Burley, Hampshire
Encyclopedia
Burley is a village
and civil parish
in the New Forest
, Hampshire
, England
, with a wealth of tea rooms, gift shops, art galleries and a pick-your-own farm.
, 5 miles south-east of the town of Ringwood
. The village is fairly scattered, and apart from the village centre, there is Burley Street to the north; Bisterne Close to the east; and the Mill Lawn area to the north-east. Burley has a post office, newsagents, butcher’s shop, and village stores, as well as tea rooms, antique shops, art galleries and gift shops. The village still practices the old tradition of commoning
, allowing animals to graze on the open Forest, and ponies
and cattle roam freely around the village. Burley is home to a football club and a cricket club. Burley Golf Club can be found to the southeast of the village.
The village is surrounded by the open heathland of the New Forest, containing a complex of woodland, heathland and acid grassland, shrub and valley bog, supporting a richness and diversity of wildlife.
Burley Fire Station is thought to be the only fire station in the country with a cattle grid at the entrance.
barrows
are known in the Burley area. The site of an Iron Age
hillfort can be seen just to the west of the village at Castle Hill
.
There is evidence of Saxon occupation as the name Burley is composed of two Saxon words 'burgh', which means fortified palace, and 'leah', which means an open meadow or clearing in a wood..
Burley is not specifically mentioned in the Domesday book
of 1086, but the entry for nearby Ringwood
may well refer to Burley when it mentions lands in the forest with "14 villagers and 6 smallholders with 7 ploughs; a mill at 30d; and woodland at 189 pigs from pasturage."
Burley was part of the royal lands
of the New Forest. By the beginning of the 13th Century the family of de Burley was firmly established here. Richard de Burley held the estate from Edward I
who gave the village of Burley and Manor of Lyndhurst
as dowry
to his second wife Margaret, sister of Philip IV of France
. The manor is said to have belonged to the Crown down to the time of James I
.
In 1852 the manor passed into the possession of Colonel Esdaile who pulled down the old manor house and built a new one. Further changes to the building have been made since that time, and the manor house is now a hotel.
There was a watermill
belonging to the manor of Burley, which ceased operating around 1820. The mill is commemorated in names of Mill Lawn and Mill Lawn Brook, but the only building which survives is the grist house in the grounds of Mill Cottage.
2 miles (3.2 km) to the north-east of the Burley village, lies Burley lodge, the history of which dates back to the 15th century. It was part of the lands of the "bailiwick
of Burley" which was held in the 18th century by the Paulets, Dukes of Bolton and Marquesses of Winchester
.
The first known church in Burley was the calvinistic
Burley Chapel erected in 1789. The ecclesiastical parish of Burley was formed in 1840 out of Ringwood., this was served by the Anglican church of John the Baptist which was built in 1839 and added to in 1886–7. A school was built in Burley in 1854 large enough to accommodate 120 children.
The civil parish of Burley was formed in 1868 from Burley Walk and Holmsley Walk, extra-parochial parts of the New Forest, together with the ancient vill of Burley. From 1847 to 1964, Burley was served by trains at nearby Holmsley railway station
, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of the village. The station buildings still stand, and are now tea rooms.
Burley has a long connection with witches and, during the late 1950s, Sybil Leek
, a self-styled white witch
, lived in this village. The witch could be seen walking around Burley with her pet jackdaw on her shoulder before she moved to America. Some of the gift shops in Burley now sell witch-related gifts and ornaments.
Burley was also once a favourite haunt for smugglers
, and a secret cellar in the Queens Head pub was discovered during renovation work, where pistols, coins, and other unusual items were discovered.
's lair at Burley Beacon, just outside the village. There are several local version of the tale. In one version, the creature "flew" every morning to Bisterne
, about 3 miles west of Burley, where it would be supplied with milk
. In order to kill the dragon, a valiant man built himself a hut at Bisterne, and with two dogs lay in wait. The creature came as usual one morning for its milk, and when the hut door was opened the dogs attacked it, and while thus engaged, the dragon was killed by the man. The dragon slayer himself, says another version of the tale, only succeeded by covering his armour with glass.
