Boldre
Boldre | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | LYMINGTON | |
Postcode district | SO41 | |
Dialling code | 01590 | |
Police | Hampshire and Isle of Wight | |
Fire | Hampshire and Isle of Wight | |
Ambulance | South Central | |
UK Parliament | ||
Boldre is a
Description
The parish covers 7,718 acres (31.23 km2) and include the hamlets of Battramsley, Sandy Down, Pilley, Bull Hill, Norley Wood, Portmore, South Baddesley, and Walhampton. It has a church, St. John the Baptist, a Boldre Club, one of the oldest surviving in the forest,[2] a pub-restaurant (the Red Lion), the Church of England-ethos William Gilpin School on Pilley Hill, named after a local Vicar. The old school house in Boldre Lane has a plaque outside and houses a post office.
One hundred years ago,
History
Early and mediaeval
The Domesday Book contains a substantial entry on the Hundred of Boldre, where it is recorded as "Bouvre". This is probably a Norman corruption of "Bol Re" (a plank over a river). The church replaced an earlier one from the 13th century and a huge iron key which was used by the monks from Beaulieu Abbey is still used to unlock the doors.
Gilpin and the picturesque
Former residents include
In a quiet mansion beneath this stone, secured from the afflictions and still more dangerous enjoyments of life, lie the remains of William Gilpin, sometime vicar of this parish, together with the remains of Margaret his wife....who "await patiently the joy of waking in a much happier place"...Here it will be a new joy to meet several of their good neighbours who now lie scattered in these sacred precincts around them.
Comyn's New Forest
He also published a book entitled Substance of part of the lectures delivered in the United parishes of Boldre and Brockenhurst, which was printed and published by Galpine of Lymington. The British Library copy contains many amendments in Comyn's own hand and there is also a copy in the University of Southampton Library, Cope Collection.
Caroline Southey
Another who linked the village with literature was Caroline Bowles, who in 1839 married Robert Southey.
Hood Association
The Church commemorates HMS Hood because Hood's final Admiral Lancelot Holland was a regular worshipper at the church before World War II. The Hood Association attended and promoted an Annual Boldre Service, no longer widely promulgated, but the largest public service of remembrance for the Hood, generally the week before their reunion dinner and service of remembrance always on the Saturday nearest to 24 May.
Priest in Prison
After World War II, notable vicar John Hayter served the parish, who had spent much of the war as a padre in the ill-treated, malnourished Changi Prison during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. He wrote of his experiences.[4]
Folklore
The local pub, the Red Lion, dates from the 17th century and is named after a creature of local
References
- ^ a b "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ISBN 9780300225037.
- ^ Jude James Comyn's New Forest (1985)
- ISBN 1-85646-051-7
- ^ History of the Red Lion Boldre, Christopher Tower Reference Library, Lyndhurst, 1989.