Rockbourne

Rockbourne is a village of thatched, brick and timber houses, next to a stream now known as Sweatfords Water. The village consists chiefly of one street almost half a mile long. The church is in the northeast of the main street. Close to the church, adjoining the north side of the churchyard, is a manorial complex consisting of small L-shaped 14th-century house, now used as part of a modern farmhouse; the remains of a large Elizabethan or Jacobean house a short distance to the east; a 13th-century chapel near its southeast angle; and a large 15th-century barn running northward from the chapel. ==History==

Rockbourne has a long history of human habitation. Three Neolithic long barrows are known within the parish boundaries, as well as the sites of over twenty Bronze Age bowl barrows. At Knoll Camp, there is also the site of an Iron Age Hill fort with a single bank and ditch. At West Park, Rockbourne Roman Villa has been excavated since the 1950s, revealing over 70 rooms, several with mosaic floors and hypocausts. The collection of finds from the site have been housed permanently in the museum building on the site, which is the only villa site in Hampshire open to the public. or perhaps Rocky stream. Saewin also held half a hide of the gift of King Edward, Rockstead had passed to Breamore Priory before 1291. It belonged to the priory at the Dissolution and was granted with its other possessions to Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter and Gertrude his wife in November 1536. Escheating to the Crown in 1539, it was granted to Anne of Cleves, but in 1548 passed to Sir Thomas Henneage and William Lord Willoughby, who in the following year sold it to William Keilway. After this date it followed the descent of Rockbourne and became merged in that manor, its name only surviving in Rockstead Farm. ==Rockbourne Roman Villa==

Rockbourne Roman villa once stood in the centre of a large farming estate, and is the largest known villa in the area. Its history spans the period from the Iron Age to the 5th century. The villa included bath houses, living quarters, farm buildings and workshops. Much of the villa is on public display and there is a site museum, with excavated artefacts, tracing the villa's history. ==Saint Andrew's church==

The 11th/12th-century church of Saint Andrew is a flint structure with a tiled roof, and a timber and wood tiled belfry. Originally cruciform, it bears the remains of an 11th-century Saxon north door and north transept arch. The church was enlarged in the 13th, 16th and 17th centuries. There is a 14th-century chantry chapel restored in the 19th century. ==Notes==