Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BOTLEY

BOTLEY, a village and a parish in South Stoneham district, Hants. The village stands on the river Hamble, ½ a mile S of the Salisbury and Gosport railway, and 4½ SW of Bishop's-Waltham; and has a station on the railway, a post office† under Southampton, and a recently erected market house. A considerable trade is done in flour and timber; a fortnightly market is held on Tuesday; and fairs are held on the Tuesday before Shrove Tuesday, the Tuesday before Whit-Monday, 23 July, the Tuesday before 24th Aug., and 13 Nov. A mock trial at a public-house here, followed by the hanging of a man in jest, with the effect of hanging him to death, gave rise to the proverbial phrase of "Botley Assizes". An act was obtained in 1862 for constructing a railway, 3½ miles long, in connexion with the Southwestern, from Botley to Bishops-Waltham; the works to be completed within three years. The parish comprises 1,817 acres of land and 70 of water. Real property, £4,562. Pop., 860. Houses, 181. The property is subdivided. Botley Grange and Botley Hill are chief residences. A farm here was held by the political writer William Cobbett. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £310. Patron, Rev. J. M. Lee. The church was but in 1835, and enlarged in 1859. There is an Independent chapel.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Botley CP/AP       Eastleigh RegD/PLU       Hampshire AncC
Place: Botley

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