Place:Rownhams, Hampshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

"ROWNHAMS, a chapelry in Nursling, Romsey, and North Baddesley parishes, Hants; 2¼ miles N N E of Redbridge [railway] station, and 4½ N W of Southampton. It was constituted [as a chapelry] in 1856; and its post town is Redbridge, under Southampton. Population: 393. Houses: 92. [Rownhams] House is the seat of Mrs. Colt. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £60. Patron: Mrs. Colt. The church is recent.

Rownhams was made a civil parish in 1897, absorbing areas previously in the parishes of Nursling, Romsey Extra and North Baddesley. In 1932 it was merged with the remainder of Nursling to make the civil parish of Nursling and Rownhams. It is now within the Test Valley District or Borough of Hampshire.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 3, chapter on Nursling. There may also be references in the chapters on Romsey and North Baddesley.
• 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