Nursling is a village in the civil parish of Nursling and Rownhams, in the Test Valley district, in Hampshire, England, about north-west of the city of Southampton. Formerly called Nhutscelle (in an 8th-century life of Saint Boniface), then Nutsall, Nutshalling or Nutshullyng until the mid-19th century, it has now been absorbed into the suburbs of Southampton, although it is not part of the district of Southampton (remaining part of the Test Valley borough).

History

thumb|left|Church of St Boniface, Nursling, Hampshire

At (Nursling) Romans erected a bridge (probably a wooden one as no trace of stone abutments remains) across the River Test, below which it widens into its estuary, and there are traces of the Roman road from Nursling to Stoney Cross. At Nhutscelle a Benedictine monastery was established in 686, the earliest Benedictine establishment in Wessex according to Bede. It became a major seat of learning, and at the end of the 7th century, Winfrith (subsequently Saint Boniface) studied here under the abbot Winberht, producing the first Latin grammar to be written in England. He left in 710 for Canterbury, returning briefly around 716 before going to Germany as a missionary. The Danes destroyed the monastery in 878 and it was never rebuilt; its exact site has not been identified, though the parish church is dedicated to St. Boniface.

Thirty households lived in Hnutscilling, according to the Domesday Survey, belonging to the Bishop of Winchester.

The church of St. Boniface largely dates from the 14th century with some 13th century possibly Saxon material.

A rectory was across the road from the church in 1778. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form "Nursling and Rownhams".

Present day

Nursling Industrial Estate, adjacent to the M271, houses several major businesses, such as Tesco, Norbert Dentressangle and Meachers, and is ably served by transport links, the motorway giving easy access to the Southampton container terminal, as well as the motorway links to London and the Midlands.

Nursling is also home to one of the two South Central Ambulance Service stations that serve the Southampton area.

Grove Place is a Grade I listed building in Nursling. Now converted into retirement apartments, the building was originally a country house and was converted into a lunatic asylum, Later it became a private school, the Northcliffe School for boys, then, later, the Atherley girls' school, before being developed for its present purpose.

References

  • Parish of Nursling and Rownhams
  • Nursling and Rownhams History Group Local History in Nursling and Rownhams, Hampshire
  • St Boniface Church, Nursling
  • Romsey Local History Society Local History in Romsey and its surrounding area
  • Nursling, A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1908.