Marchwood is a village and

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 ...

located in

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 lies between

Totton Totton is a town in the civil parish of Totton and Eling, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. In 2021 it had a population of 28,094. History The name "Totton" means 'Tot(r)ingtun' farm of 'Tot(t)a', "Totton was "Totinctone" in 98 ...

and Hythe on the western shore of

Southampton Water Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point, where the estuaries of the River Test and River Itchen meet. Along its salt marsh-fringed we ...

and directly east of 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 ...

. The population of the village in the 2011 census was 6,141.

History

Marchwood has seen human activity since

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times. The

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

from the

Calshot Calshot is a coastal village in Hampshire, England, at the west corner of Southampton Water where it joins the Solent.OS Explorer Map, New Forest, Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). History In 1539, Henry VIII ord ...

/ Lepe area passed through here on its way to

Nursling Nursling is a village in the civil parish of Nursling and Rownhams, in the Test Valley district, in Hampshire, England, about north-west of the city of Southampton. Formerly called Nhutscelle (in an 8th-century life of Saint Boniface), then N ...

(''Onna'' as it was called). Roman coins have been found at Bury Farm. The name "Marchwood" is most probably from the

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 ...

"''merecewudu''" meaning "smallage wood" ("smallage" is a term for wild

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...

). It is mentioned in 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 ...

of 1086 as "Merceode", when the manor was held by Alwin, whose father Wulfgeat held the manor before 1066.Domesday Map – Marchwood
/ref> The manor of Marchwood eventually became known as Marchwood Romsey.Victoria County History, (1912), ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5'', Eling
/ref> John de Romsey held the

vill Vill is a term used in English, Welsh and Irish history to describe a basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit� ...

of Marchwood in 1316. He was succeeded by Sir Walter Romsey of

Rockbourne Rockbourne is a village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire, close to Fordingbridge. Overview Rockbourne is a village of thatched, brick and timber houses, next to a stream now known as Sweatfords Water. The manor then passed in the same way as the manor of

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is situated northwest of Southampton, southwest of Winchester and southeast of Salisbury. It sits on the outskirts of the New Forest, just over northeast of ...

Horseys, until the death of Thomas Horsey in 1477. John Romsey of Tatchbury died in 1494 holding the manor from John Horsey, as did his son, another John Romsey who died in 1503. His son William Romsey sold the manor to Henry White. The manor passed from Robert White to his son William in 1564–5. In 1587 William White sold the manor to Nicholas Venables. William Rickman died in possession of the manor in 1599, leaving his daughter Katherine wife of David Urry his heir. A hundred years later, David Urry, described as of St. James, Westminster, sold the manor to Gilbert Serle of Leghorn, and it subsequently passed to Sir William Oglander. The manor afterwards passed into the Saunders family. One other manor close to Marchwood was called Bury (also Newton Bury). It occurs in a deed of the 13th century as the "manor of Eling called Burylond." In the 16th century it was absorbed into

Colbury Colbury is a small village in the civil parish of Ashurst and Colbury, in the New Forest district, in the county of Hampshire, England. The village lies along Deerleap Lane, near the modern village of Ashurst, in the New Forest National Park. ...

manor, and it is now represented by Bury Farm just north of Marchwood. Marchwood was at one time in the parish of Eling, and is situated in that part of the ancient parish which lies low at the mouth of the

River Test The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. The river's vall ...

, southeast of Eling village. Cracknore, in Marchwood, was the landing place of the ferry from

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, ...

long before the Hythe Ferry. There was an important

beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

site here at Beacon Hill, receiving and sending messages to both ends of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. Marchwood became a separate

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in 1843, and a

in 1894. The church was built and endowed by Horatio Francis Kingsford Holloway in 1843. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were Government

gunpowder magazine A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications re ...

s and a Metropolitan Police barracks in Marchwood. Marchwood Military Port was built here during

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 ...

, which played a vital role in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

."Marchwood: An unknown hero"
BBC News, 16 April 1999 The Royal Navy Ordnance Depot was where the famous

Mulberry harbour The Mulberry harbours were two temporary portable harbours developed by the Admiralty (United Kingdom), British Admiralty and War Office during the Second World War to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allies of ...

s were made. The port continues to service Britain's overseas military interests.

Demographics

Industry

Despite being a village, Marchwood is the home of a refuse incinerator known as Marchwood Incinerator (the remains of a previous incinerator, closed in the 1990s were finally pulled down in 2012), a

sewage works Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...

, a large military port and a natural gas fuelled

combined cycle A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

known as Marchwood Power Station. replacing an older station which was dismantled during the 1980s. The 842 megawatt facility is one of the most efficient generators of electricity in the UK at 58%

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...

. Until

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

, Marchwood was home to one of the three principal research facilities of the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

(CEGB), concentrating on heavy plant – the other facilities were at

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

and at

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

Education

Marchwood has two schools, an

infant school An infant school is a type of school or school department for young children. Today, the term is mainly used in England and Wales. In the Republic of Ireland, the first two years of primary school are called infant classes. Infant schools were ...

situated in Twiggs Lane and a

junior school A junior school is a type of school which provides primary education to children, often in the age range from 8 and 13, following attendance at an infant school, which covers the age range 5–7. Since both infant and junior schools provide pri ...

in the village centre. The nearest secondary schools are Applemore College in Dibden Purlieu and Hounsdown School in

. The village does not have a public library. Nearby libraries are in

and Hythe.

Transport

Road

Marchwood is most easily accessed by road via the A326 road (Marchwood Bypass) which runs from 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 ...

, past Totton, Marchwood and Hythe, as far as the village of Holbury. This then lets down the Access roads of Jacobs Gutter Lane, Staplewood Drive and Twiggs Lane. The main point of access from the south (towards Hythe) is Hythe Road. Bluestar operates one daytime bus route through Marchwood every hour Monday to Saturday. The 8 service goes to

via Totton in one direction and to Hythe and Calshot in the other. There is limited public transport from the village in the evenings.

Rail

Marchwood railway station opened on the Fawley Branch Line beside Main Road on 20 July 1925. The station was closed by the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

on 14 February 1966 and has remained closed since. Freight trains still operate on the line and a set of manual

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

gates are still used on Main Road.

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire in England. The council was created in 1889. The county council provides county-level services to eleven of the thirteen districts geo ...

have agreed to fund a study into reopening the Waterside line between Totton and Hythe, with a stop at Marchwood.Daily Echo: Move to reopen former rail line
/ref>

Religious sites

Marchwood has four Christian churches. The Parish Church of St. John's; The Gospel Church; New Forest Community Church; and Fijian church, which meets in the army estate, mainly for those from Fiji posted in the military houses and barracks. The churches are active in the community: The New Forest Community Church run a local coffee shop in the village centre, the "sweet soul cafe"; The Gospel Church runs a Friday afternoon cafe "refreshers", ladies' and men's social groups, and various youth and children's clubs, meeting on Sundays at 10.30am at the Infant school; and the Parish church has strong links with the local schools.

Sport

Marchwood is home to Staplewood Training Ground the training facilities of Southampton F.C. There is also Lloyds recreation ground which is home to a host of football clubs, as well as two tennis courts.

Twin settlements

* Saint-Contest, near

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, Normandy, France.

References

External links

Marchwood Parish CouncilMarchwood FeteMarchwood in the Domesday BookBBC News – Marchwood: An unknown hero

Marchwood Guides
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire