Nursling One Place Study

Overview

 

The Parish of Nursling

A Study of the Parish of Nursling in the County of Hampshire, or sometime known as the County of Southamptonshire.

I refer you to the Millbrook One Place Study in the first instance. That has a lot of the background information which would be repetitive if just repeated here. 

For an extensive description of the parish follow the link to British History Online.

Nursling has also been called Nutshalling as can be seen in the Ordnance Survey drawing held at the British Library. Nutshalling is circled in blue. The nearby Grove Place is circled in green, the seat of Sir Charles Mills. Shirley, in the adjacent parish of Millbrook is circled in orange.

 

Before delving deeper, some information about the Ordnance Survey drawing held at the British Library. The British Library has also made the drawing available on Wikimedia  The surveyor was: Crocker, Edmund - Medium: Pen and ink on paper - Date: 1806.

British Library notes;

This drawing was completed in 1806. The detail with which it records the road network is greater than in previous maps - testimony to the Ordnance Survey's urgency and military intent. The Roman road from Winchester to Old Sarum is marked running from the top left of the map, with smaller sections of the road shown in the Chilworth area. The origin and terminus of these roads are also noted. A line with a circle at each end leads from the margins of the map to Morstead. This line was used to plot locations and landmarks. Several "Ancient Entrenchments" are marked, notably an iron-age hillfort near Winchester called St. Catherine's Hill. The fort is indicated by concentric rings of dark, cross-hatched strokes ('hachures'). Week Turnpike Gate is marked on the road between Week and Winchester.

The recording of a dog kennel above Little Sombourne and bathing houses on the coast between Southampton and Redbridge reveal the meticulousness of the Survey, and perhaps too the interests of the draughtsman.

 

The map below is an extract of the map referred to in the British Library notes.

 Not circled, but the following can also be seen on this map extract. Lordswood, Roundhams {Rownhams}, and Toothill, with the Telegraph. Together with a few named houses, Springford Cottage, Aldermore Lodge, Roundham House, Upton House, and Chilworth House,

 

This is the same Drawing referred to above but zooming to Grove Place and Nutshalling. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are getting ahead of ourselves. Below we jump further back in time, to maps between 1575 and 1788. Nursling, or a variation of spelling of same, is shown on all the maps, despite how very small the village was.

Old Hampshire Mapped website - Snippets of Maps for the OS area reference SU31

Saxton 1575	Norden 1595
Norden 1607	Speed 1611
Morden 1695	Kitchen 1751
Harrison 1788
The names and dates refer to the originator of the map and date.
Click the link to go to the Old Hampshire Mapped website for more information.
See how much the skill of mapping has changed over time.

 

 We also need to look at some old large scale maps, also from the Old Hampshire Mapped website.

 An extract of Taylor's Hampshire 1759. At 1759 this is not dissimilar to the period of interest of the article about John and Mary Mabey of Nursling. Grove Place is annotated 322.

 The Mill family were prominent in the area for a long time.

 

 An extract from Milne's Hampshire 1791. This map has names of prominent people added as well as places

Some of the prominent people named on  Milne's Hampshire 1791, around the area of Nursling, and their associated residence

Named people on Map	Residence	Link
J Jarrett Esq	Freemantle House	http://sotonopedia.wikidot.com/page-browse:freemantle-house
W. F. Grenville Esq	Shirley House	http://sotonopedia.wikidot.com/page-browse:shirley-house
Sir Charles Mill	Grove House / Place	http://sotonopedia.wikidot.com/page-browse:grove-place
Peter Serle Esq	Testwood House	http://sotonopedia.wikidot.com/page-browse:testwood-house
Barton Esq	Rownhams House	http://sotonopedia.wikidot.com/page-browse:rownhams-and-rownhams-house
Trowbridge Esq	Upton House	https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol3/pp433-439
Fletcher Esq	Lee House	http://research.hgt.org.uk/item/lee-house/

 

Nutshalling / Nursling Common and Shirley Common is shown on this map. On later maps Shirley Common is much smaller, and in the area of Whiteheads Wood. 

 

 

 An extract of Greenwood's Hampshire 1826 with Nutshalling and Grove Place clearly shown.

 

The Parish

The maps so far show the village of Nursling or Nutshalling but not the extent of the parish.

NURSLING, or Nutshalling, a parish, in the union of Romsey, hundred of Buddlesgate, Romsey and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 5 miles (N. W.) from Southampton. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

 

County map of Parishes - Hampshire

Extract from Great Britain, Atlas and Index of Parish Registers, from Ancestry

 Same map but in more detail

The same map but zoomed in and split into four parts for ease of use.

