Barton-on-Sea

Barton on Sea is a coastal village situated in Hampshire, England. As a settlement, Barton has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, although the modern village was largely built in the 20th century. It is effectively a suburb of New Milton. Barton is notable for the many fossils to be found in the Barton geological beds in the cliffs, as well as for the elaborate sea defences built to defend the cliffs against coastal erosion.

People have lived in the area of Barton since prehistoric times. A number of bronze age funerary urns were uncovered in Barton during the early 20th century, although most of them have been lost or destroyed. While Barton is a common English place-name, the etymology of Barton-on-Sea is unique. It means Beorma’s Farm, and appears twice in the Domesday Book, as Bermintune and as Burmintune.Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and friend of William the Conqueror, held both Barton manors in 1086.

As late as the 1880s, Barton largely consisted of two farm estates, but in the 1890s, both farms were auctioned and the estates were broken up. Subsequent land sales in the period 1904-7 allowed the full development of The Village as it appears today. In 1897 the first golf course was built at Barton along the cliff top, although the modern golf course at the east end of Barton dates from 1922.