Place:Melchet Park, Hampshire, England

Watchers
NameMelchet Park
TypeExtra parochial area, Civil parish
Coordinates50.998°N 1.594°W
Located inHampshire, England     (1895 - )
Also located inWiltshire, England     ( - 1895)
See alsoAlderbury Hundred, Wiltshire, Englandancient county division in which it was located
Romsey Rural, Hampshire, Englandrural district in which it was located 1894-1932
Melchet Park and Plaitford, Hampshire, Englandcivil parish to which it was transferred in 1932
Test Valley District, Hampshire, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog

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

"MELCHET PARK, an extra-parochial tract in Alderbury [registration] district, Wilts; 9½ miles SE of Salisbury. Acres: 830. Population: 31. It was formerly a royal forest; was purchased in 1783 by Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton; contains a mansion on an elevated site, commanding an extensive and charming view; and has, on an eminence, a Hondo temple, erected in 1800, after designs by Daniel, to the memory of Warren Hastings."

Melchet Park was an extra-parochial area until 1858 and a civil parish from 1858 until 1932. To begin with it was located in Wiltshire but was transferred to Hampshire in 1895. It was part of the Alderbury Hundred of Wiltshire, but of the Romsey Rural District in Hampshire beginning in 1895. In 1932 it was merged with the neighbouring parish of Plaitford to become Melchet Park and Plaitford civil parish. (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time)

NOTE: There is no article on Melchet Park in Wikipedia and neither A Vision of Britain through Time nor the Victoria County History of Hampshire give a date for the move from Wiltshire to Hampshire. However, the Wikipedia article on Plaitford, a neighbouring parish, gives the date of 1895. A number of "straightenings out of county borders" across the country occurred at this time when rural and urban districts were introduced.

Research Tips

  • Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 4, chapter on Melchet Park.
  • 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):
  • A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons