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Titchfield Abbey |
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lost port
These spectacular ruins located over two miles from the coast seem to have little connection with the sea. And yet near their foot once stood a busy port whose history and fate was intertwined with the Abbey and its owners. Titchfield was originally at the head of the Meon Estuary , an estuary ideally suited for trading links with France. It was this potential for seaborne trade that probably attracted the Bishop of Winchester to the location when looking for a site for his abbey. Once founded the wealth and commercial activity of the Canons would have built up the healthy level of trade that kept Titchfield busy as a port. With the dissolution some of this trade was lost and the ports future became controlled by its new owners the Earls of Southampton. The third of these Earls changed the landscape forever with the blocking damming of the estuary breaking Titchfields link with the sea. The canal that was built did not succeed in keeping the village open as a port and today no signs of the past links with the sea exist. |
A few dates
in the Abbeys History
1120:The Premonstratensian order was founded in at Laon in France by St Norbet,. 1232 :This Abbey was founded in by Peter des Roches the Bishop of Winchester. It was a Premonstratensian community was founded by a group of Canons from near Birmingham 14cent:Plague depressed trade . 1537:The Abbey was handed over to Henry VIII's commissioners and the canons expelled with pensions. At the dissoulution the Cannons owned 14 manors covering 104000 acres of land. The abbey was given to Thomas Wriothesley who was given the title the first Earl of Southampton. 1542:The Abbey was then converted into his private house which was completed by It was a grand house called place house with ranges built around the former cloister. 1605:The third Earl had Iron works built at Funtley and the Iron shipped via Titchfield. 1611 The Harbour was silting up the Earl had a canal and seawall built . 1741: the house was sold to the Deleme family 1781: much was demolished. |
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Famous guests This houses location near Southampton and Portsmouth made it a convenient stopping place for journeys to the continent. Royal visitors included Edward VI, Elizabeth I and Charles . It is also possible that William Shakespeare performed some of his plays in the building as the third Earl being one of his patrons . The end of one war and the start if another. The Marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou occurred here in in 1445.This marriage was arranged to confirm a truce between France and England during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) . Margaret indirectly ruled the country through her weak Husband and later became involved in the armed struggle for her Son's succession to the Crown, a struggle that we now call the War of the Roses. The Building today
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| Other suggested TeamManley
pages
Landmarks with Dissolution links Landmarks with religious links |
References
Titchfields canal:Ken Davies:CPC Publications The Birds of Titchfield Haven:Barry Duffin Information boards on the site Exploring Hampshire's coast:Hampshire Recreation The Solent Shore:Hampshire Recreation |