The documentary version of this tradition is contained in the margin of a pedigree roll written prior to 1618, and preserved at Berkeley Castle
. It actually names the dragon-slayer as Sir Maurice Berkeley, lord of the manor of Bisterne in the 15th century. The document describes the dragon as "doing much mischief upon men and cattle ... making his den near unto a Beacon." Sir Maurice Berkeley killed the dragon but died himself soon afterwards.
It is possible the dragon had some foundation in fact, and that it was a wild beast (such as a wild boar) living in and around the New Forest. The dragon is mentioned several times in the novel The Forest
by Edward Rutherfurd
.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with a wealth of tea rooms, gift shops, art galleries and a pick-your-own farm.
The village
Burley is located towards the western edge of the New ForestNew Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
, 5 miles south-east of the town of Ringwood
Ringwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
. The village is fairly scattered, and apart from the village centre, there is Burley Street to the north; Bisterne Close to the east; and the Mill Lawn area to the north-east. Burley has a post office, newsagents, butcher’s shop, and village stores, as well as tea rooms, antique shops, art galleries and gift shops. The village still practices the old tradition of commoning
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
, allowing animals to graze on the open Forest, and ponies
New Forest pony
The New Forest Pony or New Forester is one of the recognised Mountain and moorland or Native pony breeds of the British Isles. The breed is valued for its hardiness, strength and sureness of foot...
and cattle roam freely around the village. Burley is home to a football club and a cricket club. Burley Golf Club can be found to the southeast of the village.
The village is surrounded by the open heathland of the New Forest, containing a complex of woodland, heathland and acid grassland, shrub and valley bog, supporting a richness and diversity of wildlife.
Burley Fire Station is thought to be the only fire station in the country with a cattle grid at the entrance.
History
People have lived in the Burley area since prehistoric times. At least 23 Bronze AgeBronze Age Britain
Bronze Age Britain refers to the period of British history that spanned from c. 2,500 until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the era of Iron Age Britain...
barrows
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
are known in the Burley area. The site of an Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
hillfort can be seen just to the west of the village at Castle Hill
Castle Hill, Hampshire
thumb|right|250px|Castle Hill, HampshireCastle Hill is the site of an Iron Age univailate hillfort located in the civil parish of Burley in the New Forest national park in Hampshire, England. Its single rampart and ditch earthworks enclose approximately five acres of land and is in reasonable...
.
There is evidence of Saxon occupation as the name Burley is composed of two Saxon words 'burgh', which means fortified palace, and 'leah', which means an open meadow or clearing in a wood..
Burley is not specifically mentioned in the Domesday book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086, but the entry for nearby Ringwood
Ringwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
may well refer to Burley when it mentions lands in the forest with "14 villagers and 6 smallholders with 7 ploughs; a mill at 30d; and woodland at 189 pigs from pasturage."
Burley was part of the royal lands
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
of the New Forest. By the beginning of the 13th Century the family of de Burley was firmly established here. Richard de Burley held the estate from Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
who gave the village of Burley and Manor of Lyndhurst
Lyndhurst
Lyndhurst may refer to:United Kingdom* Lyndhurst, HampshireUnited States* Lyndhurst, New Jersey* Lyndhurst, Ohio* Lyndhurst, Virginia* Lyndhurst, Wisconsin* Lyndhurst , New YorkAustralia* Lyndhurst, Victoria...
as dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
to his second wife Margaret, sister of Philip IV of France
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
. The manor is said to have belonged to the Crown down to the time of James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
.
In 1852 the manor passed into the possession of Colonel Esdaile who pulled down the old manor house and built a new one. Further changes to the building have been made since that time, and the manor house is now a hotel.
There was a watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
belonging to the manor of Burley, which ceased operating around 1820. The mill is commemorated in names of Mill Lawn and Mill Lawn Brook, but the only building which survives is the grist house in the grounds of Mill Cottage.
