Hamble-le-Rice
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  Map sources for Hamble-le-Rice at grid reference SU479066
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Hamble-le-Rice is a relatively small village near the city of Southampton, in the UK. It is best known for being an aircraft training centre during the Second World War and is a popular yachting location. The village and the River Hamble also featured in 1980s the BBC television series Howards Way.
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[edit] Location
Hamble-le-Rice is located in Hampshire on the south coast of England in the UK, to the south-east of Southampton. It is bounded by Bursledon on the North, Netley on the West, Southampton Water on the South and the River Hamble and Warsash on the East.
[edit] History
Although previously known as "Hamble", "Hamelea", "Hammel", and "Ham-en-le-Rice", the village's official name is now Hamble-le-Rice[1]. The name "Hamble" is still in common usage.
[edit] Aerospace
Hamble-le-Rice was the home of an aircraft training centre during World War II for planes including the Spitfire, the Lancaster and the Wellington. The south airfield has long since disappeared[2] and the north airfield has been partially developed as housing, the remainder overgrown and owned by house developers Persimmon.
Today, Hamble-le-Rice retains a large interest in the aviation industry with the Hamble Aerostructures factory, now a subsidiary of Smiths Aeropace in Kings Avenue being the single largest employer in the area, the workforce far outnumbering that of the BP terminal[citation needed].
[edit] The River and Environment
Hamble-le-Rice is a yachting mecca: the nearby River Hamble is often packed with yachting traffic and during the summer the whole village is crowded with people out enjoying the water. The village and its river are one of the many locations that made up the fictional village of Tarrant in the BBC television series Howards Way, shown weekly on BBC1 in the late 1980s.
Hamble-le-Rice is home to a common, a variety of estuary wildlife, and other scenic walks.
[edit] Other Industry
The village is also home to a BP fuel terminal, from which fuel is transported by road tankers regularly, as well as by pipeline to major industry and airports[citation needed]. A pipeline also runs under Southampton Water to the Fawley oil refinery[citation needed]. A disused branch line runs from the terminal to the main Portsmouth-Southampton line, which has been converted into a scenic walk.
[edit] Transport Links
The village is served by Hamble railway station, is linked by ferry to Warsash, and has bus services to Southampton and Eastleigh.
