From: Hampshire Industrial Archaeology Society Journal No. 25 (2017) A number of boatyards in the Solent region were employed to undertake the construction of these boats. As well as Woodnutt, which built four Fairmile Bs in addition to the two As, Solent Shipyards on the Hamble built fifteen and further west, Itchenor Yard in Chichester Harbour built eight. A number were also built on the River Itchen in Southampton. The yard of Risdon Beazley Ltd at Bitterne Manor, which also operated a fleet of salvage vessels for Admiralty operations, built nine Fairmile Bs and further upriver, Southampton Steam Joinery Company built five. The employment of Southampton Steam Joinery is unusual as they were not a boat building firm. Indeed, their ‘yard’ was not on the river, but inland on Kingsbury Road off Bevois Valley. However, further investigation into Fairmile’s records gives the address for Southampton Steam Joinery as 83 Whitworth Crescent. This was in fact the location of the Phoenix Boat Yard, adjacent to Cobden Bridge in Bitterne, so it seems likely that the yard was under the management of the Steam Joinery Company and the Fairmile Bs were built here. This is all the more likely given that the Steam Joinery Company’s yard on Kingsbury Road was severely damaged in the November 1940 air raids on Southampton. Roy Martin’s note: Many years ago I spoke to a member of the family who had owned Southampton Steam Joinery, he reported that the company did not survive long in the post-war period as the government refused to pay reparations for the damage to their works. He also told me that the were involved in the construction of Mulberry units on, I think either Beaulieu River or on the foreshore near Lepe. Can anyone halp with further info, please?
