A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



HOUND WITH NETLEY 



Hune (xi cent.) ; Howne (xiv cent.) ; Letelie 

 (xi cent.). 



The parish of Hound, covering an area of 4,271 

 acres, of which 301 are foreshore and 458 tidal 

 water, with a population of 4,548 inhabitants, is 

 situated north of Hamble parish, on the peninsula 

 formed by the Southampton Water and the Hamble 

 River with its tributary Badnam's Creek. 



In the extreme south is the tithing of Satchell, 

 which is served by the chaplain of the training ship 

 Mercury, anchored in the river opposite Hamble 

 village. 



The land near the coast is low, and part of the 

 shore which is submerged at high tide consists of a 

 long stretch of mud-bank. There is a gradual slope 

 to the north, however, which is over I oo ft. above 

 the ordnance datum. 



There are no natural waterways of any size in the 

 parish, but in the west are two sheets of water, used 

 in earlier times by the monks of Netley as fish- 

 ponds. These were reclaimed by Mr. Chamberlayne, 

 predecessor of the present lord of the manor, at the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century, 1 and are now 

 inclosed in the grounds of ' The Hermitage ' and 

 ' The Fishponds.' 



The soil is sandy, with a gravel subsoil, and gravel- 

 pits are still worked in many parts. Small crops of 

 wheat, oats, and barley are grown, the land being 

 principally arable, although there are 373^ acres of 

 wood and 3 5 7 \ of permanent grass.* A small fishing 

 industry is carried on, the produce of which is mainly 

 absorbed by the hospital. 



Hound village, in the centre of the parish, on the 

 outskirts of Butlock's Heath, is a small group of old 

 farmsteads and cottages, surrounding the ancient 

 parish church of St. Mary, said to have been built by 

 Hamble Priory about 1230. 



Old Netley, a mile due north of Hound, is a pic- 

 turesque hamlet of timber-framed cottages with trim 

 old-fashioned gardens. 



Netley village, which is rapidly increasing in size, 

 stretches along the sea-front from Netley Abbey, in 

 the vicinity of which are many good houses, to 

 the Royal Victoria Hospital, built in 1856, which 

 with its quarters for officers, grounds, and observatory 

 extends more than half a mile inland. It has also a 

 cemetery attached of about 1 7 acres, and a recreation 

 ground was presented in 1900 by Mr. Tankerville 

 Chamberlayne in commemoration of the Diamond 

 Jubilee. On a knoll overlooking the abbey ruins stands 

 the new church of St. Edward the Confessor, while 

 between the abbey and the shore is Netley Castle, a 

 large castellated building which is for the most part 

 modern, occupying the site of the fort built here in the 

 sixteenth century. It is now the residence of the Hon. 

 H. Crichton. A little further up the Woolston road, 

 on the north side, is Abbey House, belonging to 

 Miss Rashleigh, and near by is the vicarage. ' The 

 Towers,' a large white house at the other end of the 

 village, the residence of Mrs. Jarrold, has now no 

 claim to its name, as the tower has been pulled down. 



Netley Market Hall, a large new building of Portland 

 stone, erected by the late Mr. Whitchurch, is used 

 for meetings and assemblies. 



The London and South Western Railway passes 

 through the parish from east to west, and has a 

 station at Netley midway between the villages of 

 Hound and Netley Abbey. 



There are no inclosure awards : Butlocks Heath in 

 the centre and Netley Common in the extreme north 

 of the parish are wide tracts of open heath country. 



At Butlocks Heath, on which are a few modem 

 cottages, there is an elementary school with accommo- 

 dation for 245 children, and at Netley Abbey there 

 is room for about 1 1 3 children. The following place 

 names occur : Shotteshale (Satchell), Sholing (now 

 in St. Mary Extra). 



A hoard of third-century coins was found here in; 

 1867 during excavations at Netley Hospital. 5 



Netley Abbey was first inhabited in 1239 ty a 

 colony of Cistercians from Beaulieu, and the founda- 

 tion having been adopted by Henry III it is probable 

 that sufficient funds were available for the buildings, 3 " 

 and that their construction was pushed on without 

 interruption, so far at least as was necessary for the 

 accommodation of their inmates. 



The eastern parts of the church, the chapter-house 

 and dorter range, and the frater with the warming- 

 house and kitchen, were all included in the first work, 

 together with part of the southern end of the western 

 range, the quarters of the lay brothers. The church 

 was not finished till the early years of the fourteenth 

 century, and in the first half of this century the 

 western range of the claustral buildings was completed, 

 and certain alterations made in the novices' room, 

 under the great dorter. From this time to the sup- 

 pression there is no evidence of any important build- 

 ing work, if the vaulting of the south transept of the 

 church be excepted, but the gap might be supplied if 

 some of the detached buildings, of which nothing 

 now remains, such as the infirmary and abbot's house, 

 were to be excavated. 



The general plan as set out in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury seems to have been carried out without altera- 

 tion, except as regards the western range, and a great 

 deal of the original work is still standing, giving much 

 information about the arrangements of the house. 

 This is the more valuable because of the late date of 

 the foundation, Netley being in point of date the 

 second of the three great royal Cistercian houses of 

 the thirteenth century [Beaulieu 1204, Netley 1239, 

 and Hailes 1246], the last to be founded in England 

 with the exception of Newnham in Devonshire, 1246, 

 Vale Royal, founded by Edward I, 1277, Rewley, by 

 Richard king of the Romans, 1280, and St. Mary 

 Grace's by the Tower of London, set up in 1349 

 by Edward III. 



The site is well chosen and still very beautiful, 

 though it can no longer be called secluded. The 

 buildings stand in a wooded recess on the east bank 

 of Southampton Water, sheltered by high ground on 

 the north and east, and open only towards the west 



1 William Cobbett, Rural Ridts in Hants, 

 ii, 255. 



2 Statistici from Board of Agric. (1905). 

 472 



' r.C.H. Hants, i, 345. 



83 Pat. 29 Hen. Ill, m. 6. 



