The Parish of Nursling

The Parish of Nursling

A Study of the Parish of Nursling in the County of Hampshire, or sometime known as the County of Southamptonshire.

I refer you to the Millbrook One Place Study in the first instance. That has a lot of the background information which would be repetitive if just repeated here. 

Nursling has also been called Nutshalling as can be seen in the Ordnance Survey drawing held at the British Library. Nutshalling is circled in blue. The nearby Grove Place is circled in green, the seat of Sir Charles Mills. Shirley, in the adjacent parish of Millbrook is circled in orange.

Before delving deeper, some information about the Ordnance Survey drawing held at the British Library. The British Library has also made the drawing available on Wikimedia  The surveyor was: Crocker, Edmund - Medium: Pen and ink on paper - Date: 1806.

British Library notes;

This drawing was completed in 1806. The detail with which it records the road network is greater than in previous maps - testimony to the Ordnance Survey's urgency and military intent. The Roman road from Winchester to Old Sarum is marked running from the top left of the map, with smaller sections of the road shown in the Chilworth area. The origin and terminus of these roads are also noted. A line with a circle at each end leads from the margins of the map to Morstead. This line was used to plot locations and landmarks. Several "Ancient Entrenchments" are marked, notably an iron-age hillfort near Winchester called St. Catherine's Hill. The fort is indicated by concentric rings of dark, cross-hatched strokes ('hachures'). Week Turnpike Gate is marked on the road between Week and Winchester.

The recording of a dog kennel above Little Sombourne and bathing houses on the coast between Southampton and Redbridge reveal the meticulousness of the Survey, and perhaps too the interests of the draughtsman.

The map below is an extract of the map referred to in the British Library notes.

 Not circled, but the following can also be seen on this map extract. Lordswood, Roundhams {Rownhams}, and Toothill, with the Telegraph. Together with a few named houses, Springford Cottage, Aldermore Lodge, Roundham House, Upton House, and Chilworth House,

This is the same Drawing referred to above but zooming to Grove Place and Nutshalling. 

We are getting ahead of ourselves. Below we jump further back in time, to maps between 1575 and 1788. Nursling, or a variation of spelling of same, is shown on all the maps, despite how very small the village was.

Old Hampshire Mapped website - Snippets of Maps for the OS area reference SU31

Saxton 1575	Norden 1595
Norden 1607	Speed 1611
Morden 1695	Kitchen 1751
Harrison 1788
The names and dates refer to the originator of the map and date.
Click the link to go to the Old Hampshire Mapped website for more information.
See how much the skill of mapping has changed over time.

 We also need to look at some old large scale maps, also from the Old Hampshire Mapped website.

 An extract of Taylor's Hampshire 1759. At 1759 this is not dissimilar to the period of interest of the article about John and Mary Mabey of Nursling. Grove Place is annotated 322.

 The Mill family were prominent in the area for a long time.

 An extract from Milne's Hampshire 1791. This map has names of prominent people added as well as places

Nutshalling / Nursling Common and Shirley Common is shown on this map. On later maps Shirley Common is much smaller, and in the area of Whiteheads Wood. 

 An extract of Greenwood's Hampshire 1826 with Nutshalling and Grove Place clearly shown.

The Parish

The maps so far show the village of Nursling or Nutshalling but not the extent of the parish.

The County of Hampshire Parishes.

 Zooming into the parish of Eling for this map, with a wash of light blue. Adjacent parishes to the North include Millbrook and Nursling. The dates indicate the early parish records.