Bashley, Hampshire

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Bashley
Hampshire

Post office and store at Bashley
Location
Grid reference: SZ240973
Location: 50°46’26"N, 1°39’40"W
Data
Population: 731  (2011)
Post town: New Milton
Postcode: BH25
Dialling code: 01425
Local Government
Council: New Forest
Parliamentary
constituency:
New Forest West

Bashley is a village in the New Forest, in the south-west of Hampshire. It is found to the north of New Milton and almost attached to it, two miles inland of the Solent. 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 pub-restaurant, The Rising Sun, once a drovers' retreat. which has been on its present site for over two hundred years.[1]

To the east of Bashley flows the Danes Stream. The name derives from the Saxon word "denu", meaning "valley".[2] Victorian romantics were so convinced that there must have been a battle involving the Danish Vikings here, that old Ordnance Survey maps actually marked a site of a battle at Bashley.[2]

To the west of Bashley is a set of farmsteads and smallholdings, Ossemsley.

History

The history of Bashley can be traced to the Anglo-Saxon period. The earliest mention of Bashley is recorded in a charter belonging to Christchurch Priory where reference is made to an estate called Bagesluceleia for the year 1053.[2] The name means "wood/clearing of Baegloc."[3] This uncommon name was borne by an 8th-century abbot.

In the time of the Domesday Book, 1086, the settlement was known as Bailocheslei,[3] and was held in chief by Alsi the priest, who held it from the king.[4] Alsi was entitled to the profits of "half a mill" amounting to 3 shillings.[2]

Soon afterwards Bashley was acquired by Christchurch Priory.[5] A chapel is recorded in Bashley as early as the 13th century.[6] Until the Dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, Bashley belonged to the Priory, although it was usually administered as part of the priory's Somerford estate.[2] In 1262 William Boscher had held land in Bashley from Christchurch Manor, and in 1315 Robert Boscher died possessed of Bashley Manor.[5] The priory still owned part of the original estate in 1384, when it received a grant of free warren there.[5] 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 at Bashley belonging to the manor.[5] Bashley Common was inclosed in 1817.[5]

Ossemsley Manor changed hands a few times during the 19th century before being rebuilt in 1908 for Sir Alfred Cooper (1846-1915).

Parish church

The parish church of is St John The Baptist. It was built 1909-1910 for £300,[7] and is a daughter church of St. Mary Magdalene in New Milton.[8] A corrugated church hall was erected shortly afterwards.

Sport and events

The village hall was built after fund-raising from 1945, after the War, and sports ground provided.[9]

Events in the village include:

  • Flower show and fete

Sports clubs include:

  • Cricket: Bashley (Rydal) Cricket Club
  • Football: Bashley F.C.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Bashley, Hampshire)

References

  1. The Rising Sun, Bashley, New Milton
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lloyd, A. T. & Brooks, J. E. S.: 'The History of New Milton and its Surrounding Area, Centenary Edition' (1996) page 14
  3. 3.0 3.1 Old Hampshire Gazetteer
  4. Bashley, Hampshire in the Domesday Book
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 A History of the County of Hampshire - Volume 5 pp 124-127: Parishes: Milton (Victoria County History)
  6. Lloyd, A. T. & Brooks, J. E. S.: 'The History of New Milton and its Surrounding Area, Centenary Edition' (1996), page 21
  7. "St Mary Magdalene » Milton & its churches". https://miltonparish.co.uk/about-the-church/. 
  8. Lloyd, A. T. & Brooks, J. E. S.: 'The History of New Milton and its Surrounding Area, Centenary Edition' (1996), page 62
  9. New Milton Advertiser & Times Aug 4 1945