Botley's History
Botley village originally developed because it was a natural crossing point for the river Hamble. Up to 1797, when a bridge was first built, all traffic had to use a ford across the river by the mill because of tidal flow some travellers had to wait up to 6 hours in the village when the tide was high. To pass the time there were up to 14 pubs in the village. Later a toll bridge was built further down stream at Bursledon.
Botley was on the route of the Northam bridge turnpike which linked to the London and Southampton turnpike and led from Curdridge Common east of Botley to Corehampton. William Cobbett was a participator in the turnpike between Botley and Winchester which was intended to give better access to local markets. Coaching Inns such as The Dolphin and The Bugle were built in the square. The Bugle Inn remodernised in the 18th century, can be traced back to 1652 when it was owned by Thomas Strong.
Please see the 6 videos and the story (below), all about William Cobbett...
William Cobbett's 'Rural Rides' (1821-6) criss-crossed the southern counties Surrey, Hampshire, Wiltshire. Appropriately they began at the highest point in south east England: Leith Hill, from where a rolling panorama unfolds in every direction.
At the time, England was in flux. The Napoleonic Wars were over, but returning soldiers found the countryside no longer had jobs for them. Cobbett was convinced this was endemic of a nation tearing its own heart out that heart being agriculture.
In this journey, Nick tries to find out if Cobbett was right or wrong. Were the advances in agriculture destroying 'old England', or was Cobbett just a traditionalist railing against progess? Is anything left of Cobbett's countryside and why did his journey nearly land him in prison?
Born in Surrey in 1763, Cobbett spent nearly 20 years overseas with the army. Returning in 1800, he became convinced the agricultural England he'd loved was being destroyed. His campaigning grew, until, aged nearly 60, he began his rural rides to prove his case.
These confirmed Cobbett as one of the Industrial Revolution's most committed agitators. A radical, adventurer and sharp-tongued political journalist, he wrote 30 million words during his career and gave the depressed countryside a voice.
In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Botley like this:
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.
Botley through time:
For the best overall sense of how the area containing Botley has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Eastleigh. More detailed statistical data are available under Historical units & statistics for administrative units named after or covering Botley.
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