Neighbourhood Studies
No. 2 - St Cross & its Surroundings
3 Routes, Traffic & Car Parking
The Master's House, St Cross
St Cross Road is the main route from the south for local traffic coming to Winchester. At present this traffic disturbs what could be a picturesque village. Further development of the Park-&-Ride to the south of the City to provide enough space for shoppers and visitors as well as commuters may help, but it is unlikely that this traffic will ever be sufficiently reduced to create a quiet village centre.
At present parking is in short supply to the east of St Cross Road; on the western side there is limited short stay space in Mead Road for tourists visiting the Hospital.
The footpath from the city to Farley Mount and Salisbury, the Clarendon Way, passes along the water meadows to the Hospital then up Mead Road to the railway and thence into Whiteshute Lane, an ancient trackway cut deep into the ground by years of heavy use.
There is a marked cycle route from Twyford to the city centre. This passes under the M3, along Five Bridges Road (a bridle way) and along St Cross Road to Kingsgate Road, but on the St Cross Road section the cyclists are tangled with the traffic on a busy road as they always have been. Plans for a long distance cycle route through Winchester are being discussed; this might pass along a widened footpath from The College's New Hall past the pumping station and to the east of the Hospital to Five Bridges Road, and this could disturb the quiet walk from the City to St Cross. An alternative route would be from Domum Road along the widened footpath between the embankment and Palmer Field to the Tun Bridge and thence alongside the canal to Five Bridges Road.