Why is Horndean called Horndean? Valley of the dormouse?
A name that may mean a horn-shaped hill or a dormouse valley, a brewery that closed in 2006, an admiral's house and a general who accepted a surrender in Cairo.
Nobody is sure. Horndean could mean 'valley by the horn-shaped hill' or 'valley of the dormouse'. Wikipedia gives both, and our reel's presenter says he is going with the dormouse.
Horndean might be named after a dormouse. Yes, a dormouse. The honest answer is that nobody is sure, and the village has more going on than the name.
The short answer
The name could mean "valley by the horn-shaped hill", or it could mean "the valley of the dormouse". Both explanations are given in Wikipedia's Horndean article. We do not claim to know which is right, but we know which one the reel's presenter is going with.
Gales Brewery
Gales Brewery made beer in Horndean from 1850, for over 150 years. It shut in 2006, and the site is flats and shops now.
The end of the line
The tram from Portsmouth ended in Horndean. The last one ran in 1935. As the reel put it, the dormouse walked home.
An admiral's house
Merchistoun Hall, now the community centre, was bought in 1836 by Admiral Sir Charles Napier, who renamed it. You have probably been to a kids' party in an admiral's house.
Edmund Kean's mansion
Edmund Kean, the famous Shakespearean actor, lived for many years at Keydell House in Horndean. The mansion, which stood on 45 acres near Lovedean Corner, was demolished in 1968. Kean is buried at All Saints, Catherington.
The general from Cairo
General Sir Drury Curzon Drury-Lowe, 1830 to 1908, led the 17th Lancers at the Battle of Ulundi on 4 July 1879, described as the last pitched battle of the Anglo-Zulu War. In September 1882 his cavalry occupied Cairo and he received the surrender of Arabi (Urabi) Pasha. He was knighted on 18 November 1882. After retiring in 1895 he lived at Keydell House in Horndean.
A parish, a staging post and some old pubs
Horndean civil parish was formed in 1932. Before that the area lay in Catherington and Blendworth parishes. Horndean was the last point for changing horses for Admiralty carriages travelling from London to Portsmouth dockyard. A conservation area appraisal says the journey took 16 hours in the 1770s and nine by 1805. The Anchor, the Red Lion and the Ship and Bell Inn were all established by 1695, according to the same source, which is the only place we found this.
An Anglo-Saxon cemetery
The Snell's Corner Anglo-Saxon cemetery was reported on by G. M. Knocker in the Hampshire Field Club proceedings in 1956. Portsmouth Museum holds spearheads, bronze bracelets and buckles and a Roman melon bead among the Saxon beads. We give no burial counts because only secondary citations offer them.
Football, nature and television
Horndean FC was founded in 1887 and played its first match against Red Star of Havant on 27 October. In 2022-23 the club won the league and cup double, the Wessex Premier title and the Portsmouth Senior Cup. Hazleton Common is a 17.5 hectare (43 acre) Local Nature Reserve of lowland heath, ponds and woodland, home to adders and common lizards. Actor Mark Wingett, who played PC Jim Carver in The Bill from 1984 to 2005, attended Horndean Technology College, and Emma Barton, Honey Mitchell in EastEnders, attended Horndean Community School from 1989 to 1993. Horndean is twinned with Aubergenville, France, with the charter signed in May 1998.
The most-reviewed business
The reel named Keydell Nurseries, founded in 1953, as the most-reviewed business in the area, with over 3,200 Google reviews when we checked in September 2026.
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