BURSLEDON
Brixenden (xii cent.); Burstlesden (xiv cent.);
Bristelden (xvi cent.).
The parish of Bursledon is a beautiful little tract of
country, 1,100 acres in extent, on the right bank of
the Hamble River, which is here tidal. The north-west boundary of the parish touches the eastern side
of Netley Hill, on a southern spur of which stands an
old ivy-covered windmill which serves as a landmark
for miles round. On the upper slopes of Netley Hill
is a tract of moorland covered with bracken and
heather; thence the country slopes rapidly down to
the sea, and is thickly wooded to the water's edge.
The main road from Fareham to Southampton,
crossing the river by a wooden bridge immediately to
the north of Bursledon village, strikes across the parish
in a north-westerly direction, cutting it into two
nearly equal portions. The bridge was built by private
enterprise about 1783, and is subject to a toll.
With the exception of this road, communication in
Bursledon parish is by winding lanes overhung with
trees. The London and South-Western Railway
line from Netley to Fareham enters the parish at the
south-west, and running north-east has a station on
the river bank below the village, crossing the Hamble
by a bridge a little above the toll bridge.
The village of Bursledon stands on steeply-rising
wooded ground on the east bank of the river, which
here turns sharply to the south-east and again to the
south-west. The steepness of the path and the combination of woods and tidal water recall a Devonshire
sea-side village. At the north end of the village
stands the church, called by the villagers 'Jerusalem,'
from its position above them. Immediately below it,
set against the steep bank on the river's edge, is a
group of houses known as the Salterns, in distinction from the upper village, which is called Old
Bursledon. Between the church and the southern
part of the village, where the vicarage stands, is Elm
Lodge, the residence of Capt. Shawe-Storey, in wellwooded grounds. South-west of the village, where
the ground falls again to a tributary stream of the
Hamble, is another group of houses called Hungerford.
About a mile inland, higher up the course of the same
stream, and just below the point where it is crossed
by the Southampton road, lies the much larger village
of Lowford or New Bursledon, a red-brick suburb
raised within the last twenty years.
From its position midway between the inland
forests and the harbour of Southampton Water,
Bursledon was a natural ship-building centre in the
days of wooden warships. (fn. 1) The narrowness of the
creek moreover at this point diminished the danger of
attacks from French privateers. It is said that two
eighty-gun ships were built at Bursledon in the time
of William IV, (fn. 2) and certainly Mr. Philemon Ewer
had a private ship-building yard here early in the
eighteenth century. Among other ships he built the
Anson, of sixty guns, called after Admiral Anson, afterwards baron of Soberton. Mr. Ewer's monument,
on which there is a model of the battleship of the
period, is in Bursledon parish church. At the latter
end of the same century Mr. Henry Parsons employed shipwrights at Bursledon, launching among other
ships the Elephant (seventy-four guns), in which Nelson sailed to the battle of Copenhagen. The ships
used to be launched on the top of high-water, and
towed round to Portsmouth Harbour, where they
were sheathed in copper. The ship-building trade
has long ago vanished, but traces of the old docks may
still be seen close to the present railway station. The
inhabitants are now chiefly engaged in strawberrygrowing. Other crops are wheat, oats, and barley.
There are 292 acres of arable land in the parish, 341
of permanent grass, and eighty-one of woods and
plantations. (fn. 3) The soil is light and sandy.
The common lands in Bursledon, known as 'the
waste lands of Bishop's Waltham Manor,' were inclosed
in 1857. (fn. 4) .
MANORS
There was no separate manor of
BURSLEDON, but the lands formed
part of the ancient manor of Bishop's
Waltham (q.v.). From the year 1235 onwards the
name occurs regularly as one of the tithings of Bishop's
Waltham on the Court Rolls of that manor. (fn. 5) In 1328
John Milyr, parson of the church of Eversley, conveyed
to John Screeche and Ellen his wife one messuage,
twenty acres of wood, 20s. rent, and half a carucate
of land, in Bonewode, Titchfield, Bursledon, and Botley, with remainder to William le Wayte and his
heirs. (fn. 6) William le Wayte was holding this piece of
land in 1339. (fn. 7) In 1541 Walter Chandler conveyed
a tenement in Bursledon to Sir Thomas Wriothesley, (fn. 8)
who had been possessed of the lands of Titchfield
Abbey in this county since 1537. (fn. 9)
CHURCH
The church of ST. LEONARD,
BURSLEDON, has a chancel with south
organ chamber and vestry, north and
south transepts, and nave with wooden west porch
and bell-turret. Its later history has been that in
1833 two transepts were built, and in 1888 they
were replaced by those now existing, the organ chamber and vestry being added at the same time, and the
nave lengthened westward about 8 ft. The west
porch and bell turret are also of this date, and the
whole building was repaired and the roofs covered
with red tiles. The architect was Mr. J. D. Sedding.
