The old villages is to the north and the Manor house incorporates part of the Preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers which ws the Hampshire headquarters of the Order after 1365. There are several reminders of this including the place names of Zionshill and Knightwood which with the recent heavy development in the area now extends to Chandlers Ford.

The parish church is Dedicated to St John the Baptist who was the patron saint of the Knights Hospitallers.

The name of 'Bedeslei' is thought to have come from Baeddes Leah, 'Baeddi's Wood' or clearing and there are signs of earlier settlements nearby including Saxon and Roman

St John the Baptist

The parish church of St John was the centre of the village in mediaeval times and this and the Manor house can be found in a more rural area half a mile away from the 20th century village.

Just inside the gate to the graveyard graveyard are two interesting memorial stones which relate the tale of Robert came across found two men poaching at Toothill. One of the men, Charles Smith, fired his gun at the keeper at point blank range and wounded him seriously in the thigh

 
The two gravestones commemorating the execution of Charles Smith

Both men managed to escape and it was many months later that Smith was caught and condemned to death at Winchester Assizes. This was when the Game Laws were very severe and punishment was just as severe. Palmerston tried  to get the sentence changed to a prison term but failed, and Smith was duly hanged.

A social reformer and writer at the time William Cobbett felt that Smith had been a victim of oppression and erected the gravestone. The second gravestone appeared many years after the death of Lord Palmerston and this was put up by his grandson Evelyn Ashley in an attempt to absolve the family from any blame. Whether Smith is actually buried in the churchyard is not known but an entry in the Burial register gives his name date 23 March 1822 age 29.

The entrance to the church showing the war memorial on the left

After the second world war developers moved into the area and a lot of new housing was started and some small industrial businesses and this has steadily increased over the years. The temporary Nissen huts that were put up in the village at the beginning of the 20th century have now gone and some larger houses have been put in their place.

A War Grave in the churchyard had the following information and photograph beside it
		Wing commander John Scatliff Dewar, DSO,DFC was born at Mussoori, Lahore Province India in 1907 and contrary to some previously published articles was not related to the family of whisky distillers. He was educated at Kings College Canterbury and entered the service through the Royal Air Force College, at Cranwell. He was a remarkable student pilot and eventually became a test pilot at Martlesham Heath in September 1939.and took part in testing the armaments on the Spitfire prototype. He then joined 87 Squadron as its Commanding Officer  in December 1939 after his predecessor was forced to land in Belgium and was interned, and in recognition of his leadership and success in extricating the squadron in May 1940, in spite of a broken shoulder, was one of the first four officers to receive the double award of DSO and DFC. What happened on his last flight from Exeter to Tangmere on September 12th has never been determined as his body was washed up on a Sussex beach. As Commanding Officer of Exeter, he was the highest ranking officer to be killed in the Battle of Britain. The poem below was also there
HIGH FLIGHT Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swun. High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air. Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I've topped the wind swept heights with easy grace Where never lark, nor even eagle flew - And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high, untresspassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of god. John Gillespie Magee (Royal Canadian Air Force) Killed in action December 1941

The Baddesley Arms is on a traffic light controlled crossroads and opposite is a small supermarket which holds the village post office and the centre of the village seems to be here. A chemical company has a small branch on one of the side roads behind the post office on a large housing estate. If the traveller continues to the end of the road through this estate to the junction at the bottom and turns left towards Southampton he will arrive at Toothill where there was once a telegraph station now replaced by a radio mast, turning right at that junciton you will find the Bedes Lea public house also flanked by housing and a small group of shops.

The streets are named after families that have owned the manor of Baddesley, Seymour Parade named after the family of Jane Seymour, Mortimer Down from the Earls of March who owned the manor during the reign of Richard II, Chamberlayne Court after the last owners and Launcelyn Close and Tottehale Close from the Preceptors of the Knight Hospitallers.

ST JOHN'S CHURCH HISTORY
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