Place:Mottisfont, Hampshire, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Mottisfont is a village and civil parish in the Test Valley District of Hampshire, approximately 7 km north west of Romsey. The village is best known as the location of Mottisfont Abbey (see Wilson's Gazetteer description below). Much of the surrounding land, which is part of the Mottisfont Estate, and several other buildings in the village, are in the care of the National Trust.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Mottisfont from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"MOTTISFONT, a village and a parish in Romsey [registration] district, Hants. The village stands adjacent to the river Test or Anton, near the Andover and Southampton railway, 4½ miles NW of Romsey; and has a station on the railway, and a post office under Romsey. Acres: 2,739. Real property: £3,543. Population: 496. Houses: 110. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged to an ancient local priory; was given by Henry VIII. to Lord Sandys, in exchange for the manor of Chelsea; passed by marriage, in the beginning of last century, to the family of Mill; and belongs now to Lady Mill. The priory probably originated in the Saxon times; is usually said to have been founded by Ralph Flambord, Prior of Christ Church, and afterwards Bishop of Durham; was made Augustinian by William de Briwere, in the time of King John; and received large benefactions from Eleanor, queen of Edward I. Mottisfont House, the seat of Lady Mill, stands on the site of the priory; retains cellars and some part of the cloisters of the priory; and contains an ancient painting representing two events in the life of Thomas Aquinas. The living is a rectory, united with the [perpetual] curacies of Lockerley and East-Dean, in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £900. Patron: the Rev. Paulet St. John. The church is ancient, with wooden belfry; and was reported in 1859 as not good."

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 4, chapter on Mottisfont.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons