Bitterne Manor is a suburb of
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
surrounding the
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
of the same name. It is located on the eastern bank of the
River Itchen, across
Cobden Bridge
Cobden Bridge is a major road bridge in Southampton, UK. It crosses the River Itchen joining the suburbs of St Denys and Bitterne Park. It forms part of the A3035. The present bridge dates from 1928, but there has been a bridge on this site si ...
from
St Denys
St Denys is a partially riverside district of Southampton, England, centred north north-east of the city centre facing variously Bitterne Park and quay across the River Itchen estuary. The river is here spanned in the mid-east extreme of t ...
.
History
Bitterne Manor is the site of the original Roman settlement of ''
Clausentum
Clausentum was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. The site is believed to be located in Bitterne Manor, which is now a suburb of Southampton.
Identification
Route VII of the Antonine Itinerary documents the Roman settlement of Clau ...
'', the forerunner to today's
City of Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
.
Archaeological evidence shows Saxon activity around Bitterne Manor and the area within the old Roman walls may have been the
Burh
A burh () or burg was an Old English fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new constru ...
of Hampton
The manor house has existed from Norman times and possibly earlier, and was built from the stones of Clausentum.
The house was used by the Bishop of
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
, who travelled from manor to manor with his court throughout each year. The manor house also operated as a farm, and was surrounded by parkland.
Bitterne Park
Bitterne Park is a suburb and Electoral Ward of Southampton, England, on the Eastern bank of the River Itchen, built on sloping parkland which once formed part of Bitterne Manor.
Bitterne Park Ward includes the suburbs of Bitterne Park, Bittern ...
today, though, is a built-up area.
With its easy access to the
River Itchen and the navigation to Winchester, Bitterne Manor was used by the bishops as a distribution centre for wine and salt, which was panned in the river.
Arrangements were made to determine the exact boundaries between the manor and the Abbey lands at
Hound and
Netley in January 1246. This boundary remained in place until the mid 19th century, and was used in part as the subsequent boundary between the Itchen Urban District Council and Bitterne Parish Council.
Robert Kilwardby, the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, visited Bitterne Manor in 1274 and spent Christmas there.
The scarcity of farm labourers resulting from the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
of 1348 led to higher running costs in manors across the country, and it became more profitable to let the house to tenants and sublet the farmland to tenant farmers. Bitterne Manor was tenant-occupied from the late 15th Century to the early 19th Century.
William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...
visited the manor in around 1586, describing it as "an ancient castle ... at every tide
tis encompassed for three parts of it by water a great breadth."
The Bishop of Winchester sold the lease to the manor to a Mr. Simpson in 1802.
The new owner did not wish to use the manor as a farm, and so in 1804–05 the farmhouse was demolished and a new manor house constructed. The defensive ditch that the Romans had constructed was filled in.
The
Northam Bridge
The Northam Bridge is a road bridge across the River Itchen in Southampton, England, linking the suburbs of Northam and Bitterne Manor. The current bridge was the first major prestressed concrete road bridge to be built in the United Kingdom. T ...
was also built around this time, opening initially as a toll bridge.
This allowed the growing Southampton to expand, leading to the urbanisation of the Bitterne Manor area.
![Cobden Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Cobden_Bridge.jpg)
James Stuart Hall purchased Bitterne Manor in August 1818. On his death in 1822, the Manor was willed to his wife Jesse (Hunter) Stuart Hall and, on her death in 1847, to her sister Jane (Hunter) Eastmont. It later passed to her daughter Agnes Eastmont, who married Sir Steuert MacNaghten; thus, the property came into the MacNaghten Family.
The manor, including approximately of surrounding property, was purchased by Sir Steuert MacNaghten around 1863, and was used as the private residence of his family until his death in 1895. Following the death of Steuert MacNaghten, most of the land surrounding the manor house was sold to the Southampton Corporation for residential development. The MacNaghten family re-acquired the manor house and a few acres of grounds in 1902, and continued to use it as the family residence. Upon the death of Steuert MacNaghten's widow, Amy Katherine MacNaghten, in 1906, the manor house passed to their children. One of these, Lettice MacNaghten, purchased full title from her siblings and continued to live in the house, often taking in paying guests, who at one stage in the 1930s included the family of novelist
Nicolas Freeling
Nicolas Freeling (born Nicolas Davidson; 3 March 1927 – 20 July 2003), was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the "Van der Valk" series of detective novels. A television series based on the character was produced for the Brit ...
. The house was severely damaged by German bombing raids on Southampton during World War II. Lettice then abandoned the house, took refuge with her sister-in-law in Guildford, and refused to return to it in its damaged condition. The damaged manor house was vandalised and ultimately sold to an architect, who converted it into flats.
A scientific excavation of the site was carried out between 1951 and 1954 by the Ministry of Works, the results published in 1958 by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. The house is grade II listed, having first been listed on 14 July 1953.
Today, the manor house and its grounds are privately owned and split into fourteen apartments. Some of the surrounding grounds, consisting of grassland, woodland and a natural foreshore to the
River Itchen, are maintained by the Council as a public open space.
Geography
![River Itchen, Bitterne Manor - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/River_Itchen%2C_Bitterne_Manor_-_geograph.org.uk_-_26954.jpg)
The area is bounded on the north, west and south by the
River Itchen, and on the east by the railway line linking
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. Northam Bridge crosses the river to the neighbouring suburb of
Northam, whilst beyond the railway line is the suburb of
Bitterne
Bitterne is an eastern suburb and ward of Southampton, England.
Bitterne derives its name not from the similarly named bird, the bittern, but probably from the bend in the River Itchen; the Old English words ''byht'' and ''ærn'' together mean ...
. The A3024 dual carriageway runs through the area, one of the primary commuter routes in and out of
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
from the East.
Apart from the grounds of the manor house, the area immediately around the dual carriageway is mostly taken up by residential housing and
Bitterne Manor Primary School. On the fringes of the suburb, where it meets the river, a number of industrial units can be found. There are also some small nature reserves lining the river banks.
Chessel Bay has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
References
External links
Bitterne Manor Primary SchoolPicture of Bitterne Manor HousePicture of Bitterne Manor House in 2004
{{Districts of Southampton
Grade II listed buildings in Hampshire
Areas of Southampton