Nursling
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Nursling is a village in the English county of Hampshire, about six kilometres north-west of the city of Southampton. Formerly called Nhutscelle (in an 8th-century life of St Boniface), then Nutshalling until the mid-19th century, it has now been absorbed into the suburbs of Southampton, although it is not officially part of the city. Technically the parish of Nursling and Rownhams falls in the Test Valley District.
At Onna (Nursling) [1] (http://www.greenflash.demon.co.uk/romap.jpg), the 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 Stony 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 reestablished, though the parish church is dedicated to St. Boniface.
![[1]](http://www.greenflash.demon.co.uk/romap.jpg){kind=link}
Twenty-one people lived at Hnutscilling, according to Domesday, belonging to the Bishop— probably of Winchester.
O. G. S. Crawford lived here during the Second World War, and kept much rare material from the Ordnance Survey office in Southampton in his garage. This foresight saved much important historical material from destruction when the offices were burnt out in an air raid.
The tidal mill for grinding flour has been set in working order once more.
External link
- "About Nursling" (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/dmartin/nursling.html) – a page on David and Eleanor Martin's website
- Nursling (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~villages/nursling.htm)