KIMBER’S CHIMNEY – Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton

 

‘The SOUTHAMPTON and SALISBURY CANAL passed through a tunnel just to the left of here…almost under your feet’

 

 

Kingsbridge Lane with Civic Centre and Clocktower. Image: Massie Wilson

 

‘Can you see Southampton’s 1930s CIVIC CENTRE? The Clock Tower, Kimber’s Chimney, reaches 156 feet in height…’

 

Text – white granite inset into contrasting black granite.

Kingsbridge Lane in Southampton is a historically important and longstanding pedestrian-only route with no vehicular access. This makes the site significant to Southampton. It is a long surviving link to the western route in and out of Southampton along the coastal strand, which formed the northern shore of the River Test Estuary until the early 20thCentury. The footpath runs along a narrow strip of land between the existing railway tunnel and the historic and long abandoned tunnel of the Southampton to Salisbury Canal, which ran along what is now Blechynden Terrace, linking Central Station to the Guildhall Square &Cultural Quarter. My role within this project was to develop a contextual response to the site, which would, hopefully, influence the landscape design and regenerative design process in collaboration Simon Taylor of  Balfour Beatty Living Places , Southampton City Council and Hardscape.

Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson
Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. 14 lines of text – Image: Balfour Beatty

 

‘SOUTHAMPTON is a Sea City on the SOLENT    …with and unusual Double High Tide’. 

 

Text – white granite inset into contrasting black granite.

Aerial view of Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson

 

‘Oh when the SAINTS go marching in …I want to be in that number… oh when the Saints go marching in…’

 

 

Nighttime aerial view of Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson

‘In 2017 over 6 million passengers used Southampton CENTRAL STATION’

 

Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Nighttime view. Image: Massie Wilson

‘SOUTHAMPTON is a Sea City on the SOLENT    …with and unusual Double High Tide’. 

Basalt Slabs with inset text at Hardscape for Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson

 

‘Jane Austen lived in Southampton from 1806 to 1809 … her house on Castle Square had a wonderful garden that hugged the old city walls’

 

Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson

The granite seating and retaining walls by Hardscape are undercut along the front edge suggesting the movement of water throughout the site.

 

‘The MAYFLOWER set sail from SOUTHAMPTON across the Atlantic to America in 1620′

 

 

Aerial view of Kingsbridge Lane at the junction with Blechynden Terrace and West Park Rd, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson

 

 

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