There is a vertical overlap on each segment to try to avoid the difficulty of interpreting the information, reading at the joints.

 At one time this was done with mouse rollover, but that no longer consistently works on all browsers, so back to static.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The County of Hampshire Parishes.

 

 

 

 Zooming into the parish of Eling for this map, with a wash of light blue. Adjacent parishes to the North include Millbrook and Nursling. The dates indicate the early parish records.

 

 

 An extract of Family Search English Jurisdictions 1851. Search for Nursling, to get the map below. 

 A similar map but for the parish of North Baddesley, which includes Rownhams.

Rownhams was formerly a chapelry in the parishes of Nursling, Romsey and North Baddesley, on 1 October 1897 became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form "Nursling and Rownhams". In 1931 the parish had a population of 540.

St John’s Church in Rownhams was constructed in the 1850’s having been financed by Oliver Colt who lived in Rownhams House.

From Kelly's "Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (1911)"

ROWNHAMS is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1856 from the parishes of Romsey Extra, Nursling and North Baddesley, and into a civil parish by Local Government Board Order No 36648, dated Oct 1st, 1897; it is 1½ miles north from Nursling station on the Southampton and Salisbury line of the London and South Western railway, 4 west-by-north-west from Southampton and 3½ south-east from Romsey, in the New Forest division of the county, hundred of Buddlesgate, union of Romsey, county court district of Romsey, rural deanery of Romsey and archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester, overlooking the valley of the Test, and bounded on the side by the road from Southampton to Romsey. The church of St. John the Evangelist is an edifice of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, vestry, south porch and a tower with spire containing one bell and tubular chimes, hung in 1889 to the memory of the Rev. Robert Francis Wilson M.A. vicar here 1863-1888: in the chancel is a brass to William Oliver Colt, founder of this church, died April 9th. 1853, and Jane, his widow, by whom the work was completed about 1856, who died September 5th. 1875: the church was consecrated October 25th. 1856: all the windows are stained: the reredos is of alabaster, gilt and colored (sic): there are 220 sittings. The register dates from the year 1856. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £190, with residence and 3 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester, and held since 1891 by the Rev. George Mead M.A. of St. John's College, Oxford. The vicarage house is of red brick in the Elizabethan still, and was erected by the late Mrs. Colt, of Rownhams Park. Rownhams House, the property and residence of Lord Abinger J.P. is a mansion of brick, situated in a park of 40 acres. The chief landowners are Wilfred W. Ashley esq. M.P., J.P. of Broadlands, Romsey, Mrs Vaudry-Barker-Mill, of Langley Manor, Tankerville Chamberlayne esq. of Cranbury Park, who is lord of the manor, and John E.A. Willis Fleming esq. of Chilworth Manor. The chief crops are barley, wheat and oats. The soil is clay, sand and gravel; subsoil, clay. The area is 1985 acres of land and 4 of water; rateable value , £3428; the population in 1901 was 498 in the civil and 481 in the ecclesiastical parish"

 

 An Ordnance Survey, OS 6" Old Map from the National Library Of Scotland. The link will take you to a similar map, with the marker at St Boniface Church Nursling. The Map is made up from the following sheets;-

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Sheet LVII.SW
Revised: 1895, Published: 1897
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Sheet LVI.SE
Revised: 1895, Published: 1897
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Sheet LXV.NW
Revised: 1895 to 1896, Published: 1898
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Sheet LXIV.NE
Revised: 1895 to 1896, Published: 1897

 Unfortunately, if you follow the link, the yellow line will not be there. I drew that onto the digital map using one of the tools. Zooming in a long way I followed the boundary markers, hoping they were the parish boundary.

You could also follow the doted line on the map at the link, for the detailed position. It may not be exactly the same boundary as shown on the English Jurisdictions 1851 map, above. Not only is there a time difference but the may be a difference between civil and ecclesiastical boundaries.

 

To get you a little closer, I have made copies of the above, zoomed in and split North and South.

 

I have not tried to align the two sheets. There are some vary torturous routes for the boundary, especially near the river.

All of the above maps of the Parish are before the separation and creation of a separate Rownhams Parish from lands of Nursling, Romsey, and North Baddesley Parishes, on 1 October 1897.

However, Rownhams House and the village of Rownhams do appear to be outside of the boundary shown. It is possible that the imminent boundary change was know and incorporated onto the maps as part of the revision.

