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The Leigh Park estate was once owned by the British writer, orientalist and politician Sir George Staunton. In 1873 the Fitzwygram family purchased it; and in 1944 Portsmouth City Council bought it from them to build a new housing estate.

In 1947 Frank Miles, the Mayor of Portsmouth dug the first sod. In 1949 the first residents moved into houses in and around Bramdean Drive and by 1951 about 3,500 people were living there. Most of the streets in Leigh Park are named after Hampshire villages.

However, the new estate at Leigh Park lacked amenities. In 1951 there was no doctor, no post office, and no shop. Furthermore, fares to go shopping in nearby Havant were expensive. The first permanent shops in Leigh Park did not open till 1952.

By 1956 Middle Park Way, the main road through the estate, was complete. In the mid-1950s an industrial estate was built in south-east Leigh Park. In 1957 the first library was opened.

In the 1960s Leigh Park was extended further when a housing estate was built at West Leigh. A further spur, Warren Park, was built between 1966 and 1970.

After 1979 the government made it easier for council house tenants to buy their own houses and today many of the houses in Leigh Park are privately owned.
It now has four churches, two secondary schools and seven primary schools. Many families are now 3rd and fourth generation families on the estate. I am teaching the 5th!



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