2 miles (3.2 km) to the north-east of the Burley village, lies Burley lodge, the history of which dates back to the 15th century. It was part of the lands of the "bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...
of Burley" which was held in the 18th century by the Paulets, Dukes of Bolton and Marquesses of Winchester
Marquess of Winchester
Marquess of Winchester is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1551 for the prominent statesman William Paulet, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. He had already been created Baron St John in 1539 and Earl of Wiltshire in 1550, also in the Peerage of England...
.
The first known church in Burley was the calvinistic
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Burley Chapel erected in 1789. The ecclesiastical parish of Burley was formed in 1840 out of Ringwood., this was served by the Anglican church of John the Baptist which was built in 1839 and added to in 1886–7. A school was built in Burley in 1854 large enough to accommodate 120 children.
The civil parish of Burley was formed in 1868 from Burley Walk and Holmsley Walk, extra-parochial parts of the New Forest, together with the ancient vill of Burley. From 1847 to 1964, Burley was served by trains at nearby Holmsley railway station
Holmsley railway station
Holmsley is a closed railway station in the county of Hampshire which served the small village of Holmsley.-History:The station was opened in 1847 as "Christchurch Road" by the Southampton and Dorchester Railway. Sited next to a bridge carrying the A35 road over the line, it was initially the...
, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of the village. The station buildings still stand, and are now tea rooms.
Burley has a long connection with witches and, during the late 1950s, Sybil Leek
Sybil Leek
Sybil Leek was an English witch, astrologer, psychic, and occult author. She wrote more than sixty books on occult and esoteric subjects...
, a self-styled white witch
White witch
White witch and good witch are qualifying terms in English used to distinguish practitioners of folk magic for benevolent purposes from practitioners of malevolent witchcraft...
, lived in this village. The witch could be seen walking around Burley with her pet jackdaw on her shoulder before she moved to America. Some of the gift shops in Burley now sell witch-related gifts and ornaments.
Burley was also once a favourite haunt for smugglers
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
, and a secret cellar in the Queens Head pub was discovered during renovation work, where pistols, coins, and other unusual items were discovered.
Burley's dragon
Burley is notable in English folklore for being the supposed location of a dragonEuropean dragon
European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.In European folklore, a dragon is a serpentine legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek δράκων,...
's lair at Burley Beacon, just outside the village. There are several local version of the tale. In one version, the creature "flew" every morning to Bisterne
Bisterne
Bisterne is a hamlet in the civil parish of Ringwood in the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Ringwood, which lies to the north.-History:...
, about 3 miles west of Burley, where it would be supplied with milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
. In order to kill the dragon, a valiant man built himself a hut at Bisterne, and with two dogs lay in wait. The creature came as usual one morning for its milk, and when the hut door was opened the dogs attacked it, and while thus engaged, the dragon was killed by the man. The dragon slayer himself, says another version of the tale, only succeeded by covering his armour with glass.
The documentary version of this tradition is contained in the margin of a pedigree roll written prior to 1618, and preserved at Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK . The castle's origins date back to the 11th century and it has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.The castle has remained within the Berkeley family since they reconstructed it in the...
. It actually names the dragon-slayer as Sir Maurice Berkeley, lord of the manor of Bisterne in the 15th century. The document describes the dragon as "doing much mischief upon men and cattle ... making his den near unto a Beacon." Sir Maurice Berkeley killed the dragon but died himself soon afterwards.
It is possible the dragon had some foundation in fact, and that it was a wild beast (such as a wild boar) living in and around the New Forest. The dragon is mentioned several times in the novel The Forest
The Forest (novel)
The Forest is a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd, published in 2000. Drawing on the success of Rutherfurd's other epic novels this went on to sell well and appeared in numbers of bestseller lists.-Plot summary:...
by Edward Rutherfurd
Edward Rutherfurd
Edward Rutherfurd is a pen name for Francis Edward Wintle known primarily as a writer of epic historical novels...
.