About Oasis In the shop Contact Oasis 25 Church Street 25 Church Street is an old building; we have the deeds of it back as far as 1642. This was the time of tumultuous events in the history of Romsey. The village of Romsey (Rums Eg: Rum’s raised area surrounded by marshes) grew up around the ancient Abbey and its manor estate of Broadlands. By the mid-16th C, 1,500 people lived in the village which made it a large village for the period. Then in 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey and sold Broadlands. In 1607 James I stayed with the St Barbe family in Broadlands and the same year he signed a charter giving Borough status to Romsey with the right to have a Mayor, 6 Aldermen and 12 Burgesses. In 1642 the English Civil War broke out. Initially Romsey was occupied by the Royalist army but at the end of 1643 the Parliamentary army approached Romsey, the Royalists fled and the Parliamentary forces entered the town and proceeded to plunder it. Romsey was occupied by the Royalists again towards the end of 1644 but they left in January 1645 but not before they, too, plundered the town. The current Tudor building was erected in 1601 as a merchant dwelling in the corner of King John’s house plot. The building has a timber frame of oak, with the space between the beams filled with wattle and daub. The wattle was a lattice of thin branches woven between upright stakes and was shaped to fit between the timbers. When in place between the beams, the lattice was covered with a mixture of clay, earth or sand and straw or hay. On the outside the daub was whitewashed to protect it against the rain. The first floor overhung the ground floor by about 3 feet. This was because the property tax on the house was determined by the area of the ‘footprint’ of the ground floor. The inside walls of the front part of the Oasis shop are the original 1601 structure. The wall timbers are still visible and in one area the daub has been removed so that the wattle lattice can be seen. The front of the shop has been moved forward to be in line with the first floor, so the special timbers that were created from the root structure of the oak trees and were needed to support the overhanging floor can also be seen in the front corner of the shop. The original ceiling timbers that support the first floor are also visible. Only two of these had to be replaced when the shop was taken over in 1984. Blue Plaque The plaque on the front of the building tells us that the owner in 1666 was John Cox who at the time was Mayor of Romsey. Eventually, when Church Street was ‘developed’, the detached house that was number 25 was not demolished but received an outer cladding of bricks to join it to the rest of the shops in the street. Somehow in this process it became 3 feet wider. At about the same time a two story brick extension was built behind the original structure. Also at some stage a rudimentary two story barn, the same width as the shop, was built at the bottom of the ‘garden’. In the 1908 picture of Church Street, number 25 is said to be a bookseller and stationer in a terrace of small shops. However they are doing a good job of advertising their magazines and newspapers. By 1984 the situation had changed; numbers 23 to 15 had been demolished and replaced in the 1960’s by the Post Office and the shops on the other side of number 25 had been demolished and the area was being used as a car park. Forward to 1990 and the car park was replaced by a row of shops. At the same time the barn was rebuilt and became a respectable stock room with an office above and the barn was joined to the back of the shop. Church Street in 1904 Number 25 has seen vast changes in its 413 years and can expect more in the future. Fortunately our message remains the same, just the methods of presentation change. Latest News Christmas comes to Oasis! Today is Advent Sunday New in… Thankful It’s nearly here! Subscribe to our newsletter GO! WE ARE OPEN (AS FROM 12/4/21) Monday 9.30am - 4.30pm Tuesday 9.30am - 4.30pm Wednesday 9.30am - 2.00pm Thursday 9.30am - 4.30pm Friday 9.30am - 4.30pm Saturday 9.30am - 4.00pm Sunday Closed FIND US AT: Oasis Christian Centre 25 Church Street Romsey Hampshire SO51 8BT Map GET IN TOUCH… By phone: 01794 512194 By email: shop@oasisromsey.co.uk Oasis Christian Centre is a registered charity - number: 1171906 Privacy Policy © Oasis Christian Centre All rights reserved. Website by Jason.