By Tim Lambert
Romsey in the Middle Ages
Dedicated to Gabriella Bowe-Peckham
Romsey is a market town in Hampshire in Southern England. Romsey began as a Saxon village. The place name Romsey is probably a corruption of Rum’s eg which means Rum’s area of dry land surrounded by marsh.
In 907 AD a Benedictine abbey was founded at Romsey. The abbey stimulated the growth of Romsey because the nuns were a market for goods made or grown in the village. The Danes burnt Romsey Abbey in 993 but it was soon rebuilt. Later a market began outside the abbey gates and Romsey grew into a town.
In the early 12th century Henry I (1100-1135) gave the people of Romsey a charter (a document granting the townspeople certain rights). The charter confirmed the town’s right to hold a market on Sunday and the right to hold a fair for 4 days in May.
In the Middle Ages fairs were like markets but they were held only once a year for a few days. Fairs attracted buyers and sellers from a wide area. In the 13th century, Henry III gave Romsey the right to hold another fair each October. King John’s House was built in the mid 13th century. (It was once thought to be a hunting lodge built by King John but in fact, it was built after his death).
In the Middle Ages Romsey may have had a population of 1,000. That seems very small to us but towns were very small in those days. A typical village had only 100 or 150 inhabitants. By the standards of the time, Romsey was a small but busy town.
In Medieval Romsey, the main industry was making wool. The wool was woven then it was fulled. This means wool was pounded in water to thicken and clean it. Wooden hammers worked by watermills pounded the wool. The wool was then dyed and sent to nearby Southampton for export.
Another industry in Romsey was leather tanning. The leather was sent to Southampton to be made into artefacts such as shoes and bottles.
Romsey prospered until 1348-49 when the Black Death struck. It may have killed half the population of the town. The Abbey never recovered.
In the Middle Ages, there was a leper hospital just outside Romsey in the Middle Ages but this dreaded disease declined by the early 16th century.
Romsey in the 16th century and 17th century
In 1539 Henry VIII closed Romsey Abbey. However, in 1544 the townspeople purchased the Abbey Church for 100 pounds.
Like all towns in those days, Romsey suffered from outbreaks of plague. It struck in 1526 but Roms