Saxon Ringwood with its church and mill was a Royal Manor and the 'old' church was built in the 13th century and was so badly damaged during restoration that it had to be demolished and a new one rebuilt in the 1850s.

The name of Ringwood is thought to have two very different origins, one is from Rimuc Wude which is Saxon for 'at the edge of the wood' and the other is Rincvede, which is how the town is written in the Domesday Survey and means a ford (vede) over a river (rine). The town crest shows three bridges which represent the Avon.

The White Hart Hotel has connections with royalty for when Henry VII was hunting in the nearby forest a white hart was cornered after giving them a good run, and it ran to bay by the water meadows beside the River Avon. The ladies of the Court who accompanied the hunting party showed great distress and the dogs were called off and a gold collar was place on the harts neck and it was given the name of Albert. This is shown above the town crest of the town. But whether this story is true or not has never been established. One train of thought is tht the sign is from the badge that Edward IV wore.

The market and fair can be traced back to the 13th century when the forest ponies, cheeses and other country fare were the main stays of the day.

The Millstream is where the mill mentioned above in the Domesday survey, used to grind corn right up to the 1930s and the last mill was demolished to built a new bypass. The river in fact was used to generate the town's first electricity at the start of the 20th century.

Monmouth House is a small white building where the Duke of Monmouth was rescued from a ditch after the battle of Sedgemoor and here he penned his letter to James II, pleading his remorse for the wrong he had shown the monarch, and he said he would rather die that excuse anything he had done. He was taken from here and interviewed by the king and it is said he crawled along the floor at the feet of the king but no quarter was given and he was sent to the Tower for execution.

Lord Nelson used to stay in an old house which was the home of his sister Mrs Matcham which stood at Matchams and was destroyed by fire.

Ringwood Market as it is today
Photographs by Norman Thomas
(Courtesy of Hampshire Life magazine)

Ringwood Market place on a Sunday Evening

The church of St Peter and St Paul's
The Old Bank House