Some of the dotted lines I have followed are Poor Law Union boundaries and others are Civil Parishes. Looking further at the key, I don't think the maps show ecclesiastical boundaries, so at least that is one potential variation resolved.

 

 The above is a copy of a Google Earth image created by overlaying tiles of Nursling Parish Tithe Apportionment Map and the Boundary line created on the OS 6" maps above. Also shown is some of Millbrook Parish Tithe Apportionment Map. Although the lines and the edge of the Tithe Map do not align everywhere, there is a reasonable correlation. Apart for part of Lordswood, which appears to be missing. Although, on the original image it does go further into Lordswood, closer to the shape of the boundary. Something to rectify at a later date. The Tithe Apportionment is dated 19^th Sept 1846. My conclusion therefore is that the orange line above is before the separation of part of the Parish for the creation of the Parish of Rownhams.

 

 The above ESRI Church of England Parish map brings us up to date. Click on the map in the area of Nursling to bring up the boundary and information about the Parish. It does work here but it is easier to see if you first click on 'View larger map', which opens a new page. The statistics are fascinating. You can also click on one of the dots to bring up information about that. Click in different places to see different parts of the boundary, or adjacent parishes.

 

---

---

 

 

 

  

Your text...

 

 

Nursling in the Domesday Book of 1086

Nursling has also been called Nutshalling

Nursling was mentioned it the Domesday Book of 1086

Nursling was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Buddlesgate and the county of Hampshire.

It had a recorded population of 30 households in 1086, putting it in the largest 40% of settlements recorded in Domesday.

Land of Bishop of Winchester (St Peter & St Swithin)

Households

Households: 21 villagers. 8 smallholders. 1 slave.

Land and resources

Ploughland: 6 ploughlands. 1 lord's plough teams. 10 men's plough teams.
Other resources: Meadow 140 acres. Woodland 5 swine render. 1 mill, value 1 pound 2 shillings and 7 pence. 1 church.

Valuation

Annual value to lord: 9 pounds in 1086; 5 pounds when acquired by the 1086 owner; 8 pounds in 1066.

Owners

Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Winchester (St Peter & St Swithin), bishop of.
Lord in 1086: Winchester (St Peter & St Swithin), bishop of.
Lord in 1066: Winchester (St Peter & St Swithin), bishop of.

Other information

Phillimore reference: Hampshire 3,2

Comparison to other nearby settlements.

By comparison, nearby settlements of Millbrook and Shirley. Which later became parishes, which subsequently merged, and then again separated.

Millbrook was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Mansbridge and the county of Hampshire.

It had a recorded population of 28 households in 1086, putting it in the largest 40% of settlements recorded in Domesday.

Land of Bishop of Winchester (St Peter & St Swithin)

 Interestingly, for Millbrook, the lord in both 1066 and 1086 is stated as being 'villagers'

 

Shirley was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Mansbridge and the county of Hampshire.

It had a recorded population of 12 households in 1086.

Land of Ralph of Mortimer

Mortimer is a surname in my Family Tree. I wonder if there is a connection?

 

Nearby towns were Southampton, Romsey and Eling, 4.2 miles / 1hr 25 mins walk, 3.7 miles / 1hr 14 mins walk, and 3.6 miles / 1hr 13 mins walk respectively, according to Google Maps

Southampton was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Mansbridge and the county of Hampshire.

It had a recorded population of 185.5 households in 1086, putting it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in Domesday, and is listed under 4 owners in Domesday Book.

Land of Bishop of Winchester (St Peter & St Swithin)

 

Romsey was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Somborne and the county of Hampshire.

It had a recorded population of 127 households in 1086, putting it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in Domesday.

Land of Romsey (St Mary & St Elfleda), abbey of

 

Eling was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Redbridge and the county of Hampshire.

It had a recorded population of 69 households in 1086, putting it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in Domesday.

Land of King William

Between Nursling and Eling is Totton.

Totton was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Redbridge and the county of Hampshire.

It had a recorded population of 20 households in 1086, and is listed under 2 owners in Domesday Book.