The chancel walls and parts of the nave are therefore the only ancient portions of the church, and they
appear to date from c. 1230. The east window of
the chancel is of three lights in fifteenth-century
style, but only the jambs are old, and on them are
traces of painting. In the north wall is a small
thirteenth-century lancet, discovered in 1888; the
head has been renewed. The chancel arch is also of
the thirteenth century, of two chamfered orders, with
alternate voussoirs of dark and light stone, and was
taken down and reset at a higher level in 1888. The
inner order springs from moulded corbels with short
shafts resting on human heads. In the nave the
thirteenth-century north and south doorways, with
segmental rear arches, remain, but are blocked, and
the two windows to the west of them on each side of
the nave are in modern stonework. The external
arch of the south doorway, with a roll label, remains
perfect, but of the north doorway only part of the
west jamb, with an edge roll, survives. The west
window, likewise modern, is of four lights, and below
it is a large modern wall-painting of the Maries at
the tomb of Christ. The west doorway opens to a
charming wooden porch, covering the west end of the
church, and from it a path runs to a modern lych-gate
on the north side of the churchyard.
The font in the south-west angle of the nave is of
the twelfth century, with a round bowl ornamented
with an arcade of narrow arches, which for nearly
half the circumference are round-headed and intersect
each other, while the rest are pointed and do not intersect. It stands on a round shaft and base, both modern.
The monument of Mr. Philemon Ewer, the shipbuilder, who died in 1750, is in the north transept,
and records that he built 'seven large ships-of-war for
his Majesty's service during the late war with France
and Spain … . gaining the reputation of an ingenious artist, an excellent workman, and an honest man,
dying with a fair character and a plentiful fortune.'
There are two bells, the treble by I. H, 1652, with
the usual inscription 'In God is my hope,' while the
tenor, by Thomas Mears, 1838, was given to the
church in 1889 by Commander T. W. Oliver.
The plate consists of an Elizabethan communion
cup, a silver-gilt paten of 1890, a silver paten of
modern French make, and a spoon of 1895.
The first book of registers runs from 1653 to
1717, the second contains the marriages for 1754–1836, and the third the baptisms and burials 1792–1812. The incompleteness of the list is accounted
for by the fact that many Bursledon entries are made
in the registers of Hamble.
ADVOWSON
The name of Bursledon does not
occur in Domesday Book, nor is it
found in the registers of the bishops
of Winchester. Bursledon was probably a chapelry
dependent upon the priory of Hamble (itself a cell of
the Benedictine monastery of Tirou in Chartres), the
lands of which were purchased in 1391 by William of
Wykeham to assist in the foundation of Winchester
College. (fn. 10) Bursledon is not expressly mentioned
among the lands of Hamble Priory at this date, but
in a subsequent lease by Winchester College (dated
1 Henry V) of the lands of Hamble Priory, the tithes
of Bursledon are mentioned as appurtenant. (fn. 11) Subsequently the chapel was held by Winchester College
until 1849, when Bursledon was formed into a separate parish, the advowson being in the gift of the bishop.
The history of Bursledon chapel cannot therefore be
carried back beyond the fourteenth century, unless a
conjectural identification of Bursledon with Brixenton
be accepted. (fn. 12) A charter of Henry de Blois (1129–1171) to St. Cross Hospital, Winchester, makes a
grant of 'the church of St. Peter of Waltham, with
the church of Upham and with the chapel of Durley,
and with the "capella de curia," and with the chapel
of "Brixentona," which the monks of Hamble hold
of the said Hospital for a yearly rent of two shillings,
with all tithes, etc.' (fn. 13) The monks of Hamble moreover are known to have possessed the tithes, services,
and dues arising from a hide of land at 'Brixedone,'
which they had under a grant from Henry de
Blois made with the consent of the parson of
Bishop's Waltham, to which church these tithes had
belonged. (fn. 14)
Another theory is that Bursledon is the second of
the two churches of Bishop's Waltham Manor recorded in Domesday. (fn. 15) This theory is borne out by
an entry in the Bishop's Waltham parish registers,
dated 1736, in which it is stated that 'Mortuaries are
due in the parishes of Hamble and "Busseldon" to the
Minister of Bishop's Waltham.' (fn. 16)
There is a Congregational chapel here, built in
1860.
CHARITIES
The school.
See article on
Schools, V.C.H. Hants, ii, 397.
The parish has been in possession of about eight
acres of land for a long period. The land is let for a
market garden. The rent of £16 a year is carried to
the church expenses fund.