Bashley is a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the

New Forest 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 ...

in the south west of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. It takes up the north of

New Milton New Milton is a market town and civil parish in the New Forest District, New Forest district, in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymi ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of a type having a town council, and is a semi-rural community in

New Forest District New Forest is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Lyndhurst, although the largest town is Totton. The district also includes the towns of Fordingbridge, Lymington, New Milton and Ringwood. The district ...

, to which it contributes about a quarter of the population of the ward of the same name. Bashley begins inland from the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

. Most of its modest population is in its holiday park which has a chain-based convenience shop. Bashley has two garden centres, both football and cricket clubs, a few guesthouses, two riding schools/centres, a post office/store and a petrol station. Within the forest commons across cattle grids in its former hamlet of Wootton which has a large

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

pub-restaurant, once a drovers' retreat.

History

The history of Bashley can be traced to the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

period. The earliest mention of Bashley is recorded in a charter belonging to

Christchurch Priory Christchurch Priory is an ecclesiastical parish and former priory church in Christchurch in the English county of Dorset (formerly in Hampshire). It is one of the longest parish churches in the country and is as large as many of the Church o ...

where reference is made to an estate called Bagesluceleia for the year 1053. A. T. Lloyd, J. E. S. Brooks, (1996), ''The History of New Milton and its Surrounding Area, Centenary Edition'', page 14 The name means "wood/clearing of Baegloc."Old Hampshire Gazetteer
/ref> This uncommon name was borne by an 8th-century abbot. In the time of 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, 1086, the settlement was known as Bailocheslei, and was held in chief by Alsi the priest, who held it from the king. Alsi was entitled to the profits of "half a mill" amounting to 3

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s. It was part of the Edgegate hundred. Soon afterwards Bashley was acquired by Christchurch Priory.William Page (editor), 1912
''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5''
Victoria County History A

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

is recorded in Bashley as early as the 13th century. Until the Dissolution of the monasteries under

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

, Bashley belonged to the Priory, although it was usually administered as part of the priory's Somerford estate. In 1262 William Boscher had held land in Bashley from Christchurch Manor, and in 1315 Robert Boscher died possessed of Bashley Manor. The priory still owned part of the original estate in 1384, when it received a grant of

free warren A free warren—often simply warren—is a type of Exclusive franchise or Privilege (legal ethics), privilege conveyed by a sovereign in medieval England to an English subject, promising to hold them harmless for killing game (hunting), g ...

there. This land seems to have been absorbed into their manor of Somerford; it is included in an account of the manor in 1628, and sixty years later there is mention of a

copse Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...

at Bashley belonging to the manor. Bashley Common was inclosed in 1817. Ossemsley Manor changed hands a few times during the 19th century before being rebuilt in 1908 for Sir Alfred Cooper (1846-1915). The church of

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

was built 1909-1910 for £300 and is a daughter church of St. Mary Magdalene in New Milton. A corrugated church hall was erected shortly afterwards.

Surroundings

At the north end of the village is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Wootton. The

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

at Wootton is ''The Rising Sun'', which has been on its present site for over two hundred years. To the east of Bashley flows the Danes Stream. The name derives from the Saxon word "denu", meaning "stream". Victorian romantics were so convinced that there must have been a battle involving the Danes (

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

) here, that old

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

maps actually marked a site of a battle at Bashley. To the west of Bashley is a set of farmsteads and smallholdings, Ossemsley.

Sports and events

In 1945 after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

funds were raised towards a village hall and sports ground. The popular annual flower show and fete was introduced. were purchased in 1948 for £1000 "to enhance the life of the inhabitants of Bashley," and a lease was granted to Bashley Football Club to use the grounds.A. T. Lloyd, J. E. S. Brooks, (1996), ''The History of New Milton and its Surrounding Area, Centenary Edition'', page 109 Bashley Football Club reached the Second Round proper of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

in the 1994–95 season, and were hosts to

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

to whom they narrowly lost 1–0.Bashley Football Club First Team Fixtures and Results 1994/95
Bashley Village Hall is also home to a popular flower show held annually. An ex Ministry of Works hut, purchased for £150, was delivered in January 1950 as a first community hall. The hall was rebuilt in 1987, including the addition of annual events attracting a wider audience: Bashley Horse Show and Bashley Carnival. In 1979 Bashley (Rydal) Cricket Club moved to its present ground at Bashley, having previously played cricket in the

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

area.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Hampshire New Forest