Bitterne

The name ‘Bitterne’ is derived from the Ancient English meaning ‘House near a (river) bend’. The station itself was originally named ‘Bitterne Road’ in 1866 until it became Bitterne Station in 1896. A road bridge was constructed to carry what is now the A3024 road over the railway line; this had to be widened in 1920 when the railway line was doubled, and again in 1932. The local goods yard, one of many common at even small stations, closed in 1959.

After Bitterne Station the line then hugs the eastern bank of the Itchen estuary, with the waters often lapping at the track edge at high tide. This stretch of the line allows passengers a view back across to the City of Southampton and its various riverside wharves, before it turns within the shadow of the towering Itchen Bridge, to enter the next station which is Woolston.