Godshill is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

and in

New Forest National Park The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. It is about east of the town of

Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest, famed for its late medieva ...

and south of the city of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

Description

Godshill is a small village, scattered on either side of the B3078 road east of Fordingbridge.Norman Henderson, (2007), ''A Walk Around the New Forest: In Thirty-Five Circular Walks'', page 111. Frances Lincoln The village is generally 18th and 19th century in date, with a number of cob-and-

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

cottages intermixed with

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

-with-

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

-roof buildings. The village

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

is known as "The Fighting Cocks" because there was once a cockpit here. The village

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

pitch of Godshill Cricket Club is half a mile east of Godshill village, surrounded by the gorse and heather of the New Forest. Godshill is also the location of the

Sandy Balls Sandy Balls is of woods and parkland near the New Forest in Hampshire, England. Located between the village of Godshill, Hampshire, Godshill and the town of Fordingbridge, it is bounded on the western edge by the River Avon (Hampshire), River Av ...

holiday park.

History

People have lived in the Godshill area since prehistoric times. On Cockley Hill, east of Godshill, an earth pit, used for boiling water, has been discovered dating from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, around 3000 years ago. Half a mile west of the village is the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

of Frankenbury Camp. The east bank of the River Avon at Armsley, in the north-west of the parish, has yielded evidence of Iron Age and

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

occupation. Four coins of the

Durotriges The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire, south Somerset and Devon east of the River Axe and the discovery of an Iron Age hoard in 2009 at Shalfl ...

tribe were found in 1959 together with a bronze

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...

. Excavations have also found glazed pottery from the 1st or 2nd century AD, as well as evidence of metal-working. Godshill is not mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. One New Forest location listed as ''Godesmanescamp'' was erroneously identified by

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

s as Godshill, and as a consequence, the name ''Godesmanescamp'' mistakenly appeared on some

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

maps as an alternative name for Frankenbury Camp. About one mile northwest of Godshill, (although within the parish of

Woodgreen Woodgreen is a village and civil parish within the New Forest district of Hampshire in England. Overview Woodgreen lies between Breamore and Hale to the east of the River Avon.

) is Castle Hill, which is said to be the only likely relic of a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

fortification in the New Forest. In 1571 the so-called manor of Godshill was sold by Henry Earl of Arundel, John Lord Lumley and Joan his wife, eldest daughter of the earl, to a certain Reginald Howse.Victoria County History of Hampshire: Fordingbridge
/ref> Some years later Robert Howse, who seems to have been a son of Reginald, sold it to William Dodington, from which date it descended with

Breamore Breamore ( ) is a village and civil parish near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, England. The parish includes a notable Elizabethan country house, Breamore House, built with an E-shaped ground plan. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary h ...

. Historically, Godshill village was a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

parish. The population of the village in the mid-19th century was around 100 people, although census counts in the 19th century are somewhat variable because Godshill Wood was often used as a

Gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

camp. It is related that Gypsy women used to go alone to a particular

holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

tree in a sheltered spot along Godshill Ridge to give birth. In 1868 a new civil parish called Ashley Walk was created, which incorporated much of what is now the eastern half of the current parishes of Godshill and Hyde;Relationships / unit history of ASHLEY WALK
, A Vision of Britain through Time, retrieved, 8 July 2011 the new parish did not include Godshill village, which remained part of Fordingbridge. The civil parish of Ashley Walk lasted until 1932. To the west of the village is the estate known as

, which is now a holiday park owned by the Westlake family. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Sandy Balls was the headquarters of the Scouting-like movement known as the

Order of Woodcraft Chivalry The Order of Woodcraft Chivalry is a scouting-like movement operating in the United Kingdom, which was founded in 1916 by Ernest Westlake. It was inspired by Ernest Thompson Seton's Woodcraft Indians, and Seton was its honorary Grand Chieftain. Wh ...

.John Springhall, (1977), ''Youth, Empire, and Society: British Youth Movements, 1883-1940'', page 112. Taylor & Francis

Notes

External links

Godshill Village and Parish Council Website
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire