Marsh Improvement Act 1844

The Marsh Improvement Act 1844, also known as the Southampton Improvement Act 1844 is an act of Parliament, giving the Town Council of Southampton more powers within the town. These included increasing sanitation work – like constructing sewers and regulating slaughterhouses, as well as allowing the authority to widen and pave streets. The act also allowed the council to protect common land from development, which allowed the council to turn the Southampton Common into a public park – and set the path for the creation of the Southampton Central Parks. The act allowed for a local rate to be charged at no more than a 'shilling in the pound'.

Effect
The effect of the legislation was significant, with it giving the Town Council significantly more power. The act also allowed for the area between Southampton Terminus railway station and the Woolston Floating Bridge, which at the time was an undrained marsh to be developed on by the London and Southampton Railway. This would become part of the Southampton Docks. At present, a large part of the area is now Ocean Village. The revenue raised by the sale allowed the council to acquire land. This was used for local improvements including more recreational space around the town, and widening roads.

In 1846, part of the Salisbury and Southampton Canal that utilised an old ditch running along the Town Walls was filled in, in response to a woman falling into the abandoned ditch and dying in 1841.