Netley Marsh is often identified with the "Natanleaga" described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 508, where it is reported that the Anglo-Saxon kings Cerdic and Cynric "killed a certain British king named Natanleod, and five-thousand men with him – after whom the land as far as Cerdic's ford was named Natanleaga". Whatever the truth concerning the battle, it is unlikely that there was a king called Natanleod – he was probably invented to explain the place-name Natanleaga. In fact the place-name is probably derived from the Old English elements naet and leah, meaning "wet wood". Netley is next recorded as "Nateleg" in 1248. The name "Netley Marsh" appears as such on maps from 1759. The church, dedicated to Saint Matthew, was built around 1855, and consists of a nave and chancel with a bell turret on west side of the chancel. To the west of the village the Hampshire Reformatory School opened in 1855. It was built for the purpose of reclaiming juvenile offenders, and had accommodation for 60 boys. It was closed in 1908. The civil parish of Netley Marsh was one of the parishes formed from the ancient parish of Eling in 1894. The village suffered some damage during World War II, when one day in 1942 an enemy plane dropped bombs on the church and along Woodlands Road, causing the deaths of three people.
Tatchbury
One mile north of Netley Marsh is the ancient site of Tatchbury. There is an Iron AgeHill fort here called Tatchbury Mount. It has been partly built over by the hospital buildings of Tatchbury Mount Hospital but the outline of the fort can still be seen. Next to the hill fort is the ancient manor of Tatchbury. Its history dates from the 10th century when a hide and a half of land in Tatchbury and Slackstead was given to Hyde Abbey on its foundation in 903 by Edward the Elder. The Domesday Book refers to another half hide being given to the Abbey sometime after 1066 by Edsi the Sheriff. The abbot and convent evidently held the manor in demesne from the 12th to the 13th century, and a rent from Litchfield and Tatchbury was included in the estates of the Abbey at the time of the Dissolution. Another estate in Tatchbury is recorded in the 13th century which may have been the nucleus of the later manor which was held in 1316 by Elias Baldet, and of which John Romsey died seised in 1494, holding it of the warden of Winchester College. The Oviatt family held the manor for much of the 17th and 18th century, before passing to the Wake family who held it until the late 19th century. Tatchbury Manor House today is mostly a brick Victorian building, but which incorporates part of the old 13th century manor house.
