Bursledon is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

on the

River Hamble The River Hamble in south Hampshire, England, source (river), rises near Bishop's Waltham and flows for through Botley, Hampshire, Botley, Bursledon, and Lower Swanwick before entering Southampton Water between Hamble Common and Warsash. The ...

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 is located within the

borough of Eastleigh The Borough of Eastleigh is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England. It is named after its main town of Eastleigh, where the council is based. The borough also contains the town of Hedge End along with several vill ...

. Close to the city of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, Bursledon has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involve ...

s and the Bursledon Windmill. Nearby villages include Swanwick,

Hamble-le-Rice Hamble-le-Rice, commonly known as Hamble, is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Eastleigh (borough), Borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. It is best known for being a flying training centre during the Second Wor ...

Netley Netley, officially 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 Royal Victoria Co ...

and Sarisbury Green. The village has close ties to the sea. The Elephant Boatyard located in Old Bursledon dates back centuries and is where

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. ...

's fleet was built as well as

HMS Elephant (1786) HMS ''Elephant'' was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by George Parsons (shipbuilder), George Parsons in Bursledon, Hampshire, and launched on 24 August 1786. In late November 1790 the ship narrowly avoide ...

, from which the boatyard takes its name. Submerged remnants of the fleet can be found in the River Hamble. The village, particularly the Jolly Sailor pub and the Elephant Boatyard, were used as the primary filming venue for the 1980s

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

TV soap opera ''

Howards' Way ''Howards' Way'' is a television drama series produced by BBC Birmingham and transmitted on BBC1 between 1 September 1985 and 25 November 1990. The series deals with the personal and professional lives of the wealthy yachting and business com ...

''.

Etymology

The village was known as ''Brixendona'' or Brixenden in the 12th century, Burstlesden in the 14th century, and ''Bristelden'' in the 16th century.British History Online: 'Parishes: Bursledon', ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3'' (1908), pp. 283-84.
Date accessed: 29 June 2007. The name probably means "Hill associated with a man called Beorhtsige", from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

meaning 'bright victory' and ''dun'' meaning "hill, modern down". It is unlikely the Beohrtsige is the same individual who gave his name to

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

History

The original bridge carrying what is now the

A27 road The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 road, A36 at Whiteparish (near Salisbury, England, Salisbury) in the county of Wiltshire, follows the south coast of Hampshire and West Sussex, and terminates at Pevense ...

across the River Hamble was made of wood in 1783 and was a

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

. Bursledon's waterside position and woodland surroundings made it a natural location for building wooden ships. Numerous vessels were built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

at private shipyards at Bursledon, although a claim that two eighty-gun ships were constructed at Bursledon during the reign of

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...

is untrue. The yard owned by Philemon Ewer in the 18th century was responsible for the building of the 50-gun and the sloop in 1744, the 50-gun in 1745, the 24-gun in 1746, and the 60-gun HMS ''Anson'' in 1747 among other vessels. There is a monument to Ewer, who died in 1750, featuring a model of the ''Anson'' in the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

. George Parsons's Bursledon shipyard built a number of naval ships from 1778 to 1807, when he moved to Warsash at the mouth of the

; this included HMS ''Elephant'' launched in 1786, which carried

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

to the Battle of Copenhagen. Although most of the construction of these ships was carried out in Bursledon, they were sailed after their launchings to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

to be sheathed in

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

there. By the 1870s, the shipbuilding trade had disappeared from Bursledon and the main industry was arable

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, particularly the growing of

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

. The Bursledon Brickworks, based in the village of Swanwick (now in the

Borough of Fareham The Borough of Fareham is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Fareham. Other places within the borough include Portcheste ...

), was founded in 1897 and produced the famous Fareham red brick. Today it is the last surviving example of a Victorian

steam-powered A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tra ...

brickworks in the country.Fareham Borough Council: Bursledon Brickworks
Accessed 29 June 2007 The brickworks were sold to Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust and can be visited as the Bursledon Brickworks Museum. Due to increased traffic, in 1933-5 the old wooden bridge was replaced with the present three-span concrete structure. In the 1970s a further bridge was built to the north to carry 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 moto ...

People

Notable people from Bursledon include: *

Claude Grahame-White Claude Grahame-White (21 August 1879 – 19 August 1959) was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the ''Daily Mail''-sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race. Early life Claude Grahame-White was born ...

, aviation pioneer and aircraft manufacturer. *

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, and from 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the so ...

(1910—2006), first-class cricketer and British Army officer *Nicholas Armstrong, artistic director of the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra.

Folklore and local legends

According to local legend, the old Victorian bridge over the railway line on Coal Park Lane is haunted by the ghost of Polly Crook whose love of distilled apple cider and clay pipe caused her to accidentally ignite herself on this spot.

References

External links