Accommodation in Hordle

New Forest Accommodation - Hordle

ABOUT Hordle New Forest, Hampshire, UK.

Hordle is a village and civil parish in the county of Hampshire, England. It is situated between the Solent coast and the New Forest, and is bordered by the towns of Lymington and New Milton. Like many New Forest parishes Hordle has no village centre. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Tiptoe and Everton.

Hordle has a several shops including a post office, a pharmacy, and Co-operative Stores. The village also has a primary school, and a pub: The Three Bells. The headquarters of the The New Forest National Park Authority are also located within the parish, near Everton.

The present civil parish is somewhat smaller than the 3,854 acres (15.60 km2) it used to contain, but still includes the hamlets of Tiptoe and Everton. Originally the parish included both Hurst Spit (and castle) as well as Sway tower. The soils of the parish are based mainly on well drained gravels to the south and clayey loams to the north: the character of the parish is agricultural, although in medieval times a few saltworks were operated on the coast.

The present parish church, All Saints, was built in 1872 and succeeded a previous building on the same site dating from 1830. Prior to this, the parish church was for some 700 years located two miles further south, where the churchyard still remains at Hordle Cliff. Local tradition tells of the existence of the original village near the church, which has disappeared into the sea owing to cliff erosion.

The name Hordle is generally believed to mean "Hoard Hill" (treasure hill), the name perhaps deriving from stories of the discovery of cache of coins found buried in a hill in ancient times, but the word "hord" might also be associated with words for barrows and supposedly haunted places, hence the name could be interpreted as "haunted hill". There is no known connection with "Golden Hill" which lies on the main road from Hordle to Ashley. In modern times, one 4th-century copper coin (of Maximus) has been found in a garden near Golden Hill.

Hordle is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it belonged to Oidelard, who held it of Ralph de Mortimer. In the 13th century, the family of Trenchard acquired a great part, if not the whole, of this estate. A portion of it was granted by Waleran Trenchard to one Ralph Bardolf, who sold it to Amice wife of the sixth Earl of Devon; she in about 1250 gave it to Breamore Priory to be held by them of Waleran. Thus two separate manors were evolved, one the Trenchard Manor and the other that held by Breamore Priory; the overlordship of both belonged to the lords of Christchurch.

The priory manor was afterwards known as the manor of Hordle Breamore. The priory continued to hold the estate up to the Dissolution. In 1537 the estate was granted to Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter and his wife Gertrude. In 1578, however, it belonged to Thomas Carew, who dying that year was succeeded by his son Henry. It passed to his son Henry in 1614, and then to his son George in 1639. In 1694 the manor belonged to Sir William Lewen, in whose family it remained until the middle of the 18th century. In 1748 it belonged to William Rickman, but by 1768 had passed to Edward Ives, in whose family it remained until 1809. It passed through various hands after 1810 until it was purchased in 1863 by Colonel Frederick Clinton.

The manor of Hordle Trenchard was held by Henry Trenchard in the 13th century. His successor John Trenchard was in 1309 described as chief lord of Hordle, and in 1346 the estate belonged to another Henry Trenchard. In 1428 John Trenchard was lord of Hordle, but later in the same year, no doubt after his death, Robert Dingley and John Lisle owned the half fee which had once belonged to him. In 1633 it was again in the hands of the Trenchards, Sir Thomas Trenchard, suffering a recovery of the manor of Hordle, which had belonged to his father, Sir George. Immediately afterwards, however, the manor was acquired by Robert Jason, who, dying in the following year, was succeeded by his son Robert who was created a baronet in 1661. He was succeeded by his son Robert, second baronet, and in 1706 Sir Robert's daughter and heir Anne, together with her husband Thomas Partington, conveyed the manor to Robert Southam to hold for ninety-nine years from 1683. In 1747 the manor was sold to William Rickman. A few years later it was acquired by Edward Ives, who in 1773 conveyed it to John Missing. It probably merged with the main manor in the 19th century.

The Domesday Book mentions a watermill at Hordle, although this has long since disappeared. An 18th-century watermill is visible nearby at Gordleton, just to the east of the present village. Another 18th-century mill at Efford lies on the border of the parish with Lymington.

With the enclosure of Arnewood Common in the early nineteenth century, the main centre of population moved northwards, away from the coast, and in order to meet this change the ancient parish church was demolished in 1830 and moved to its present situation close to the now enclosed Downton Common, two miles (3 km) to the north. There was no school in the parish until 1860. In the 1870s, Hordle Grange on Vaggs Lane was, for 3 years, home to the religious sect known locally as the New Forest Shakers. They were eventually evicted from this home and they moved to nearby Tiptoe, where they lived in tents until their leader, Mary Ann Girling, died in 1886.

After about 1920 considerable infilling took place in the parish and this accelerated in the 1950s and 60s leading to a much increased population that largely seeks its livelihood in the neighbouring towns of Lymington and New Milton. The parish population in 1801 was 446 and by 1931 this had increased by a thousand and it has gone on growing ever since. Hordle today, despite considerable growth, still manages to retain its rural character helped by the green belts that separate it from the adjoining parishes. The population of the parish in the 2001 census census was 5,271 people.

Buildings of national importance are no longer within the parish boundary. These are Hurst Castle, one of Henry VIII's defensive works, and Sway tower (also known as Arnewood or Peterson's tower) the tallest non-reinforced concrete construction in the world.

A church is recorded in the cartulary of Christchurch Priory early in the twelfth century. From very early times Hordle was a parochial chapelry of the vicarage of Milford and served by the vicar, until February 1867 when Hordle was declared a vicarage distinct from that of Milford. The old church was pulled down in 1830 in consequence of the decrease of the population in the south of the parish, owing to the decline of the salt industry. The site of the old church is at Hordle Cliff, about 2 miles to the south of the present village, and consists only of a graveyard inclosure. Several illustrations of the old church are preserved at the vicarage and show it to have consisted of chancel, north and south transepts with chapels, nave and central bell turret. The south door at least was of 12th-century date. Tradition, probably accurate, tells of the existence of a village near the church, now disappeared owing to cliff erosion, and as Hordle, like Lymington, was an important saltmaking centre, the early village would naturally be on the coast.

The present parish church, All Saints, was built in 1872 and succeeded a previous building on the same site dating from 1830.

The Domesday Book mentions six saltpans here. From those days up to quite recent times the salt industry was a very important and valuable one. The industry declined early in the 19th century and ceased well before the end of the century.

Accommodation in the New Forest

List of New Forest Accommodation in Hordle

• 1	Bed and breakfast Greenways, Vicarage Lane, Hordle, Lymington SO41 0HS
  2	Bed and breakfast Miranda, Vaggs Lane, Hordle, Lymington SO41 0FP
  3	Cottage S/C Ensuite converted milking parlour, Parlour Studio, Hordle SO41 0FG
  4	Hotel The Mill at Gordleton, Silver Street, Hordle, Lymington SO416DJ
  5	Camp site Wareham CP Woodlands M/Homes, Stopples Lane, Hordle, Lymington

  
  

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