St Matthew's church, Netley Marsh - geograph

Steam and Craft Fair, Netley Marsh - geograph

Netley Marsh 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 authority ...

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 ...

, close to the town of Totton. It lies within the New Forest District, and the

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 ...

. It is the alleged site of the battle between an invading

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

army, under

Cerdic Cerdic (; la, Cerdicus) is described in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as a leader of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, being the founder and first king of Saxon Wessex, reigning from 519 to 534 AD. Subsequent kings of Wessex were each cla ...

and a British army under

Natanleod Natanleod, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', was a king of the Britons. His inclusion in the ''Chronicle'' is believed to be the product of folk etymology. Under the year 508, a date which is not to be relied upon,Campbell, ''Anglo-Sax ...

in the year 508.

Overview

Netley Marsh lies to the west 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 ...

. The village is on the A336 road from

Cadnam Cadnam is a village situated in Hampshire, England, within the boundaries of the New Forest National Park. The village has existed since the medieval period, when it was (and still is) an important crossroads between Southampton and the towns of D ...

to Totton. The parish is bounded by

Bartley Water Bartley Water is a two-branch small river in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It drains the north and north-east of the New Forest National Park up to the A31 road, a watershed and two villages against the north-east side of the ...

in the south, and River Blackwater in the north. The village of

Woodlands Woodlands may back refer to: * Woodland, a low-density forest Geography Australia * Woodlands, New South Wales * Woodlands, Ashgrove, Queensland, a heritage-listed house associated with John Henry Pepper * Woodlands, Marburg, Queensland, a her ...

is in the south of the parish, and the hamlets of Hillstreet and

Ower Ower is a hamlet in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest towns are Totton – approximately to the southeast, and Romsey – around to the north-east. Ower lies on the A36 road northwest of Totton. It lies mo ...

(chiefly in

Copythorne Copythorne is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, within the boundaries of the New Forest National Park. Overview Copythorne is in the north-eastern part of the New Forest. The village is on the A31 road, A31 Romsey Road, just south ...

parish) are to the north. The

M27 motorway The M27 is a motorway in Hampshire, England. It is long and runs between Cadnam and Portsmouth. It was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983, providing the largest two urban areas in Hampshire ( Southampton and Portsmouth) with a direct m ...

runs through this parish, taking roughly the route of the

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

from

Nursling Nursling is a village in Hampshire, England, situated in the parish of Nursling and Rownhams, about north-west of the city of Southampton. Formerly called Nhutscelle (in an 8th-century life of Saint Boniface), then Nutsall, Nutshalling or Nutshu ...

. Since 1971, the village has been host to the annual

Netley Marsh Steam and Craft Show Netley, officially referred to as Netley Abbey, is a village on the south coast of Hampshire, England. It is situated to the south-east of the city of Southampton, and flanked on one side by the ruins of Netley Abbey and on the other by the ...

, a three-day event dedicated to demonstrations of steam-powered vehicles and

traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...

s held in July of each year. Netley Marsh is the base for the international development charity

Tools for Self Reliance A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

, which refurbishes and ships old tools and sewing machines to Africa.

History

Netley Marsh is often identified with the "Natanleaga" described in the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'' under the year 508, where it is reported that the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

kings

and

Cynric Cynric () was King of Wessex from 534 to 560. Everything known about him comes from the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. There, he is stated to have been the son of Cerdic, who is considered the founder of the kingdom of Wessex. However, the 'Genealogic ...

"killed a certain British king named

, and five-thousand men with him – after whom the land as far as Cerdic's ford was named ''Natanleaga''". Whatever the truth concerning the battle, it is unlikely that there was a king called Natanleod – he was probably invented to explain the place-name Natanleaga. In fact the place-name is probably derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

elements ''*næt'' (an unattested cognate of German ''nass'') and ''lēah'', meaning "wet wood". The original meaning would have ceased to be apparent after the word ''*næt'' fell out of use. Netley is next recorded as "Nateleg" in 1248. The name "Netley Marsh" appears as such on maps from 1759. The church, dedicated to Saint Matthew, was built around 1855, and consists of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

with a bell turret on west side of the chancel. To the west of the village the Hampshire Reformatory School opened in 1855.Victoria County History of Hampshire: Eling
/ref> It was built for the purpose of reclaiming juvenile offenders, and had accommodation for 60 boys. It was closed in 1908. The

of Netley Marsh was one of the parishes formed from the ancient parish of Eling in 1894. The village suffered some damage during

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 ...

, when one day in 1942 an enemy plane dropped bombs on the church and along Woodlands Road, causing the deaths of three people.Parish Plan 2010
page 13, Netley Marsh Parish

Tatchbury

One mile north of Netley Marsh is the ancient site of Tatchbury. There is an

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 ...

Hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

here called Tatchbury Mount. It has been partly built over by the hospital buildings of Tatchbury Mount Hospital but the outline of the fort can still be seen. Next to the hill fort is the ancient manor of Tatchbury. Its history dates from the 10th century when a hide and a half of land in Tatchbury and Slackstead was given to

Hyde Abbey Hyde Abbey was a medieval Benedictine monastery just outside the walls of Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was dissolved and demolished in 1538 following various acts passed under King Henry VIII to dissolve monasteries and abbeys (see Diss ...

(near

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 ...

) on its foundation in 903 by

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æt ...

. 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 ...

refers to another half hide being given to the Abbey sometime after 1066 by Edsi the Sheriff.Domesday Map – Tatchbury
Another entry in the Domesday Book refers to two hides which had been placed into the New Forest at ''Teocreberie'' – this may to refer to

Exbury Exbury is a village in Hampshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe. It lies just in the New Forest, near the Beaulieu River and about a mile from the Solent coast. It is best known as the location of Exbury House, built by ...

rather than Tatchbury. Cf
Domesday Map – Exbury
/ref> The abbot and convent evidently held the manor in

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

from the 12th to the 13th century, and a rent from Litchfield and Tatchbury was included in the estates of the Abbey at the time of the

Dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

. Another estate in Tatchbury is recorded in the 13th century which may have been the nucleus of the later manor which was held in 1316 by Elias Baldet, and of which John Romsey died seised in 1494, holding it of the warden of

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

. The Oviatt family held the manor for much of the 17th and 18th century, before passing to the Wake family who held it until the late 19th century. Tatchbury Manor House today is mostly a brick Victorian building, but which incorporates part of the old 13th century manor house.

References

External links

Netley Marsh Parish CouncilNetley Marsh Steam and Craft Show
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire