The story has long been told of two Civil War soldiers hanged in Romsey on the sign bracket of the old Swan Inn, now the Conservative Club.
During the Civil War Southampton was held by Parliament while Winchester was mostly held by the Royalists.
This led to a number of skirmishes in and around Romsey. In March 1643 Sir William Waller and his Parliamentary troops entered Romsey. They did a lot of damage within Romsey abbey church and the gunshot damage on the north transept wall was probably done at this time while the troops used the wall for target practice.
On several occasions Colonel Norton brought parliamentary troops from Southampton and garrisoned Romsey but at other times Royalist troops occupied the town. In 1643 there was a skirmish at a bridge as Parliamentary troops drove royalists back to the Market Place. In March 1644 Parliamentary troops seized Romsey while the royalist garrison was temporarily absent but were defeated when the royalists returned. Six of the Parliamentary prisoners taken turned out to be royalist deserters. Some versions of the story claim that these were the soldiers hanged outside the Swan Inn.
However, the only local contemporary evidence comes from the abbey church burial registers which record on March 13 1643: 'William Morris, a soldier, hanged upon the Swan sign post.'
Of the others buried at this time one is recorded as: 'a soldier of the King, sergeant' and two as soldiers from Hampton and with no details of the cause of death.
READ MORE: One of Winchester's best homes up for sale for £3.35 million
In Feb 1644 Richard Gold, a soldier, was 'slayne by his own musket 'per infortunam.'
In May 1645 Fairfax led a contingent of the New Model Army through Romsey and the Romsey Abbey registers record 'a soldier, name unknown, hanged for murder when Sir Thomas Fairfax through'. Other records suggest that this soldier had been found guilty of a burglary and murder in Ringwood.
So - the records give us only one soldier known to have been hanged from the Swan sign. However, the present sign does not look to be strong enough to be used for this purpose. Indeed the bracket seems to be of late 17th century design and to have the initials A H. This is probably Ambrose Hawkins, gent, recorded in Winchester College documents as their tenant at the Swan in November 1699.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here