railway station, and this absence shaped its development, making it less accessible than places on the rail network.