Land of Romsey (St Mary & St Elfleda), abbey of

and

Land of Aghmund, of Wellow

---

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Tithe Apportionment and Map

 

The Tithe Commutation Act 1836

An Act for the Commutation of Tithes in England and Wales. - 6 & 7 Will 4 c 71.  Royal assent; 13 August 1836

Together with several amendments;

Act amended by Tithe Act 1839 (c. 62), Tithe Act 1842 (c. 54), Tithe Act 1860 (c. 93), Tithe Act 1878 (c. 42), Tithe Act 1891 (c. 8) and Tithe Act 1918 (c. 54)

The Tithe Act, 1936 (26 Geo. V and 1 Edw. VIII. C.43) abolished all tithe rent charges. Responsibility for tithe documents created under the tithe acts (1836, 1837, 1839, 1860, 1891) were placed under the charge of the Master of the Rolls, who has the authority to transfer them to an approved place of deposit. This responsibility is exercised by The National Archives: Historical Manuscripts Commission. The Master of the Rolls has issued Tithe (Copies of Instruments of apportionment) Rules 1960 (SI 1960/2440), as amended by the Tithe (Copies of Instruments of Apportionment) (Amendment) Rules 1963 (SI 1963/977)] concerning the care, custody, access to, and definition of tithe documents.

The start and end of Tithes.

Religion, of many faiths, the Established Church, the Pope, the Governments, and Kings of the time shaped the idea and practice of  collecting tithes.

From a simple pious concept of the donation one tenth of your crop to the church, for charity, changed over time and created some very rich churches and some very poor people, and a degree of discontent.

Tithes lasted in England for over a thousand years, partly in goods and latterly as money.

All intertwined with a Norman, with Viking Blood, thinking he was the rightful successor to the English Throne, a Pope who wanted to bring Ireland into the European sphere, or should that read his sphere, and Henry VIII wanting to have a male heir to prolong the Tudor epoch. Little did he know Elizabeth I would be so good at being monarch. Power and politics, over centuries of time.

 

Splits in the Christian Church 

There were three major schisms:

• 1) the one in the 5th century that split eastern Christendom in two;
• 2) the one the 11th century that divided the Latin church and the Byzantine church;
• and 3) the Reformation in the 16th century in which Protestantism arose and split from the Roman Catholic church.

2) On July 16, 1054, Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius was excommunicated, starting the “Great Schism” that created the two largest denominations in Christianity—the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths.

3) The Reformation — more properly called the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation — was a 16th-century religious and political uprising against the authority of the Pope that led to was a schism in Western Christianity. It was initiated by Martin Luther with the publication of the “Ninety-five Theses” in 1517 and continued by Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and other Protestant Reformers. The Reformation triggered the bloody the Counter-Reformation, which sucked in much of Europe, and lasted until the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648. The Reformation led to the division of Western Christianity into different denominations such Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Anabaptist and Unitarian. The Eastern Orthodox Christian church had split off in 1054.

The Reformation began as theological debate over real and perceived Church corruption. Early dissenters included John Wycliffe (1320-84) in England, and john Huss (burned as a heretic in 1415) in Bohemia. Martin Luther was from Germany. Other major players in the Reformation were Huldrych Zwingli of Zurich, John Calvin of Geneva and King Henry VIII of England

The Reformation was aided by the invigorated intellectual freedom of the Renaissance and spirit of nationalism in England, France, Germany and Bohemia. In the 16th century the church was corrupt and blemished by greedy clergy and decadent monks, extracting financial burdens from the laity to pay for their indulgences and ambitions. The General Councils of 15th century failed to reform he church. After the Reformation the power of the Catholic Church was greatly weakened

What is the relevance of these splits? The divisions within the Christian Church have in part contributed to the discontent leading to the Tithe Wars and the subsequent Tithe Commutation Act. The Act led to the creation of very useful set of documents for Family Historians, with information about people, places, and land usage.

 

 

 

---

---

The Award of Rent-charge in lieu of Tithes in the Parish of Nursling in the County of Southampton. Hampshire variously known as the County of Southampton, Southamptonshire, and abbreviated to Hants.

From the 'Know all Men' paragraph, the Assistant Tithe Commissioner responsible for Nursling was William Wakeford Attree of the Middle Temple Barrister at Law. He was also responsible for the Tithe Commutation for the Parish of Freefolk in the County of Southampton, and possibly others. 

I found an article in The National Archives which has some information about William Wakeford Attree and his family, extract below. The Atrree family do not live in Nursling but have an involvement by virtue of the Tithe Award.

