Woolston House was built in the early 18th century by rebuilding and extending an earlier farmhouse or manor house. The Skelton Guidebook of 1802 noted that it was a large and ancient house, “the situation and prospect of which is beautiful”. In the mid 18th century Woolston House belonged to Thomas Lee Dummer of Cranbury Park near Otterbourne, later passing to the London based portrait artist, Sir Nathaniel Dance, who had earlier married Lady Holland, the widow of Thomas Dummer. Because Cranbury Park was the main Dummer family home, Woolston House was little used and was probably demolished soon after Dance’s death in 1811. On its site were erected a couple of early-19th century villas called Woolston Lawn and The Paddock, possibly designed by Thomas Sandon Hack. The approach road to the villas was later incorporated into Longmore Avenue, named after Sir Thomas Longmore, a former resident of The Paddock.
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. (HS/i)
Stories of Southampton Streets, by A. G. K. Leonard, p66-67. (HS/h)
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