Anyone driving along the A27 could be forgiven for thinking Baddesley was a 20th century village, but Baddesley's history stretches back beyond the "Norman Conquest". The first occurrence of the name is in Domesday Book of 1086, where it is referred to as Bedeslei and recorded thus:
Ralph (de Mortimer) also holds Bedeslei. Cheping held it from the King.Then as now it answered 2 hides, (a hide is anything from 60-120acres -depending how much a team of oxen could plough in a day) land for 4 ploughs. 4 villagers and 7 smallholders with 2 ploughs and 7 slaves. A church, woodland at 10 pigs and from grazing 10s Value before 1066 £10, later 100s, now 60s.
An early example of negative equity perhaps! Although I doubt if Cheping a Saxon Thane ever got a penny for it, more a case of to the victor the spoils. Ekwall, in the Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names (3rd Edition,1947), gives the derivation as Old English Baeddes-Leah, 'Baeddi's woodland'. He suggests that Baeddes-Leah was doubtless the old name of the New Forest with North Baddesley at the northern end and South Baddesley (near Lymington) at its southern extremity.
Ralph de Mortimer a powerful Norman Baron and founder of the great medieval house of Mortimer, Earls of March, and a relative of William, was given large holdings of land in the Marches on the Welsh border, and tasked with maintaining the border. He no doubt spent most of his time there, it is doubtful if he ever spent much time in Baddesley, it being a small manor of no strategic importance.
North Baddesley's only modest claim to fame in the annals of English history lies in its long association with the medieval order of The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, better known as The Knights Hospitallers. The Knights Hospitallers were a medieval order that was founded by a group of merchants from Amalfi for the care and shelter of the sick, the aged and pilgrims.
The order began in the late 11th century with a hospice in Jerusalem dedicated to the care and protection of pilgrims, and tending the sick, including the Crusaders in their quest to return the Holy Land to the Christian world.
In the late 12th century the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (later known as the Knights Hospitallers), and their acquisition of the overlordship rights in Baddesley in the 14th century (date unknown as no record has been found)
In 1304 the little church of All Saints was re-dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the patron Saint of the Hospitallers. The church was almost opposite the Hospitallers Preceptory, on the site now occupied by the present Manor House.
1304 seems to have been a very significant year for Baddesley and signalled a change in its status. The little church of All Saints in Flexford Road was re-dedicated to St. John The Baptist, the patron saint of the knights, from then on they supplied the rector, the first being Martin de Lavington.
Following the Black Death in 1348 the Hampshire headquarters of the Knights was transferred from Godsfield near Alresford to Baddesley, giving it an importance that belied its size. It is thought that with its close proximity to Southampton, Baddesley was mainly a refuge for travellers and pilgrims to and from shrines both here and on the continent, there is also some suggestion that the Knights supplied horses for the crusades.
A Europe wide order, they became extremely large and wealthy landowners thanks to the patronage of rich and noble families. The Hospitallers were in Baddesley for about 400 years until 1541.