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Romsey King Johns House
In the civil parish of Romsey.
In the historic county of Hampshire (Modern Authority of Hampshire, 1974 county of Hampshire).
In circa 1206 King John, who was devoted to hunting in the New Forest, decided to build a house for himself in Romsey which could be used as a Hunting Lodge. The building comprised a first floor hall with the lower floor divided into two rooms by a wattle and daub partition. King John's son Henry III granted the house to the Abbess of Romsey for the purpose of being converted into her Infirmary Guest House for the Abbey. It is known that the building was occupied as a Guest House in the reign of Edward I. After the Dissolution the house was used as the residence of well-to-do tradesmen, and the Tudor cottage, which forms part of it, was added. Gradually the building deteriorated and was eventually converted into three poor class cottages. A block of two-storey cottages was added at the east end at the beginning of the 18th century and the whole block came to be occupied as the parish workhouse and so remained for nearly a century. Handlooms were installed whilst the building was in use as a workhouse. It then reverted to being three individual dwellings before being discovered by Mr WJ Andrew in 1927 as King John's House. Following this discovery the building was restored to a single unit dwelling and in 1939 the adjoining C18 cottages were demolished after being condemned. In 1946 the owner decided to hand over King John's house to the inhabitants of the town for use as a museum.
This site has been described as a;
Palace.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Earthworks remains.
This site is a scheduled
monument protected by law.
This site is a
Grade 1 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 406964)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU35222127
PastScape number;
227036
County Sites and Monuments Record number; 12593
Books
- Pevsner, N. and Lloyd, D., 1973, The Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (Harmondsworth) p487
Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p983-4
Journal Articles
- 2001, Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Newsletter p27-32
Allen, Ruth, 1999, 'The Pageant of History: A Re-interpretation of 13th Century Building at King Johns House, Romsey, Hampshire.' Medieval Archaeology Vol43 p74-114
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*The listed building
may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site
of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
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