Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for NETLEY, or Netley-Abbey

NETLEY, or Netley-Abbey, a tything in Hound parish, Hants; on the N E side of Southampton water, at the terminus of the Southampton and Netley railway, 3¼ miles S E of Southampton. It has a post-office, of the name of Netley-Abbey, under Southampton, a railway station, and a hotel; contains ruins of an ancientabbey, a transmuted old castle, and a great recent military hospital; and is a favourite resort of transientvisitors and pleasure parties. The name Netley is possibly a corruption of Natan-Leaga, the Saxon designation of a great wooded tract, probably more or less identicalwith the New Forest; but has been generally regardedas a transmutation of Letley, and as derived from the Latin Lætus Locus, or de læto loco, signifying "thehappy spot." The scenery was naturally very fine; itbecame much enhanced by the artificial features, particularly those of the abbey; and it now presents its oldattractions in altered forms, and has acquired new ones. The abbey ruins have been denuded of much overshadowing wood, and have been otherwise changed; the oldcastle, which was one of those built by Henry VIII. for the protection of the southern coast, has been convertedinto a private residence; and the military hospital, withvast extent of masonry and with striking embellishments, has been erected; but the scenic features, in most otherrespects, continue to be what they were when Horace Walpole wrote in 1755. How, says he, "shall I describe Netley to yon? I can only by telling yon it is the spot in the world which I and Mr. Chute wish. The ruins are vast, and retain fragments of beautiful frettedroof pendent in the air, with all variety of Gothic patterns of windows wrapped round and round with ivy. Manytrees are sprouted up among the walls, and only want tobe increased with cypresses. A hill rises above theabbey, encircled with wood. The fort, in which wewould build a tower for habitation, remains with twosmall platforms. This little castle is buried from theabbey in a wood, in the very centre, on the edge of thehill. On each side breaks in the view of the Southampton sea, deep blue, glistening with silver and vessels; onone side terminated by Southampton, on the other by Calshot Castle; and the Isle of Wight rising above theopposite hills. In short, they are not the ruins of Netleybut of Paradise. Oh! the purple abbots! what a spothad they chosen to slumber in! The scene is so beautifully tranquil, yet so lively, they seem only to have retired into the world."

The abbey was founded in the time of Henry III., either by the king himself, or by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester; was dedicated to the Virgin and to Edward the Confessor; was colonized by Cistertianmonks from Beaulieu abbey; was never so much enrichedas to have more than £100 of estimated annual revenue; was given, at the dissolution, to Sir W. Paulett, first Marquis of Winchester; passed to the son of Protector Somerset, Earl of Hertford, who here entertained Queen Elizabeth in 1560; went, in 1700, to Sir Bartlett Lucy, in whose time the church continued entire, and who soldthe materials of it to a builder of Southampton; was reduced to a state of ruin partly by that builder, partly by subsequent depredators; belongs now to T. Chamberlayne, Esq.; and underwent considerable restoration, with addition of a new small chapel of ease, in 1860-1. The ruins are extensive, present a good specimen of the architecture of their age, and are now very well kept; butthey are far from rich in architectural details; and theyowe not a little of their attraction to the mere beauty of their situation. The great gate is on the S, and opensinto the fountain or cloister court. That court is asquare of 114½ feet each way, and once had cloisters along the S, the W, and the N sides. Some domestic buildings, with marks of modern alterations, are on the S side, and part of the W side; the parlour, the refectory, thebuttery and the kitchen begin on the S part of the E side, and extend southward about 55 feet beyond the line of the S side; the passage to the inner court pierces the Eside immediately N of the parlour; the chapter-house and two sacristies are on the E side, to the N of thatpassage; the nave of the church extends along all the Nside; the rest of the church extends eastward to mid-distance of the inner court; a raised terrace, supposed to have surrounded all the inner court, extends along the N side of that court; and a ruined building, supposed to have been the abbot's lodgings. stands detached off the

