Itchen Imperial Rowing Club - Southampton | UK Rowing Clubs | Row HQ

Itchen Imperial Rowing Club is based at Crosshouse Road in Southampton on the River Itchen. It is a coastal club in the Hants and Dorset Amateur Rowing Association and also uses a growing fleet of river boats for inland regattas and head races.

The club began in 1916 as Harland and Wolff Rowing Club, part of the company's sports and social club. It started at Millbrook Point on the River Test, moved to Bitterne Manor during the 1920s and ceased operating during the Second World War. Pre-war members restarted it in 1948.

After another temporary disbandment in the late 1950s, the club secured a temporary Crosshouse Hard site in 1968. It became part of the Vosper Thornycroft Sports and Social Club in the early 1970s, acquired a slipway lease in 1980 and agreed a 20-year lease for its rebuilt premises in 1985.

When the company sports club closed in 1992, members continued independently as Vosper Amateur Rowing Club. In 1999 they chose a name tied to Southampton and the River Itchen, becoming Itchen Imperial Rowing Club.

Membership includes adults, students, juniors, recreational rowers, coxes and social members. The club says it has the largest junior section in the Southampton area, serving boys and girls from school year 8, and uses British Rowing-qualified instructors. Racing is optional.

Itchen runs a Junior Regatta on the River Itchen. The 2025 programme offered novice and competitor bands for J12 to J16 athletes in sculling and crew boats, with the official page retaining results from 2018 through 2025.