Netley

Netley, a village in the Fareham parliamentary division of Hampshire, England, 3 m. S.E. of Southampton on the east shore of Southampton Water, and on a branch of the London & South Western railway. Here a Cistercian abbey was founded in 1237 by Henry III., and its ruins are extensive, including a great part of the cruciform church, abbot's house, chapter house and domestic buildings. The style is Early English and Decorated, and many beautiful details are preserved. The gatehouse was transformed into a fort in the time of Henry VIII. Netley Hospital for wounded soldiers (1 m. S.E. of the abbey), was built in 1856 after the Crimean War. It is a vast pile giving accommodation for upwards of a thousand patients, and is the principal military hospital in Great Britain.