Rowlands Castle is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 2.9 miles (4.7 km) north of Havant, on the Hampshire/West Sussex border.

The focal point of the village is the village green which is shaped somewhat like a lung. Surrounded by roads it is about long and about wide at its eastern end while tapering to almost a point at the western end near the railway arch.

The village takes its name from a motte-and-bailey castle, the remains of which are situated to the south of Redhill Road and west of the railway line, east of the current centre of the village.

History

Evidence the Romans made pottery, brick and tiles in the Rowland's Castle vicinity has been uncovered, and this would have been aided due to the availability of suitable clay. but was abandoned by the 15th century. The site was damaged by the railway and quarrying in the 19th century, and now only the earthworks and a few small areas of wall remain.

Facilities

It is largely a quiet residential village, with two pubs and a few small shops, including a hardware store and a local convenience store.

A model railway depicting the village during the war has been created and is on display at nearby Stansted House.

Church on the Green

The Church on the Green United Reformed Church is prominent at the west end of the green.

St. Hubert's chapel

thumb|St Hubert's Chapel

St Hubert's chapel or church is in the far north of the civil parish, Idsworth. It was built in 1053 and was originally dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. It is a Grade I listed building, listed on 16 March 1954. The chapel contains examples of medieval paintings from around 1300 which include paintings around the altar window of St Peter, St Paul, and two angels. On the north wall there is a painting of St. Hubert and St John the Baptist. The narthex contains an octagonal stone font and above it is a gallery which contains the church organ.

Idsworth, based on its compact late Saxon church, was a chapelry long including Rowlands Castle and until a recent date unknown was dependent on the mother church of Chalton. Hence a dispute concerning the right to appoint the chaplain arose in 1275 between Henry de Bonynges, lord of the manor of Idsworth, who claimed it as an appurtenance, versus the prioress of Nuneaton, who made good (made out better) her right as patron of Chalton church, and therefore of the appendant chapel. The rectors of Chalton were bound from very early times to find a chaplain at the chapel to say mass on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and on double feasts throughout the year, and to administer the sacraments and other rites (except the burial of the dead) for the inhabitants of the hamlets of Idsworth "and Dene" (Horndean, or perhaps Finchdean).

Sir William Haughe, rector of Chalton, discontinued this practice in 1394 and so proceedings were taken against him in the Court of Arches by Richard Romyn, lord of Idsworth manor, and the rest of the inhabitants of the two villages before Thomas Stowe and Adam Uske, who decided that the rector was liable by custom to find a chaplain to minister in Idsworth Chapel. This "sentence" (ruling) was published by the bishop of Winchester on 1 May 1398, and confirmed by the prior and chapter of Winchester on 3 June.

To mark the year 2000 a new fresco was added to the church’s nave.

The Black Death hit the parish in 1348 after three years of reduced crops. The resulting death tol causing the adjacent village of Hartley Mauditt to be abandoned.

Sport and leisure

The village has an 18-hole golf course; the club being formed in 1902 with a 9-hole course.

  • Parish Council website
  • Rowlands Castle village website and discussion forum
  • Rowlands Castle Heritage Centre website
  • Church on the Green