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Romsey Abbey is a Norman abbey, originally built as a Benedictine foundation, housing a community of Benedictine nuns. The abbey is open daily to visitors as well as being the Parish church of Romsey.
[edit] Yearly and Other Events
The Mayor's Picnic takes place in early-mid summer and is held in Romsey's Memorial Park. There is music performed by local schools, a variety of stalls, and the popular Duck Race, in which numbered plastic ducks 'race' each other along the river Test, to be scrupulously retrieved before awarding a prize to whoever chose the winning duck.
The Beggars Fair is held in the streets and pubs of Romsey on the 2nd Saturday in July. It is a free festival featuring all types of music, together with dance and other street entertainment.
Romsey Carnival takes place during a week in July with the highlight being the procession through the streets of Romsey on the final Saturday evening. In the last few years the number of floats and number of people turning out for the event has fallen markedly, raising fears in the local press about its future.
The Romsey Show is a large agricultural show which takes place every September at Broadlands. In addition, Broadlands has twice hosted the CLA Game Fair, the largest agricultural show in the world, most recently in July 2006.
The Winter Carnival takes places each year when Romsey's Christmas lights are switched on.
Shortly afterwards, on a Friday evening in December, to the delight of local children, Santa Claus appears on the rooftops, to be rescued by the local fire brigade, who bring a vintage fire-engine to the event. This marks the beginning of Romsey's Christmas late night shopping.
The Romsey Arts Festival occurs every 3 years, showcasing talent from local area. The next festival is due in 2008.
Romsey Charter Celebrations 1607-2007 Programme of Events run from 21st March to 30th September 2007.
[edit] People from Romsey
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[edit] Transport
Romsey is within 10 miles of both the M27 and M3 motorways, providing fast links along the south coast and to London, and to the Midlands and the North via the A34. The A36 runs a few miles west of the town, providing a direct but not particularly quick route to the West of England and South Wales. There are cycle links to Southampton.
Romsey has a railway station with frequent services (operated by First Great Western) running on the route between Portsmouth and Cardiff, via Southampton, Salisbury and Bristol.
In 2004, an hourly South West Trains local service was introduced, running to Chandler's Ford and Eastleigh and then down to Southampton and Totton. The noise from these new services attracted many complaints from local residents, who demanded their withdrawal, and there were also suggestions that some of the journeys regularly carried no passengers. However, its future is assured under the new South West Trains franchise, which saw the service altered from December 2007 to run from Romsey to Southampton via Eastleigh as currently, then back to Romsey via Millbrook and Redbridge and on to Salisbury. The result is more train services for Romsey than at any other time in its history, with particular improvements for passengers travelling to Southampton or Salisbury.
A dedicated shuttle bus links Romsey with fast London trains at Winchester. The ticket bought from the bus driver in Romsey covers the entire journey, which ironically is cheaper in some off-peak cases than an eqivalent Winchester to London ticket. The combined journey time from Romsey Bus Station to London Waterloo is just 90 minutes, making the service popular with commuters. This service is being discontinued Campaign to save bus defeated.
Other bus services are provided by Wilts and Dorset within the town and to Eastleigh and Salisbury, Solent Blue Line to Southampton and Stagecoach to Winchester.
[edit] Miscellaneous
King John's House & Tudor Cottage was allegedly a hunting lodge used by King John of England whilst hunting in the New Forest. However the existing building dates from much later. It does contain a number of extremely unusual and exciting historical features, including medieval wall decorations and graffiti as well as a floor made of animal bones.
The body of King William II "Rufus" was carried through Bell Street in Romsey on its way to Winchester, after he had been killed whilst hunting in the New Forest.
The town's memorial park contains a Japanese World War II artillery gun, one of a pair captured by the British and brought back to Romsey by Lord Mountbatten of Burma. One was donated to the town by Lord Mountbatten and the other was retained in the grounds of his country estate, Broadlands.
The town contains a swimming pool, the Romsey Rapids. The Wessex League football club Romsey Town FC play next door.
The local amateur dramatics group, RAODS is highly unusual in owning its own fully equipped 230-seat theatre, The Plaza, in which it stages about seven productions each year. The Plaza, previously a cinema and then a bingo hall, is also hired out for other local productions, concerts and functions.
In the 1980/90s, Romsey was used as the location of 'Kingsmarkham' in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. Filmed by Meridian TV, numerous Romsey locations appear throughout the series concerning Inspector Wexford played by George Baker
In the "New Years" episode of the BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous (1995), Patsy Stone and Edina Monsoon are discussing a New Year's Eve Party to which they have been invited and is so posh and exclusive that its whereabouts are unknown to all but the rich and famous. Patsy finally reveals it to be located in "an underground car park in Romsey." There is no underground car park in Romsey.
Local legend has it, that if one walks around Romsey Town Square seven times immediately after the strike of midnight, the Palmerston Statue disappears.
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(Source: Wikipedia) |