Dibden
Encyclopedia
Dibden is a small village in Hampshire
, England
. It dates back to the Middle Ages
but is nowadays dominated by the nearby settlements of Hythe
and Dibden Purlieu
. It is situated on the eastern edge of the New Forest
in a valley, which runs into Southampton Water
.
of 1086 as "Depedene" and was held by Odo of Winchester. Prior to 1066 it had been held by "Ketil the Steersman" from King Edward
. There was a saltpan and a fishery in the manor.
The overlordship of Dibden belonged in the 12th century to Reynold de St. Valery, who died in 1166, and his son Bernard de St. Valery, who was killed at the siege of Acon
in 1190, was probably the Bernard who was lord of Dibden in 1167. Descending with his granddaughters to Robert Count of Dreux, it fell, with the rest of the honour of St. Valery, into the hands of the Crown
, when it was given to Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall
whose son Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall
died in 1300 seised
of a fee there which belonged to the honour of St. Valery. Dibden was thereafter held of the Crown. It was thus held in the reign of Henry VII
of Arthur, Prince of Wales
.
The demesne
of Dibden was at an early time split up into three parts:
In the 12th century, Reynold de St. Valery gave a third of the manor to Edmund and Osbert de Dibden. Nicholas de Dibden held this third of Dibden of Edmund Earl of Cornwall in 1300. The Dibdens held their one third of the estate down to 1428, when Agnes, daughter and heir of Thomas de Dibden, inherited it. It passed to her daughter, Alice, who became the wife of Richard Waller of Groombridge
, who died in 1486. It stayed in the Waller family until 1594 when William Waller sold the manor to William Webbe, who was already lord of the other two manors in Dibden.
The part known as Dibden Hanger derived its name from the family first found holding it: John atte Hanger holding the land there in 1276. Richard son of Richard atte Hanger held this third of Edmund Earl of Cornwall in 1300. His son and namesake held it in 1346. By 1422 both this and the manor of Dibden Poleyn had come to the hands of John Hall, who granted them at that date to John Rogers. In 1544 Sir John Rogers sold the manors to William Webb, Mayor of Salisbury in 1523 and 1534. His son William Webbe died seised of the manors in 1585, leaving a son William, who in 1594 purchased the manor of "Dibden's Fee," thus uniting the three estates.
In 1300 Walter Nott held one-third of Dibden from Edmund Earl of Cornwall. Sixteen years later John Nott held it. In 1360 Walter Nott, parson of the church of Michelmersh
, reserved a messuage and 2 carucates in Dibden from a grant of land which he made to Romsey Abbey
. Shortly after this the estate came into the hands of the family which gave it the distinctive name of Dibden Poleyn. John Poleyn held it in 1369 and the Poleyn family was still holding it in 1413. By 1422 the manor had come, with Dibden Hanger, to the hands of John Hall, and thereafter followed the same descent.
After 1594 the three estates were united. William Webbe owned it when he died in 1627, leaving an only daughter and heir Rachel wife of Sir John Croke of Chilton. Their son John Croke
had succeeded by 1650. The Harris family owned the estate throughout the 18th century. James Harris
dealt with the manor by fine in 1756, and his son James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury
presented to the church in 1796. It passed out of their hands before the middle of the 19th century, and in 1862, it was sold to the Romsey Charity Commissioners who owned the manor into the 20th century.
The church of All Saints, which was built about 1291, was destroyed in an air raid on 20 June 1940. It was restored and reopened on 2 April 1955 using much of the original material. Buried in the churchyard are members of the Lisle family, Royalists who fought against Monmouth
in the Battle of Sedgemoor
.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Dibden consisted of a large number of farms scattered around the little cluster of buildings which still constitutes the village of Dibden. Like nearby Beaulieu
, Dibden was at one time a liberty
. The civil parish
of Dibden was created in 1894. The village of Hythe
was taken from Fawley
parish and added to Dibden parish in 1913. Since the 1950s the villages of Hythe and Dibden Purlieu
have grown enormously, and today the parish is dominated by those two settlements. In 1983 the parish was renamed to Hythe and Dibden, to reflect the importance of Hythe as a new focal point of the Parish.
