Bursledon

Infobox UK place
official_name= Bursledon
country= England
region= South East England
os_grid_reference=SU488095
latitude= 50.8847
longitude= -1.3117
post_town= SOUTHAMPTON
postcode_area= SO
postcode_district= SO31
dial_code= 023
constituency_westminster= Eastleigh
civil_parish= Bursledon
shire_district= Eastleigh
shire_county= Hampshire
website= [http://www.bursledon.org/ Bursledon Parish Council]

Bursledon is a village on the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It is located within the borough of Eastleigh. Close to the city of Southampton, Bursledon has a railway station, a marina, dockyards and the Bursledon Windmill. Nearby villages include Swanwick, Hamble-le-Rice, Netley and Sarisbury Green.

The village has close ties to the sea. The elephant boat yard located in Old Bursledon dates back centuries and is where Henry VIII's fleet was built. Submerged remnants of the fleet can be found in the River Hamble. The village, particularly the Jolly Sailor Pub and the Elephant Boat, were used as the primary filming venue for the 1980s BBC TV soap opera "Howards' Way". [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134250/ Internet Movie Database: Howard's Way] Accessed 29th April 2007] One of the more prominent family names responsible for building modern day Bursledon is the Hills of Springfield Manor.

Etymology

The village was known as "Brixendona"cite book |last=Mills |first=A.D. |title= Dictionary of English Place-Names |origyear=1998 |edition=Second edition |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |language=English |isbn=0-19-280074-4 |pages=64 ] or Brixenden in the 12th century, Burstlesden in the 14th century, and "Bristelden" in the 16th century. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=41969 British History Online: 'Parishes: Bursledon', "A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3" (1908), pp. 283-84.] Date accessed: 29 June 2007.] The name probably means "Hill associated with a man called Beorhtsige", from Old English personal name meaning 'bright victory' and "dun" meaning "hill, modern down". It is unlikely the Beohrtsige is the same individual who gave his name to Brixton in South London.

History

The original bridge carrying what is now the A27 road across the River Hamble was made of wood in 1783, and was a toll bridge. Bursledon's waterside position and woodland surroundings made it a natural location for building wooden ships. During the reign of William IV, two eighty-gun ships are thought to have been constructed at Bursledon. As well as Royal Navy shipbuilding, there were private shipyards at Bursledon; one yard owned by Philemon Ewer in the 18th century was responsible for the building of HMS "Anson" among other vessels. There is a monument to Ewer featuring a model of "Anson" in the parish church. Henry and George Parsons' Bursledon shipyard launched HMS "Elephant", which carried Nelson to the Battle of Copenhagen. Although most of the construction of these ships was carried out in Bursledon, they were transported to Portsmouth to be sheathed in copper there.

By the 1870s, the shipbuilding trade had disappeared from Bursledon and the main industry was arable agriculture, particularly the growing of strawberries. [ [http://vision.edina.ac.uk:8698/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=3985 Bursledon Hampshire Through Time] Accessed 29th June 2007]

The Bursledon Brickworks, now in the Borough of Fareham, was founded in 1897 and is today the last surviving example of a Victorian steam powered brickworks in the country. [ [http://www.fareham.gov.uk/town/activities/places/bursledonbrickworks.asp Fareham Borough Council: Bursledon Brickworks] Accessed 29th June 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.bursledon.org/ Official site (Parish Council)]
* [http://www.hants.gov.uk/museum/windmill/ Bursledon Windmill]
* [http://www.hamblevalley.com/bursledon.htm Hamble Valley: Bursledon]
* [http://www.bursledonregatta.co.uk/ Swanwick, Burseldon and Warsash Regatta]
* [http://www.hants.gov.uk/bursledonparish/ Bursledon Parish Church]
* [http://www.gaf.org.uk/ Greyladyes Arts Foundation]