Titchfield & Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. Titchfield is a small village in southern Hampshire, by the River Meon. Close-by lie the ruins of Titchfield Abbey, a place with strong associations with Shakespeare, through his patron, the Earl of Southampton. To the East lies the town of Fareham, whilst to the south are Stubbington, Hill Head and the Solent. Westwards lie the River Hamble and Southampton.
The first people mentioned as inhabiting the area were the Jutish tribe, the Meonwara. St Peter’s Church, Titchfield, was established in about 680, so it is one of the oldest churches in England. The Domesday Book in 1086 mentions "Ticefelle": with a mill, a market and farms it was a successful community. Premonstratensian canons founded Titchfield Abbey in the 12th century, dominating the village and its surroundings for 300 years. Henry VIII dissolved the abbey in the 16th century, giving the property to a favoured politician, Thomas Wriothesley who turned it into "Place House" and took the title Earl of Southampton. Charles I was captured here before being held in Carisbrooke Castle. Shakespeare was a close friend of Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl and certainly visited; it is believed that some sonnets were written for him. The marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou was celebrated here in 1445. This marriage was arranged to confirm a truce between France and England during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). Margaret indirectly ruled the country through her weak Husband and later became involved in the armed struggle for her Son's succession to the Crown, a struggle that we now call the War of the Roses. The 116 yeare period is often viewed as one of the most significant conflicts in the history of medieval warfare. The Kings of England, who were direct descendants of William the Conqueror, at the height of their power controlled Normandy and England, along with Maine, Anjou, Touraine and Aquitaine; Gascony. The Kings of England therefore directly controlled more territory in France than the French kings The background to the conflict can be found 400 years earlier, in 911, when Frankish Carolingian ruler Charles the Simple allowed the Vikings of Rollo to settle in a part of his kingdom known afterwards as "Normandy" (after the Normans). However, by 1216, the Kings of England had lost a substantial portion of their lands in France including Normandy. They however still retained Aquitaine which had been acquired through Henry II's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine.
The River Meon is a river in Hampshire in southern England, which flows generally southwards from the South Downs to the Solent. For most of its route it is a chalk stream, with a length of 21 miles (34 km). Until late in the 16th century, the River Meon was navigable as far as Titchfield, which at that time was a significant port. However silting started to restrict the passage of ships, and in order to maintain Titchfield's status as a port, the Earl of Southampton proposed that a canal should be constructed. This canal opened in 1611 and was only the second canal existing in Britain at the time. Unfortunately the canal also suffered from silting and the sea trade moved to nearby Southampton and Portsmouth. As part of the construction of the canal, the outfall of the River Meon to the sea was dammed, creating the wetlands that now form the Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve.
Southampton is a city and major port situated on the south coast of England. It is the closest city to the New Forest, situated approximately halfway between Portsmouth and Bournemouth. Southampton lies at the northern-most point of Southampton Water where it is joined by the River Test and River Itchen, with the River Hamble joining to the south of the urban area. Although Stone Age settlements are known to have existed in the area, the first permanent settlement was established by the Romans. Known as Clausentum, it was an important trading port for the large Roman towns of Winchester and Salisbury. The Anglo-Saxons moved the centre of the town across the River Itchen to its present location, and it remained an important port. At the time, it was centred around what is now the St Mary's area, and the settlement was known as Hamwic. This name was later to evolve into Hamtun, and later still to Hampton.
