Merry Oak is a district east of the Itchen immediately east of Peartree Green. An aged oak marking the Sholing boundary is recorded and is plotted on Philip Brannon's map of 1871. Possibly ‘merry’ signifies ‘mearce’ i.e. ‘the boundary oak’.
Merry Oak House was built in c.1800 probably for Hugh P. Keane who lived there until about 1810. The house was demolished in the 1920s and the estate was acquired by the council for housing development. The original driveway with its avenue of trees was preserved and included in the new housing estate.
Merry Oak Housing Scheme
Plan from Housing Schemes Carried Out in the County Borough of Southampton, 1931
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, p175, 184. (HS/i)
Housing Schemes Carried Out in the County Borough of Southampton, by Southampton Corporation. (HS/lk)
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