Anglo-Saxon Romsey
The Evidence in the Landscape
Romsey - A River Terrace Town
Romsey on its river terrace did not have a natural supply of running water. It took an enormous expenditure of materials and manpower, and considerable expertise, to construct an artificial watercourse for the town. In Winchester the part of the town on the floodplain of the Itchen could be provided with running water by, basically, digging ditches.
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This poster was designed for the Romsey Local History Society Anglo-Saxon project exhibition in November 2016. It contrasts the locations of the two contemporary towns.
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Click poster to enlarge.
The 1845 tithe map shows Romsey as a small, compact market town. The addition of surface water to the 3D detail highlights the difference between the town on the river terrace and the water channels and mills on the adjacent floodplain.
Central Romsey on the 1845 tithe map. The numbered locations are: 1. The site of Broad Bridge on the east branch of the Fishlake. 2. Creatures Pet Shop excavation, on the original line of the west branch of the Fishlake. 3. Saxon millstone fragments found during excavation in Bell Street. 4. Narrow Lane - excavations in the area uncovered extensive evidence of Saxon iron smelting and a Saxon stylus. 5. Abbey Mill. 6. Abbey Water, the rerouted west branch of the Fishlake and the millpond for Abbey Mill. 7. Town Mill on the east branch of the Fishlake.
Superimposing the 1845 tithe map of Romsey on a 2024 view from Google Earth shows how much the town has grown - north to the edge of the river terrace and eastwards, climbing out of the valley. Housing and industrial estates have been built on the Test floodplain, requiring extensive flood defences. In 1845 the town stopped at the western edge of the terrace.
The east branch of the Fishlake - the Holbrook
The east branch looking north from Portersbridge Street.
South of Portersbridge Street the Fishlake flows past the garden of King John’s House, Romsey’s museum. The building on the left was a latrine, making good use of the convenient waste disposal facility.
The east branch of the Fishlake runs through the gap between the buildings and into a culvert under the road. This was the location of Broad Bridge which carried traffic between the Market Place, to the left of the photo, and the road heading east away from the town, known since the early 16th century as The Hundred. Romsey is still divided into the two parishes of Romsey Infra and Romsey Extra. The boundary of Romsey Infra, the land infra pontem, below (on the abbey side) of Bradebrigge, runs from the Test along the Fishlake and its east branch, then south along Middlebridge Street and Chavy Water to the Test. The bridge and the boundary were mentioned in a writ of Henry I which says that arrangements concerning Romsey Infra were in place in the time of his father, William the Conqueror. This provides documentary proof of the Fishlake’s pre-Conquest construction.
South of The Hundred the Fishlake runs past the bus station to the site of Town Mill.
Beyond Town Mill the Fishlake tumbles off the river terrace, then continues south along Middlebridge Street.
Chavy Water is now reduced to a ditch.
The east branch of the Fishlake originally ran down Middlebridge Street and then turned east into Chavy Water and back to the Test. Later the water was diverted away from Chavy Water and channelled along the length of Middlebridge Street.
The 1867 OS town map marks the eastern boundary of Romsey Infra as a dotted line labelled Municipal Boundary. This follows the east branch of the Fishlake through Town Mill, along the top of Middlebridge Street and into Chavy Water. The boundary changes direction where Chavy Water meets the Tadburn stream. The descriptions of medieval properties south of Middlebridge Street, in Eny Street, refer to the watercourse running south to the Test as Chavy Water.
Water Power - Winchester City Mill
Winchester City Mill, the oldest working corn mill in the country, is owned by the National Trust. The water from the two wheel pits flows out under the two larger arches on the left, with a narrow channel carrying excess water between them. The water from the bypass channel passes under the mill to the right of the island.
Saxon mills would have been built on a smaller scale than their later successors, operating on a lesser flow of water but with similar requirements for water management. The City Mill in Winchester had two undershot water wheels. One of the wheels was restored to operate the millstones; the second wheel probably powered other machinery in the mill. The video shows the water flowing into the two wheel pits with the one wheel in action (now awaiting a replacement). The energy of the water is increased by the drop into the wheel pit onto the paddles. The water flows quickly along the tail race away from the wheel to avoid a drag on the paddles as the wheel turns.
An island behind the mill divides the Itchen into two channels. A weir at the end of the island raises the water level to create a mill pond. Excess water flows through the weir along the bypass channel. A mill pond is not a hole in the ground - it is water ponded behind a weir.
A longitudinal section drawing of the Fishlake from 1807 (HRO 4M92/N240/6) shows the drop in level at Romsey's Town Mill. It is labelled Town Mill Head, Lip of Tumbling Bay and Town Mill Tail. The mill would not have needed a bypass channel. Millers would have controlled the volume of water entering the Fishlake.
The west branch of the Fishlake
The west branch of the Fishlake enters the town at the Horsefair, at the north end of Church Street. It runs through the gap to the left of the white building and in front of the building on the left before disappearing into a culvert.
Looking north from the Market Place along Church Street. The west branch of the Fishlake originally ran along the line of the street. It now flows through a culvert underneath the buildings on the left.
Fragment of greensand millstone found during an excavation at 4 Bell Street.
Read more about the Bell Street millstones.
The west branch of the Fishlake reappears above ground at Abbey Water. It served as the millpond for Abbey Mill.