THE HISTORY OF HOWLETT & CLARKE by Antony Dale

Howlett & Clarke is not only the oldest firm of Solicitors in Brighton but the only one that can be traced back to the eighteenth century. Its first known principal or partner was William Attree. He came of an old established Ditchling family. His grand-father, William Attree, was a brick-layer there. The latter died in 1767 but left a Will, so he must have been a man of some education. This William Attree's son, John Attree, was a prosperous malster. In 1745 John Attree married at Newtimber Susannah, daughter of Henry Scrase of Withdean, Patcham. He died on the 9th June 1772 and is buried in a table-tomb in Ditchling church-yard to the north of the church

John and Susannah Attree had one daughter and four sons

William Attree was the second of these sons and was born in 1749. In 1765 he was articled for 5 years to an attorney in Lewes named Henry Burtenshaw. He was admitted to the roll of solicitors before 1775. But this must have been at least two years earlier, as in 1773, when the Brighton Town Commissioners were first set up to pave and light the streets and to erect groynes in front of the town, he became their first Clerk and also Treasurer. The Commissioners' minutes have not survived from before 1789, but Bishops' "Brighton in the Olden Time" quotes an advertisement by William Attree as Clerk to the Commissioners of 1st August 1773, so he must have held this office since the initiation of the Commission. His salary as such in 1789 was £4-10-0 a year

He was also Clerk to the Brighton Vestry. The date when he was appointed to that office is unknown because again the minutes of the Vestry have not survived from before 1790. He may well have been in office for some time before that date and perhaps was even appointed Clerk to the Commissioners in 1773 because he was already Clerk to the Vestry. His salary as Clerk to the Vestry was £10-10-0 a year in 1790 and £30-0-0 a year in 1804

It is just possible that William Attree's legal connection may extend further back than this. His mother's first cousin, Charles Scrase, was also an attorney. He was born in 1709 and was Town Clerk of Seaford in 1733. In 1771 Scrase purchased a moiety of the manor of Brighton and lived in the Manor House there which was on the site of Royal York Buildings in Old Steine. Scrase was also the solicitor of Dr Johnson's friend, Hester Thrale, later Mrs Piozzi. She stayed with him at the Manor House and subsequently bought a house of her own in Brighton in West Street. William Attree acted as steward of the Manor for Scrase from 1778 onwards. So it is possible that he had been articled to Scrase. The latter died in 1791

When William Attree established his practice in Brighton, he built himself an office and a house where he also lived. In 1775 he bought a site in Ship Street for £50. On this he built No. 8 Ship Street and probably the adjoining house, No. 9. No. 8 was his residence and office combined until his death and after that the residence and office of his son until 1830. William Attree mortgaged the building for £2,000 in 1803, and this loan was not finally paid off by his son until 1824. The house was rebuilt in its present form, but still with a facade of Georgian character, at some time between 1830 and 1863. But continuity has been preserved as the building is still the office of Howlett & Clarke today

In or before 1800 there were few attorneys in Brighton, so William Attree easily acquired a near monopoly of the best legal work in the town. Amongst his fashionable clients was the Prince of Wales. When the Prince was acquiring land to enlarge the grounds of his Brighton house, he employed Attree in the various purchases which this involved. Attree's position will have been of benefit to both parties when, in 1803, the Prince sought the agreement of the Town Commisioners to divert the north end of Great East Street, as East Street was then called, which ran almost directly under his windows, and to give the town instead a piece of land further west which, in 1806, became New Road

 

The above is not really relevant to the Parish of Nursling but does give some background to the next extract where William Wakeford Attree, the Assistant Tithe Commissioner for Nursling and a number of other Hampshire Parishes.

 

Thomas Attree married about 1805. His wife's Christian names were Elizabeth Austin. They had a son and a daughter. The son, William Wakeford Attree, was born in 1806. He followed his father into the legal profession, but became a barrister in the Middle Temple. He was Recorder of Rye, Hastings and Seaford. He died in his father's life-time and at his father's Brighton house on the 28th January 1862 aged 56. He was buried in Ditchling church-yard

In his memory his father endowed a scholarship at Brighton College. To provide the money for this he conveyed to the Trustees of the College No 9 Ship Street adjoining his office and, if this Trust was invalidated by his death within 6 months of the date of gift, he substituted in his Will a bequest to the College of £1,000. Thomas Attree's daughter, Elizabeth Wakeford Attree, died when quite young. Stained glass windows in memory of both the son and daughter were inserted in the north wall of the nave of Ditchling Church in 1863.

 

 

Your text...

 

Your text...

 

Your text...

 

 

People

People of note in the parish of Nursling, through time.

Your text...

 

 

Relatives

Some of my relatives with an association to the parish of Nursling.

 

Your text...

Your text...