Romsey is a small market town in the county of Hampshire. It is 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Southampton and 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Winchester. Just under 15,000 people live in Romsey, which has an area of about 4.93 square kilometres.

Romsey lies on the River Test, which is famous for fly fishing, predominantly trout. It is one of the principal towns in the Test Valley Borough. A large Norman abbey dominates the centre of the town.

Romsey was home of the late Lord Mountbatten of Burma, the 19th century British prime minister Lord Palmerston, and the 17th century philosopher and economist William Petty.

Romsey's MP has been Sandra Gidley of the Liberal Democrats since a by-election in 2000 after the previous Conservative MP Michael Colvin died with his wife in a house fire. Gidley's majority was cut to 125 votes in the 2005 General Election, possibly because she was targeted by supporters of fox hunting.

Romsey is twinned with Paimpol in Brittany, France, and Battenberg, Germany.

What was to become Romsey Abbey was founded in 907 AD. Nuns, led by Elflaeda daughter of Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great, founded a community - at his direction - in what was then a small village. Later, King Edgar refounded the nunnery, circa 960 AD, as a Benedictine house under the rule of St. Ethelflaeda whose devotional acts included chanting psalms while standing naked in the cold water of the River Test.

The village swelled alongside the religious community. The Vikings sacked Romsey in 993 AD, burning down the church. But the village recovered, and the abbey was rebuilt in stone in circa 1000 AD. The religious community flourished as a seat of learning, especially for the children of the nobility. A market was established outside the abbey gates.

The Normans built the large current abbey that dominates the town (between c. 1120 and 1140 AD) on the site of the original Saxon church. By 1240 AD, 100 nuns lived in the convent.

King Henry I granted Romsey its first charter. This allowed a market to be held every Sunday, and a four-day annual fair in May. In the 13th century, Henry III permitted an additional fair in October.

The lucrative woollen industry appears to have powered Romsey's growth during the Middle Ages. Wool was woven and then fulled or pounded with wooden hammers whilst being washed. It was dyed, and then exported from nearby Southampton.

Romsey continued to grow and prosper until plague struck the town in 1348-9. The Black Death is thought to have killed up to half of the Romsey's population of 1000. The number of nuns fell as low as 19. Prosperity never returned to the abbey. It was finally suppressed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Many religious buildings were destroyed during this time.

But the abbey was saved from demolition because part of it was a parish church for the people of Romsey. The town purchased the abbey from the Crown for £100 in 1544. Ironically, the part of the abbey that had saved the abbey, the church of St Lawrence, was then demolished.

By the mid-16th century Romsey's population was about 1,500; its woollen and tanning industries fuelled growth. On 6 April 1607 King James I granted the town a charter making it a borough. This gave official status to an informal local government that had been running the affairs of the town since the Dissolution of Romsey Abbey in 1539. Romsey could now have a corporation comprising a mayor, six aldermen and twelve chief burgesses, with a town clerk for 'office work'. Furthermore, there was to be a local law court under a Court Recorder, assisted by two sergeants-at-mace. Over all, was the prestigious position of High Steward, the first of whom was the Earl of Southampton. (Lord Brabourne, grandson of Lord Mountbatten of Burma, is the current High Steward.)

Romsey changed hands several times during the English Civil War. Both Royalist and Parliamentary or Roundhead troops occupied and plundered the town. Royalists remained in control of the borough until January 1645.

The town's woollen industry survived until the middle of the 18th century, but was beaten by competition from the north of England. But new fast-growing enterprises soon filled the gap with brewing, papermaking and sackmaking, all reliant upon the abundant waters of the Test.

By 1794 a canal connected Romsey to Redbridge - at the mouth of the River Test - and Andover. Industry continued to grow. Romsey was a reasonably large town for the early 19th century: its population was 4,274 in the first census of 1801, compared with just 8,000 for Southampton.

But expansion slowed, despite the railway arriving in 1847. In 1851 Romsey's population was 5,654 and was almost the same half a century later (5,597 in the 1901 census).

Lord Palmerston, the 19th century British Prime Minister, was born and lived at Broadlands, a large country estate on the outskirts of the town. His statue stands in the Market Place outside the Town Hall.

The Willis Fleming family of North Stoneham were major landowners at Romsey from the 17th until early 20th centuries, and were lords of the manors of Romsey Infra and Romsey Extra.

Romsey was famous for making collapsible boats during the 19th and early 20th centuries, invented by the Rev. Edward Lyon Berthon in 1851. The Berthon Boatyard in Romsey made the boats from 1870 until 1917. They were used as lifeboats on ocean-going liners, including the Titanic.

Broadlands later became the home of Lord Mountbatten of Burma, known locally as "Lord Louis". He was buried in Romsey Abbey after being killed in an IRA bomb explosion in Ireland on 27 August 1979. In 1947, Mountbatten was given his earldom and the lesser title "Baron Romsey, of Romsey in the County of Southampton".

After Lord Mountbatten of Burma died, his titles passed to his elder daughter, Lady Brabourne, who thus became Lady Mountbatten of Burma. Her eldest son was styled by the courtesy title "Lord Romsey" until he inherited the title of Lord Brabourne in 2005.

The Prince and Princess of Wales spent the first night of their honeymoon at Broadlands.

During 2007 Romsey celebrated the 400th Anniversary of the granting of its Charter by King James I with a programme of events from March through September, including a visit on 8 June from the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Subsequently. the cost of the visit has created some local political controversy.

Romsey today appears to be in sound economic health. Whilst there is significant commuting out of the town for work - particularly to Southampton and Winchester, and also, to some extent, London - it could not be described as a dormitory town.

Whilst heavy industry in the town has long since declined, three industrial and trading estates focus mainly on service industries and small scale manufacturing. Three major scientific and high tech employers-Roke Manor Research, Southampton Science Park and IBM-have large establishments in the nearby countryside.

The recently-renovated town centre contains a Waitrose supermarket, a small department store, and over 100 other retail outlets of various kinds, including both high street chains and local independent shops.

Watermills have played an important part in Romsey's history as an industrial town. The Domesday Book of 1086 provides the earliest record of watermills in Romsey, which identifies three (possibly four) mills.

Sadler's Mill is probably the best known of Romsey's surviving mills and is apparently the only mill to be developed on the main course of the River Test. The existence of Sadler's Mill is first recorded in the 16th century, when it was owned by the manor of Great and Little Spursholt. Functioning as a corn and grist mill, it has passed through a succession of owners including Lord Palmerston who rebuilt it in 1747 and sold it in 1777 to one Benjamin Dawkins. Following another succession of owners it returned to the Broadlands estate in 1889. Milling ceased in 1932, when the mill building became redundant. The Broadlands estate sold the building in 2003, at which point it was close to collapse having been derelict for many years. The new owners, Anthony and Sarah de Sigley, restored the building in 2005, rebuilding much of the original structure. During the restoration evidence of an earlier structure was found; carbon 14 dating established the age of this to be circa 1650.

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