THE SOMBORNES

A history of the four Somborne villages in central Hampshire; King's Somborne, Little Somborne, Up Somborne and Ashley.

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c. 44 AD: Romans conquer Belgae tribe and build road connecting Venta Belgarum (Winchester) and Old Sarum (near Salisbury), crossing River Test at Horsebridge

c. 520 AD: King Cerdic conquers the area as part of his plans to surround and take Winchester. His Gewissan kingdom will eventually be called Wessex. Pottery shards from around this time have been found in the village.

878: King Alfred defeats the Vikings at the Battle of Edington. Later in his reign, the Hundred (shire division) of Somborne will be created, responsible for providing 100 fighting men from an area stretching from Leckford to Rumfey (Romsey).

c. 925: Little Somborne church built. Though later somewhat altered, it is still mainly Saxon.

1042: Edward the Confessor becomes king. Evidence for a royal palace in the village at this time, hence the first use of 'King's' Somborne.

c. 1070: King's Somborne church rebuilt.

1082-6: Domesday Book:

Sumburne: either swine's or summer bourne (all four villages treated as one)

2 churches, 3 mills

25 villeins, 8 smallholders, 2 slaves and 7 freedmen (pop. probably c. 200)

Land for 10 ploughs, plus meadowland and pasture

William de Ow is reported to hold what later became How Park. King William I's half-brother, William Count of Mortain, also held land in the village.

1138: A castle is built at Ashley by the powerful Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and brother to King Stephen.

1155: King Henry II orders Ashley Castle to be slighted (pulled down). It is rebuilt soon after as a palace, and used by the Bishop of Winchester for the next three centuries. During Henry's reign, London replaces Winchester as capital of England. But royalty makes much use of the area, particularly when hunting in Clarendon Forest.

1190: King Richard I grants the Somborne estates to William de Briwere.

1196: En route to one of his many campaigns against King Philip II of France, King Richard I stops with the entire royal court to hear Mass at Little Somborne.

1200: William de Briwere buys hunting license from King John to enclose How Park. De Briwere also fortifies a hill at nearby Ashley.

1201: William de Briwere founds an Augustinian monastery at Mottisfont, and gifts Ashley to it. Some of the yews he had planted remain in Somborne today. He also starts expanding King's Somborne church.

1224: De Briwere becomes Bishop of Exeter. He dies in 1244, and leaves Somborne to King Henry III.

c. 1250: The old Roman road becomes a Cow Drove, basically a toll-free alternative for those driving their cattle from Wales and the West Country to Winchester and beyond.

1307: Somborne is a royal estate, and is granted the right to elect its own Member of Parliament.

1359: Princess Blanche of Lancaster marries her cousin John of Gaunt (Ghent), third son to King Edward III. She dies of the plague in 1369, and he inherits How Park, where he often hunts.

1398: Duke John dies, and King Richard II (his nephew) seizes his estates. The following year John's son returns, deposes Richard, and is crowned Henry IV. Richard is murdered soon after.

1495: The oldest surviving bell is installed in the church.

1537: Dissolution of the Monasteries. Mottisfont Abbey is destroyed.

1603: King James I stays at the manor house, and knights Richard Gifford.

1649: Execution of King Charles I. Parliament seizes all his lands, including Somborne.

c. 1650: Ashley Castle abandoned by the Bishops of Winchester

1794: Andover Canal opens, reducing food costs.

1832: Great Reform Act. Somborne loses its MP.

1843: Stockbridge becomes a separate parish.

1846: First school opens in King's Somborne.

1859: Canal sold to the London & South Western Railway, who built the Sprat and Winkle line over most of it. Somborne's nearest station was to be in Horsebridge.

1967: Railway closed.

1981: Population: 1333

2007: Population 1583