MAINSBRIDGE HUNDRED 



NORTH 

 BADDESLEY 



NORTH BADDESLEY 



Bedeslei (xi cent.) ; Baldisle (xiv cent.). 



The parish of North Baddesley, in the New Forest 

 division of the county, lies on open heath country, 

 north and south of the road from Romsey to Ports- 

 mouth. 



Its total area, including the almost detached 

 portion in the south-west, is nearly 2,584 acres, 

 and its population in 1901 was 245. This isolated 

 portion, together with neighbouring parts of the 

 parishes of Romsey Extra and Nursling, was in 1897 

 iormed into the new civil parish of Rownhams, whose 

 population is 498. The land is well wooded, but 

 here and there are wide stretches of bog-land. 



The soil is not fertile, and is sand or loam with a 

 subsoil for the most part clay or gravel, and although 

 a small amount of wheat, oats, and barley is raised, 

 the greater part of the land is given over to woods 

 and plantations. 1 Tanners Brook flows in a southerly 

 direction through Rownhams, and a small tributary 

 of the Itchen forms the eastern boundary of the parish 

 for a short distance. 



The main road from Romsey to Botley crosses the 

 south-west corner of the parish, and a branch from 

 it communicates with North Baddesley village, which 

 consists of a few small cottages scattered on either side 

 of the road. 



Approaching from the west, the manor-house lies 

 to the south, standing a little way back from the road. 

 Farther on, to the north, is the small parish church 

 of St. John, and opposite to it the vicarage, on the 

 site of the preceptory of the Hospitallers. Part of 

 the house is probably mediaeval, incorporating some 

 remains of the preceptory. 



The village of Rownhams, in the extreme south of 

 North Baddesley parish, consists of a single street of 

 small houses. In the centre of the village is the 

 church of St. John the Baptist, built in 1856, and the 

 vicarage and elementary schools, built at the same 

 time by Mrs. Colt, are near to one another. St. 

 John's Convalescent Home, erected in 1876 by Lady 

 Helena Trench and the Rev. R. F. Wilson, M.A., lies 

 to the north of Rownhams, where are several fine 

 residences. Rownhams House, a large brick mansion 

 occupied by Mrs. Keates, stands in a park of 40 acres, 

 and Lords Wood, the residence of General Sir 

 Neville Chamberlain, lies in the south. 



There is a small recreation ground in the parish 

 granted when North Baddesley common was inclosed 

 in 1867,* and sixteen small garden allotments let to 

 the poor at is. 6J. each, given to the parish at the 

 same time. 



Mr. Tankerville Chamberlayne, lord of the 

 manor, collects the tithes in North Baddesley and 

 Rownhams, and has the tithe map in his possession. 



MORTIMER. Barry 

 or and azure a chief or 

 with t*u>o pales between 

 nvo gyrons azure therein 

 and a scutcheon argent 

 over all. 



The following place-names occur : Nutburn, Scrag 

 Hill, and Zionshill, where is a farm reputed to have 

 belonged to the knights of St. John. 1 



The manor of NORTH B4DDESLET, 

 M4NOR assessed at two hides at the time of the 

 Domesday Survey, belonged to Ralph de 

 Mortimer, holding of the king in chief, 4 and the over- 

 lordship rights passed down 

 through the Mortimer family 4 

 until they lapsed at the close 

 of the fourteenth century. 6 

 The manor was probably alien- 

 ated to the Knights Hospi- 

 tallers before 1167, for, at this 

 date, they were settled at 

 Baddesley,' where was a cell 

 belonging to the preceptory of 

 the knights at Godsfield. 8 



Before the year 1365, how- 

 ever, the latter migrated to 

 North Baddesley and made 

 that preceptory their head 

 quarters. 9 



At the time of the dissolu- 

 tion of the monasteries, in 1536, Baddesley, still 

 held by the Knights of St. John, and valued at 

 131 l\s. iJ., 1 " fell to the crown, but was imme- 

 diately afterwards granted to Sir Thomas Seymour, 

 the king's brother-in-law, who, nine years later, was 

 tried and beheaded for high 

 treason. 11 



This placed Baddesley once 

 more at the disposal of the 

 crown, and Edward VI, in 

 1552, granted the preceptory 

 with its appurtenances to Sir 

 Nicholas Throckmorton." 



On the accession of Queen 

 Mary Baddesley was restored 

 to the Knights Hospitallers," 

 but was confiscated by Eliza- 

 beth, who, in 1558, restored 

 the manor to John Foster, 

 who had purchased it from Sir Nicholas Throck- 

 morton in 1553." 



John died in 1576, leaving as his heir his son 

 Andrew, the estate being charged with annuities 

 payable to his daughter Jane, wife of William 

 Fleming, and to Thomas Sharpe and Margaret his 

 wife." 



Andrew was succeeded in 1595 by his son John, 16 

 who dying without issue in 1597, left the estate to 

 his brother Barrow, 17 who, before 1600, conveyed the 

 manor and rectory of North Baddesley to his cousin 



THE KNIGHTI HOS- 

 PITALLERS. Gules a 

 cross of Malta argent. 



Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



Commons Inclosure Awards. 



Harl.MS. 6603. 



y.C.H. Hants, i, 491. 



Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. I, No. 

 63. 



6 Ibid. 22 Ric. II, No. 34. At this 

 date Roger Mortimer earl of March had 

 half a knight's fee in Baddesley, held of 

 him by the master of the Hospital of St. 

 John there. 



7 Pipe R. 13 Hen. II. No trace of 

 the grant by the Mortimers to the 

 Hospital can be found. 



8 Feud. Aids, ii, 318. 



V.C.H. Hants, ii, 187. 



10 Vahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), z6. 



11 Dugdale, Man. vi, 800. 



12 Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 3, m. 31. This 

 grant was made ' in reward for services 

 done by him, more especially bringing the 

 first news of victory over the Scots' 



463 



(Battle of Pinkie). The Baddesley estate 

 was given to him instead of an annuity of 

 100 previously granted. 



18 Dugdale, Man. vi, 807. 



14 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. I & 2. Phil, 

 and Mary. 



Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Eliz. (Ser. 2), pt. 

 2, No. 65. 



16 Ibid. 37 Eliz. (Ser. 2), pt. I, No. 79. 



W Ibid. 40 Eliz. (Ser. 2), pt. I, No. 

 44- 



