Miscellaneous
The body of King William II "Rufus" was carried through Bell Street in Romsey on its way to Winchester, after he had been killed whilst hunting in the New Forest.
The town's memorial park contains a Japanese World War II artillery gun, one of a pair captured by the British and brought back to Romsey by Lord Mountbatten of Burma. One was donated to the town by Lord Mountbatten, and the other was retained in the grounds of his country estate, Broadlands.
Published every Friday, The Romsey Advertiser is the town's newspaper printed at Redbridge, Southampton.
The local amateur dramatics group, Romsey Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (RAODS) is highly unusual in owning its own fully equipped 230-seat theatre, The Plaza, in which it stages about ten productions each year. The Plaza, previously a cinema in the 1930s and then a bingo hall until the 1980s, is also hired out for other local productions, concerts, and functions.
In the 1980 and 1990s, Romsey was used as the location of 'Kingsmarkham' in the television series The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. Filmed by TVS and later by Meridian TV, numerous Romsey locations appear throughout the series concerning Inspector Wexford played by George Baker. For example, the location used for the fictional police station was in fact the former Romsey Magistrates Court in Church Street.
In the "New Year's" episode of the BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous (1995), Patsy Stone and Edina Monsoon are discussing a New Year's Eve Party to which they have been invited and is so posh and exclusive that its whereabouts are unknown to all but the rich and famous. Patsy finally reveals it to be located in "an underground car park in Romsey." There is no underground car park in Romsey.
Romsey is well known as one of the most haunted locations in Hampshire, with most sightings occurring in Romsey Abbey. The most famous of these hauntings is that of the former Swan Inn (now the Conservative Club) in the Town Square, said to be haunted by two Roundhead soldiers. The soldiers were hanged from the iron sign bracket but one managed to cut himself loose and run into an alleyway, where he eventually died. There have been many sightings of the hanging and the man cutting himself down before racing to his death in the alley.
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