BUDDLESGATE HUNDRED 



NURSLING 



NURSLING 



The parish of Nursling, covering an area of 1,508 

 acres of land, with 22 acres of land covered by water, 

 and 6 acres by tidal water, lies on left bank of the Test, 

 which as it enters the parish from the north-west 

 divides into two main branches that run circuitously 

 south-east through the low-lying country to the 

 south-west of the scattered village of Nursling. 



The main road from Shirley to Romsey, entering 

 the south-east of the parish, runs north along high 

 ground, while the fields and cottages of Nursling lie 

 away on lower ground to the west. A road from 

 Aldennoor to Redbridge cuts across the highroad as 

 it enters Nursling, and going downhill to the south- 

 west forms the southern boundary line of the parish. 

 About half a mile from the main road the Redbridge 

 road sends off a branch which leads in a circuitous 

 north-easterly direction back to the main road. 

 Along this branch the greater number of the cottages 

 and houses of the village are grouped, for the most 

 part on the east side of the road, the Wesleyan chapel, 

 opposite which are the Wesleyan schools and the City 

 Anns Inn, being nearest to the main Shirley-to-Romsey 

 road. 



Another branch from higher up the main road goes 

 off west from the bottom of Horns Hill between the 

 two Inns, ' The Balmoral ' on the left with its closely- 

 clipped yew trees and ' The Horns ' on the right, both 

 facing on the main road. South-west of 'The 

 Balmoral ' stands the school, built in 1871 and enlarged 

 in 1894. Continuing west, the road known as 

 Nursling Street leads past the Four Horse-Shoes Inn 

 and two or three cottages standing on the south, be- 

 tween fields and meadows past the grounds of Grove 

 Place, which stands north, over the railway bridge, 

 past the Manor Farm and one or two thatched cottages, 

 on to the church and rectory. East of the church, 

 which stands on the north side of the road, nearly 

 opposite the high wall of the rectory garden, is the 

 modern red-brick church-room built in memory of 

 Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The rectory, a 

 large red-brick house, was built in the late eighteenth 

 century by one of the rectors, Mr. Cramner. Beyond 

 the church, as the road ceases, are two or three low 

 cottages ; facing west are the water meadows which 

 slope down to the Test. 



Grove Place, the seat of Mr. Clarence Wilson, 

 is finely situated at the end of a long, wide avenue 

 of lime trees, through which the fine chimneys and 

 octagonal turrets of the house appear. The present 

 fabric was built in the sixteenth century, and is 

 not on the site of the older house, which stood some 

 way to the south-west between the avenue and the 

 modern railway line. The latter is the Andover and 

 Redbridge branch of the London and South Western 

 Railway which cuts through the parish from north to 

 south, with a station at Nursling about half a mile south- 

 west of Grove Place. 



A road turns off south from Nursling Street 

 immediately east of the Manor Farm, and run- 

 ning parallel with the west bank of the railway, 

 passes Nursling Station. Past the station the road 



curves west, leaving the railway, and branches north- 

 west to Nursling Farm, and Nursling Mill and 

 south-east to Redbridge. Nursling Farm, with 

 its square farm-house and low thatched outbuild- 

 ings, stands on high ground south of the road. In 

 the fields nearly opposite, one of which is known 

 as 'The Walls,' is the site of the ancient Benedic- 

 tine monastery, famous as the residence of St. Boni- 

 face during the early years of his life, but destroyed 

 by the Danes in one of their raids about 878. 

 Skirting these fields the road continues for about half 

 a mile to Nursling Mill, running north-west of the 

 water meadows, among which glisten the waters of 

 the Test. The old mill facing south-west stands over 

 the rushing water, and dates as it now stands from the 

 eighteenth century. A stone in the wall states that 

 the building stands on a frame of large beech timber 

 given by Sir Richard Mill in 1728. The adjoining 

 mill-house stands back from the road at the east end of 

 the mill. Near by are two or three cottages and in 

 front of the mill-house a small thatched dovecot. In the 

 south-west of the parish near the Test as the road goes 

 towards Redbridge is the tall chimney of the Test 

 Valley Chemical Works, with its surrounding buildings, 

 now disused. 



The small hamlet of Upton consisting of one or 

 two cottages and a smithy lies in the north-east 

 of the parish west of the main Shirley-to- Romsey 

 road as it rises over Horns Hill. On the opposite 

 side of the road, lying back behind fine open grounds, 

 is Upton House, the seat of Colonel Edward St. John 

 Griffiths, J.P. 



The soil of the whole parish is gravel, sand, and 

 clay with a subsoil of clay and gravel, producing the 

 ordinary crops of wheat, barley, and oats on the 

 714^ acres of arable land. The greater portion 

 of the parish is given over to permanent grass, of 

 which there are 73 7 J acres, while only 58 acres are 

 woodland. 1 



The manor of NURSLING as it now 

 MANORS exists is composed of two original 

 manors, the one associated from its ear- 

 liest history with the prior and convent of St. Swithun 

 and called NURSLING PRIOR in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, the other taking the name of NURSLING 

 BEjIUFO from its fourteenth-century holders. At 

 the Dissolution Nursling Prior passed into the hands 

 of John Mill, who was already holding Nursling 

 Beaufo, and hence the two practically became one. 

 Although there is no definite history for NURSLING 

 PRIOR in the eighth century, it is almost certain 

 that it belonged to the bishops of Winchester, since 

 in 877 Bishop Tnnberht or Dunbert* granted 

 5 mamae at Nursling to the refectory of St. Swithnn 

 free from all charges except the trinoJa necessitas? It 

 is difficult to identify the boundaries given in the 

 charter, although if it were possible to trace them 

 they would be very valuable as giving exactly the 

 locality of the two manors in the parish. However, 

 enough can be traced to show that the manor of the 

 prior and convent extended into the western part of 



1 Statistic* from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



3 



1 Dugdale, Mo*, i, 193*. 



* Birch, Ctrl. Set. ii, 163. 



55 