N E corner of the inner court. The refectory was beneaththe dormitory; measures 45 feet by 24; is divided intotwo alleys by four pillars; and has windows of two lancetlights and foliated head-circles. The kitchen measures48 feet by 18; retains its groining, but has lost the ribs; and contains a remarkable fire-place of the 13th century. The chapter-house measures 36 feet by 36; and is divided, by four pillars, into nave and aisles. The church iscruciform; measures 211¼ feet from W to E, and 56½ feetalong the transepts; and had an E chapel in each of thetransepts, the N one now a mere fallen mass. The naveis of eight bays, the choir of five; and both have aisles. The clerestory is deeply recessed; and consists of tripletsincluded by a common arch in each bay; but there wasno triforium. The E window forms two trifoliated lights, with foliated head-circle. A tower is traditionally said to have risen from the centre, to have been crowned withlofty pinnacles, and to have served as a landmark tomariners coming up Southampton water. An inscription was found during the recent restoration, proving the abbey to have been really built during the time of Henry III.; and the tombstone of one of the monks, of date 1431, also was found. Many verses have been written on " Netley's ruins, " by Keats, Sotheby, Bowles, and others; and the following sonnet by Bowlesmay be taken as a specimen:

Fall'n pile ! I ask not what has been thy fate,-
But when the weak winds, wafted from the main,
Through each lone arch, like spirits that complain,
Come hollow to my ear, I meditate
On this world's passing pageant, and the lot
Of those who once might proudly in their prime
Have stood, with giant port; till, bow'd by time
Or injury, their ancient boast forgot,
The y might have sunk, like thee; though thus forlorn,
The y lift their head, with venerable hairs
Besprent, majestic yet, and as in scorn
Of mortal vanities and short-lived cares:
Even so dost thou, lifting thy forehead grey,
Smile at the tempest and Time's sweeping sway.

The royal military hospital is for sick and woundedsoldiers; sprang out of a lack of accommodation for suchduring the Crimean war; and was founded in 1857. It occupies 10 acres of ground; stands in a plot of about 193 acres; is situated, at a very short distance from theabbey ruins, on a high and gently sloping bank, about350 yards from high-water mark, and immediately under a prolongation of the wooded hill which rises behind theabbey; is in the decorated Italian style, of purple bricks and Portland stone; extends upwards of a quarter of a mile in length from N to S; comprises a massive and highly decorated centre, two main wings, and detachedrear buildings; is estimated to have cost, for ground, construction, and furnishing, about £500,000; and contains accommodation for 1,000 patients, besides officers, attendants, and servants. The centre is adorned with anoble portico of double columns of Portland stone; risesfour stories, with a width of 216 feet; is crowned with a dome-shaped campanile, rising to the height of 150 feet; and is chiefly appropriated to the officers, and to surgicaland medical departments, but includes bathrooms, a large swimming bath, and a library. The two mainwings rise three stories; measure each about 600 feet inlength and 70 feet in height; have each a light ornamental belfry-tower at the extremity; look, as seen from the outside, to be almost all windows; and are appropriated to the great mass of the convalescents. The kitchen, with the cooking-offices, stands in the rear of the mainbuilding; communicates with it by a passage of coveredwindows; and is surmounted by two dining-rooms, each60 feet by 32, for such inmates as are well enough to assemble at meal-hours. The chapel is situated similarlyto the kitchen; measures 100 feet in length, 63 feet inwidth, and 50 feet in height; and has simple yet handsome and appropriate decorations. Other buildings also are in the rear, and quite detached; some of them fororderly, store, guard, ablution, and post mortem rooms; others forming the wards, each two stories high, 40 feetlong and 24 feet wide, for convalescent officers, and forconvalescents from cutaneous, febrile, or ophthalmic dis-orders. The surrounding grounds are disposed in terrace and in gardens. A monument to the officers who fell in the Crimean war was erected on the river front of thegrounds in 1865; is a beautiful structure, in the style of the beginning of the 13th century; consists chiefly of Portland stone, with columns in polished Derbyshiremarble; comprises a four-stepped base about 5 feet high, divisional pillars at the angles of the base, an octagonalarcade resting on coupled columns of polished marble, eight tablets inscribed with the names of officers, a smaller surmounting octagonal arcade also resting oncolumns of polished marble, four niches with emblematicsculptures relative to the purposes of the hospital, and aterminal column crowned with a finial large cross; and rises altogether to the height of 56 feet.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a tything"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Hound CP/AP       Hampshire AncC
Place names: NETLEY     |     NETLEY ABBEY     |     NETLEY OR NETLEY ABBEY
Place: Netley Abbey

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