ROMSEY, a market-town and parish, having separate
jurisdiction, though
locally in the hundred of
King's-Sombourn, Andover
division of the county of
SOUTHAMPTON, 8 miles (N.
W. by N.) from Southampton,
and 75 (S. W. by S.)
from London, containing
5128 inhabitants. This
town is of great antiquity,
and its name is of Saxon origin.
An abbey for nuns of the Benedictine order
was founded by Edward the Elder, whose daughter
Elfleda was the first abbess; the foundation was augmented
by Edgar in 967, and his son Edmund was interred
in the abbey church. All the first abbesses were of
royal birth, and eminent for their sanctity. About the
year 992 it was plundered by the Danes, but the nuns,
with the relics, and other articles of the greatest value,-
had been previously removed to Winchester, through
the precaution of Elwina the abbess. An enumeration
of some of the possessions of this monastery appears
in Domesday-book, in which it is called the abbey, de
Romesyg. In 1085, Christina, cousin to Edward the Confessor,
took the veil here, and to her was entrusted the
education of Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, King of
Scotland, and subsequently wife of Henry I. In .the
next reign, Mary, daughter of King Stephen, became
abbess, and was induced to quit her charge by Matthew,
younger son of Theodore, Earl of Flanders, to
whom she was married, which step so excited the
indignation of the Papal see, that she was compelled
to return to her conventual duties after having borne
two children. The benefactors to the abbey were numerous,
and its revenue, at the dissolution, was valued
at £528. 8. 10J.: in the 35th of Henry VIII., the
site was granted to the inhabitants -of the town, and
three years afterwards to John Bellew and R. Bigot.
The town is situated on the river Test, which falls
into the Southampton water, in a flat country, on the
road from Southampton to Bath, and is surrounded by
an amphitheatre- of hills and fertile and pleasant meadows,
which are rendered more productive by the occasional
overflowing of the river: it consists of several good
streets, which are lighted and paved under the provisions
of an act of parliament: the inhabitants are well supplied
with water: there are a news-room and some book
clubs -. concerts are held annually, and musical festivals
occasionally: The clothing trade was formerly carried
on to a considerable extent, but. has long declined; emr
ployment is given to nearly three hundred persons in
three paper-mills, one flax-mill, and three sacking manufactories;
there are also some tanneries, malting establishments,
and several corn-mills upon the river Test.
The town is supplied with coal and other commodities
by means of the canal from Redbridge to Andover,
which passes through it. The market, which was formerly
on Saturday, has been recently changed to Thurs-.
day, by letters patent granted to the lord of the manor;
it is chiefly for corn, and on alternate Thursdays is also
supplied with cattle: the fairs are on Easter-Monday
and. Tuesday, August 26th, and November *Sth, for
horses, cattle, cheese, cloth, and other articles of
chandise. The inhabitants were first incorporated by
charter of James I., which was confirmed by William
III.: the government is vested in a mayor, lord high
steward, recorder, six aldermen, and twelve burgesses,
assisted by a town-clerk, two Serjeants at mace, and
two ale-tasters. The mayor, late mayor, the recorder,
and three senior aldermen, are justices of the peace,
and are empowered to hold quarter sessions for the trial
of felons and misdemeanants: the mayor, recorder,
and aldermen, hold a court of record every Thursday,
for the recovery of debts not exceeding £40, the jurisdiction
of which is confined to the borough: the county
magistrates cannot preside at either of these courts.
Romsey Extra is within the jurisdiction of the Cheyney
Court held at Winchester every Thursday, for the recovery
of debts to any amount. The new court-house,
or town hall, in which the quarter sessions and assemblies
are held, is situated in the abbey precinct,
and was built by the corporation in 1820; near it is a gaol.
The living, which comprises the two parishes of
Romsey Infra and Romsey Extra, is a discharged viearage,
in the archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester,
rated in the king's books at £20. 18. !., and in the
patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester. The
church, dedicated to St. Mary, and formerly belonging
to the abbey, is a very magnificent cruciform structure,
with a low tower rising from the intersection; the principal
portion was erected in the middle of the tenth
century, and exhibits some fine specimens of the Norman
style of architecture; within, are various admixtures
of round and pointed arches, with'zigzag and other ornaments;
the more modern parts of the edifice are in
the early English style. The interior contains several ancient
memorials of the abbesses who were interred here;
an. elegant sepulchral inscription to Frances, Viscountess
Palmerston, who died in childbed, in 1769; and a neat
tablet to the memory of Sir William Petty, a native of
this town, and ancestor to the present Marquis of Lansdowne:
there is also a remarkable monument, with effigies
and a curious inscription, to the family of John St.
Barbe, Esq., a representative of this county in parliament
in 1654. An apple-tree, supposed to be at least two
hundred years old, grew on the roof until lately, but it
is now dead. This venerable edifice has lately received
an addition of eight hundred sittings, of which seven
hundred and twenty-seven are free, the Incorporated
Society for enlarging and building churches and chapels
having contributed £450. At the east end of the building
several stone coffins were discovered some years ago;
at the angle of the southern transept are the remains
of a fine Norman doorway, and in its western wall is
a very ancient image of Christ on the Cross, in basso
relievo: the west end is separated from that part of
the building appropriated to divine service by a curious
and ancient oak screen; about fourteen years since,
some curious old paintings were found behind the
altar-piece. There are places of worship for Baptists,
Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and SandemanianSi
A free school, in which thirty boys are
educated and annually clothed, and some apprenticed
every year, having been founded, probably, by subscription,
was, in 1718, endowed from the estate of
John Nowes, Esq., with an income of £30 per annum,
for the instruction of twenty poor boys, and £ 60 per
annum to clothe them: this endowment was augmented,
in 1723, by a rent-charge of £25, for clothing and
teaching ten boys, under the will of Sir John St. Barbe.
The National school for three hundred boys is a neat
building, erected in 1827, the site, and £ 150 towards
the erection, having been given by Lord Palmerston; it
is supported by voluntary contributions. The Union
school for eighty boys, on the Lancasterian system, is
supported by subscription. Almshouses for six widows
were founded, in 1692, by JohnHunt, Esq.; and six. others
for single women, in 1809, by John Bartlett, Esq. The
only vestiges of the ancient abbey, exclusively of the
church, are a few fragments of the old walls. Mr.
Giles Jacob, author of the Law Dictionary, was born
here, in 1686.