King John's House, Romsey, Hampshire
King John was devoted to hunting in the New Forest. In c1230 he decided to build a house for himself in Romsey. It was to be used as a Hunting Lodge. King John's son Henry III granted the house to the Abbess of Romsey for use as an Infirmary Guest House for the Abbey. It was still a Guest House in the reign of Edward I. After the Dissolution the house was used as the residence of well-to-do tradesmen, and the Tudor cottage, which forms part of it, was added. Gradually the building deteriorated and was eventually converted into three poor class cottages. A block of two-storey cottages was added at the east end at the beginning of the 18th century. Then the whole block became the parish workhouse and handlooms were added. It then went back to being three individual homes. In 1927a Mr WJ Andrew discovered that it had been King John's House. Following this discovery the building was restored to a single unit home. In 1939 the adjoining 18th century cottages were demolished after being condemned. In 1946 the owner decided to hand over King John's house to the inhabitants of the town for use as a museum.
