Rownhams is a village in the

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 ...

of Nursling and Rownhams, in the

Test Valley Test Valley is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England, named after the valley of the River Test. The council is based in the borough's largest town of Andover. The borough also contains the town of Romsey and nume ...

district, 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, situated just outside the boundaries of 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, ...

, to the north-west. Rownhams services is a nearby service station on 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 ...

that runs to the north of the village. The village consists of over 1200 homes. Rownhams house, a Georgian mansion, is now a business park and wedding venue, The parish church is St John the Evangelist. There is a community centre, a primary school, two pre-schools and a hairdressing salon. The village is planned to grow in the next few years as several planning applications are either in the system or have been approved. For many years the parish and village has been combined with Nursling and also Toothill, which were once separate independent villages. Hence, for example, the churches are joined in the joint parish of Nursling and Rownhams with one incumbent and run by one parochial church council. The village has been twinned with the village of Percy-en-Auge in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

since 1988. Many of the activities and facilities are shared between Rownhams and Nursling, e.g. Ladies' night, two Brownie packs, a full set of groups of Scouts, a friendship club for "senior residents", Retired Men's Fellowship and a toddler group. Also a badminton club, an amateur astronomers' group, who use an observatory at Toothill, a writers' group, "Coffee Break" - a drop in for anybody home alone, a carer or being cared for in the community, and a dance school.

History

Rownhams was formerly a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parishes of Nursling,

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 ...

and North Baddesley, on 1 October 1897 became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form "Nursling and Rownhams". In 1931 the parish had a population of 540.

References

External links

Nursling and Rownhams History Group
Local History in Nursling and Rownhams, Hampshire
Romsey Local History Society
Local History in Romsey and its surrounding area {{authority control Villages in Hampshire Former civil parishes in Hampshire Test Valley Southampton