history
C 8000-6000BC The earliest occupants of the estate seem to have been Mesolithic hunter gatherers who left behind some flint tools. These were discovered accidentally by the Lower Test Valley Archaeology Group led by Prof. Andy Russell.
Although the Rownhams House lands form part of the manor of North Baddesley it seems likely that in Saxon times we were part of Nursling which was held by the Bishop of Winchester. Nursling was called ’Onna’ during Roman times and later ‘Hnutschelle’. During the Dark Ages St Boniface studied at Nursling monastery. But at some time before 1180 we appear to have changed hands.
By then the land and whatever farm buildings were on site, were held by the Lords of the Manor of
In 1338 there is a record of a farm of 80 acres with a ruined dwelling which was held by the Knights Hospitaler of St John of Jerusalem. At this time the valuation records the annual rental of the estate as 12d or 5p! Some of the brothers that attended the farm over the years were probably present at the famous ‘Siege of
According to an old document by the middle of the 18th Century the estate consisted of two dwellings with a barn, back side garden and two cherry orchards thereunto belonging and the several pieces or parcels of Arable Meadow & Coppice Land likewise thereunto belonging thereinafter mentioned that was to say Home Close, One Close adjoining to Home Close, Upper Cherry Orchard Close, Lower Cherry Orchard Close, Spring Close, Middle Close, Pleasure House Close, Cow Gates Close, Long Close, one meadow and one coppice. The reference to a‘ Pleasure House’ remains a puzzle.
In 1762 the estate was bought by a Mr Robert Barton for £1,000. He was the great nephew of Isaac Newton and nephew of Catherine Barton. Catherine was very well known in London during the 1720s; was acquainted with Sir Edmund Halley (of comet fame), Jonathan Swift, Dryden, William Hogarth and Voltaire. Robert Barton was a merchant with the Levant Company and had become British Consul in Cairo. He had married Delitia Brydges a 15 year old widow in Cyprus. He returned to England after 1749 when he had been turned out of his house by the Mameluke governor of Cairo who had tried to extort money from him by threats of violence. Ten years later the British abandoned the Cairo consulship and moved the office to Cyprus.
During May 1762 Robert had written to his brother, “...I propose myself of having a little place I can call my own & Delitia's…” The Lord of the Manor at this time was John Chute (of the Vyne) who was a friend and companion of Horace Walpole. Robert then built the main house. The dating of the adjoining Coach House has been difficult but it certainly appears to have medieval origins.
Oliver Colt died in 1845 and was succeeded by his son Major William Oliver Colt. He married a lady called Jane Eyre. Between them - and the tale is contradictory in parts - they built St John’s Church in Rownhams.
During Victorian times the grounds were frequently used for village cricket matches and school treats.
From 1903 to 1911 the property was acquired by an American couple, Charles and Ruth Farnham. Charles died at the age of 36 in Paris and his wife. Ruth sold the house in 1911 and a few years later was highly decorated for her humanitarian work in Serbia during World War One. She later became Baroness de Luze.
The 5th Lord Abinger was the next owner. He served during WW1 and leant his steam yacht to the Royal Navy. During this period the house was used to care for wounded troops. He died in 1917 when the house was bought by Horace Hanbury, son of Sir Thomas Hanbury who was described as a ‘Shanghai merchant and botanist. Sir Thomas founded La Mortella Botanical Garden in Italy.
In 1926 the house was bought by the Winstanley family whose property and lands in Leicester had been subject to a ferocious ‘compulsory purchase order’. Richard and Kathleen Winstanley had six children and a staff of sixteen. They had a pet monkey called Lil Twee Creuk, who threw flowerpots at the head gardener who habitually wore a top hat. Lil’s gravestone is still to be seen in the garden.
The property passed to the family of the present owner in 1954.
Honest Caspar.
There are several references floating about to this man, one of which describes him as a ‘Spaniard’.
Caspar was in fact a black servant who lived at Rownhams House with the Bartons. He was paid £25 p.a. to look after Delitia’s Barton’s brother, (Robert Brydges) who suffered from ill health. Caspar lived with Delitia’s family in both Constantinople and Smyrna. Caspar had two ‘natural children’, both daughters, who were still living in 1755.
There is a memorial tablet in Romsey Abbey:
Honest Caspar
To the Memory of HONEST CASPAR whose remains are near this Place deposited under a black marble slab. His many good Qualities and long and faithful Service in the Family he lived during Sixty Years Justly claim this Act of grateful remembrance from his surviving Master as also hereby commemorate to the rising Generation in his line of Life to imitate his worthy example. he dyed the 26 May 1785 aged 72 years.
The Saints Connection
John Barber, as well as running Victory Transport was also a director, and ultimately chairman, of Southampton Football Club. In the late 1950s a field - now somewhere under Betteridge Drive - was levelled and turned into a football pitch complete with floodlighting. It was used by several local football teams as well as a practice ground for the Saints. Two lucky householders must now own the penalty spots from which at least two England players practiced their penalty kicks! A typical Saints line-up at the time consisted of Charles, Davies, Traynor, Connor, Page ,Huxford, Paine, O’Brien, Reeves, Mulgrew and Sydenham. The Old Library, mentioned on page 1 of this site, was also the room in which the purchase of centre half Tony Knapp was negotiated. The transfer fee was five times the amount John Barber had paid for Rownhams House and 26 acres about 7 years earlier.
From 1954 Rownhams House was the headquarters of Victory Transport Ltd. From here a fleet of orange lorries delivered a staggering variety of goods to destinations throughout the UK - anything from dog biscuits to giraffes. From the late 1960s it became the home of Greenwoods Transport until the early 1980s when Heronfreight Ltd arrived. Heronfreight surrendered their lease of the house and grounds in order to acquire the freehold of the land on which new houses were built.
During the early 1970s two or three of the rooms were occasionally used by Southampton rock group Agnes Strange. They were frequently heard rehearsing (out of office hours!) and at their legendary volume levels!
Suggested way forward would be to demolish that old Georgian house and do a full archaeological survey on the Mesolithic site. We would be perfectly willing to construct replacement Mesolithic hut style offices for your tenants and I am sure they would be very agreeable if they are aware it is done in the name of archaeological understanding.
Keith Dawe – Lower Test Valley Arch Group May 2000
Thanks for that, Keith
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