Blighmont was built in the early 19th century by Admiral Richard Bligh for his son, George Miller Bligh, who fought on the Victory at the battle of Trafalgar. The house had eight bedrooms and was situated in an estate of nearly 50 acres. In the 1830s the house was occupied by Nathaniel Jeffries who had previously lived at Hollybrook House. Arthur Naghton, MP and magistrate, also lived at the house until his death in 1881. Nelson Ward, grandson of Lord Horatio Nelson, was the occupier 1893-1917. The house was in use as a hospital during the first world war, and became a nursing home from 1921 until 1963, when the grounds were purchased by British American Tobacco and the house demolished in the same year. The site of the house can be seen on the east side of Waterhouse Lane, to the north east of the BAT factory.
Blighmont Avenue and Blighmont Crescent were named after the house.
Blighmont House
Photograph, 1941
see also
Further reading:
Lost Houses of Southampton, by Jessica Vale. (HS/i)
‘The Country Houses of Southampton’, by Jessica Vale in Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, volume 39, 1983, p180, 185-186. (HS/i)
Southampton Occasional Notes, by ‘Townsman’, p55. (HS/h)
More Stories of Southampton Streets, by A. G. K. Leonard, p48. (HS/h)
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