Late Saxon water management in Winchester. Map from Winchester An Archaeological Assessment, Patrick Ottaway, 2017, p. 208.
In late 10th/early 11th century Winchester the Old Minster, New Minster and Nunnaminster were each provided with a mill at the edge of their precincts. Water was diverted from the Itchen along the Black Ditch to flow along the streets to the minsters. All of these artificial channels were located on the river's floodplain, a less challenging project than moving water onto a river terrace. In Romsey the west branch of the Fishlake formed the east boundary of the abbey precinct and powered the abbey's mill.
Water Power at Mottisfont Abbey
Water power on a small scale can be seen at Mottisfont Abbey, a National Trust property on the west side of the Test north of Romsey. The Augustinian priory founded there in the early 13th century was dissolved in 1536 and rebuilt as a large country house. At some point in the history of the site, water was channelled to flow along the edge of the floodplain and was used to run a small mill.
The site of a mill, which had two undershot wheels, is downstream from the bridge near the National Trust visitor centre. An island divides the flow, with the water on the right dropping into the wheel pits.
A weir adjacent to the mill raises the water level to create the mill pond.
The cannalised Test water flows towards the bridge and mill. This example of water management would have involved considerable effort. The water is retained within artificial banks.
Eny Street - Romsey’s Lost Housing Estate
Local historians have puzzled over records of properties located on Eny Street, houses and gardens owned by prominent Romsey landowners in the 13th to 15th centuries that seem to have disappeared without trace. One of the earliest mentions in the Winchester College archives dates from c.1272 in the reign of Edward I:
Thomas Viscod of Romsey to John de la Munte of my tenement with garden, curtilage and appurtenances in Eny St between tenement of Bartholomew le Saltere N and one which was of Walter le Pottere.
In 1317 John atte Monte granted to Nicholas atte Monte all his lands and tenements in Romsey in Eny villata, a word denoting a section of housing within a town. In 1320 William Libias of Romsey and his wife Alice made a grant to John de Bedesle Senior of a tenement in Eny Street between tenement of William Corbyn S and tenement once of Lawrence de Solbrigge N. Five years later the property was passed on to his son John. A number of properties were granted in 1335 by Albreda, widow of Nicholas Spencer of Romsey, to Alexander de Solrigge and Jan his wife including a garden with a house on it in Eny St in W part called "la Boresheye"; another garden in E part of same street; a third one there next garden of William Corbins; a fourth garden in garden called "la Wodehey" in Eny St.
A grant of 1421/2 provides information on the location of Eny Street with the mention of properties extending east from Eny Street to Chavy Water:
Grant by Richard Symmes and John Baldewyn alias Spicer to John Shotter of Romsey of 2 tofts with 2 gardens adjacent in Eny St, of which one is between Eny St W, "Chavy water" E, garden called "Alyn Samson" N and garden called A “Lawforde" S, other is between Eny St W, "Chavy water" E and garden of said John Shotter N.
Property transactions in the 16th century refer to parcels of land or acres of meadow in Eny Lane. Eny had lost its urban status, no longer a residential area on a street but land alongside a lane. A 1535 grant by Sir John Tuchett, Lord of Audeley, to John Salte of Romsey included a 1 acre meadow in Eny between Eny Lane W, land of John Kechener N and S and "Chavey Water" E and a parcel of land called "Boreshey" in Eny between Eny Lane E, land of John Kechener S and River Test W. In 1335 la Boresheye had been described as a house and garden in Eny Street.
Details of the various properties described over several centuries places Eny south of Middlebridge Street, bounded on the west by the Test and by Chavy Water on the east, with Eny Street/Lane running north-south between the two waterways. The name Eny was possibly derived from the word ‘between’. Chavy Water is the southern end of the east branch of the Fishlake, the outflow water from Town Mill. It formed part of the eastern boundary of Romsey Infra, turning away from Middlebridge Street and running south to the Test. Eny was a relatively large area of real estate within Romsey Infra, a valuable investment opportunity. However, over time the houses and gardens there were abandoned - the 1845 tithe map shows the former Eny villata as a large open space called Tan Yard Meadow. An examination of the landscape explains the change in land use - Eny was located on the Test floodplain. A rise in the level of the groundwater must have made the land unsuitable for habitation. The space remains open to this day.
Eny Street ran south from Middlebridge Street, to the right of the Three Tuns.
Eny appears on Google Maps as a large, green field south of Middlebridge Street.
A 3D view showing the Middlebridge Street sections of the 1867 OS town map of Romsey, combined with LiDAR and surface water. The blue arrows point to Chavy Water. Red arrows show the entrance to Eny Street beside the Three Tuns and the course of the street visible as a raised roadway in the LiDAR. The brown line marks the edge of the river terrace above the drop down to the floodplain.
3D LiDAR image with exaggerated height values. The outlines of rectangular enclosures are visible east and west of Eny Street.
1845 Romsey tithe map coloured by land use with surface water added. The map shows a contrast in land use between Romsey Infra and Extra. Buildings within small plots of land line the streets of Romsey Infra, to the west of the Fishlake. The only undeveloped ground is the former land of Eny, at this date an open space known as Tan Yard Meadow. East of the Fishlake, in Romsey Extra, there was space for plots of agricultural land (paddocks and meadow) and orchards.