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...
. It dates back to the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
but is nowadays dominated by the nearby settlements of Hythe
Hythe, Hampshire
Hythe is a village near Southampton, Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton...
and Dibden Purlieu
Dibden Purlieu
Dibden Purlieu is a village situated on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, UK. The village merges with the nearby town of Hythe.The approximate population is around 4000 people. The regular Blue Star bus service provides Purlieu's quickest link with the city of Southampton...
. It is situated on the eastern edge of 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....
in a valley, which runs into Southampton Water
Southampton Water
Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point. Along its salt marsh-fringed western shores lie the New Forest villages of Hythe and "the waterside", Dibden Bay, and the Esso oil refinery at Fawley...
.
History
The name "Dibden" is from the Old English for "deep valley", although the village is only slightly lower than the land around it. It is listed in the Domesday BookDomesday 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 as "Depedene" and was held by Odo of Winchester. Prior to 1066 it had been held by "Ketil the Steersman" from King Edward
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
. There was a saltpan and a fishery in the manor.
The overlordship of Dibden belonged in the 12th century to Reynold de St. Valery, who died in 1166, and his son Bernard de St. Valery, who was killed at the siege of Acon
Acon
Acon is a commune in the Eure department in Haute-Normandie in northern France.-Geography:Acon is a small country village divided by the Nationale 12. On one side are the Brulés d'Acon and on the other are the Rousset and the Mesnil d'Acon. The Avre river flows between the Brulés and the Rousset et...
in 1190, was probably the Bernard who was lord of Dibden in 1167. Descending with his granddaughters to Robert Count of Dreux, it fell, with the rest of the honour of St. Valery, into the hands of the Crown
Crown Estate
In the United Kingdom, the Crown Estate is a property portfolio owned by the Crown. Although still belonging to the monarch and inherent with the accession of the throne, it is no longer the private property of the reigning monarch and cannot be sold by him/her, nor do the revenues from it belong...
, when it was given to Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall
Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall
Richard of Cornwall was Count of Poitou , 1st Earl of Cornwall and German King...
whose son Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall
Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall
Edmund of Cornwall of Almain was the 2nd Earl of Cornwall of the 7th creation.-Early life:Edmund was born at Berkhamsted Castle on 26 December 1249, the second and only surviving son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and his wife Sanchia of Provence, daughter of Ramon Berenguer, Count of Provence,...
died in 1300 seised
Seisin
Seisin is the term denoting the legal possession of a feudal fiefdom . It was used in the form of "the son and heir of X has obtained seisin of his inheritance", and thus is effectively a term concerned with conveyancing in the feudal era...
of a fee there which belonged to the honour of St. Valery. Dibden was thereafter held of the Crown. It was thus held in the reign of Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
of Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England. As he predeceased his father, Arthur never became king...
.
The demesne
Demesne
In the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
of Dibden was at an early time split up into three parts:
In the 12th century, Reynold de St. Valery gave a third of the manor to Edmund and Osbert de Dibden. Nicholas de Dibden held this third of Dibden of Edmund Earl of Cornwall in 1300. The Dibdens held their one third of the estate down to 1428, when Agnes, daughter and heir of Thomas de Dibden, inherited it. It passed to her daughter, Alice, who became the wife of Richard Waller of Groombridge
Groombridge
thumb|right|A house in GroombridgeGroombridge is a village of about 1,600 people. It straddles the border between Kent and East Sussex, in England. The nearest large town is Tunbridge Wells, about away by road....
, who died in 1486. It stayed in the Waller family until 1594 when William Waller sold the manor to William Webbe, who was already lord of the other two manors in Dibden.
The part known as Dibden Hanger derived its name from the family first found holding it: John atte Hanger holding the land there in 1276. Richard son of Richard atte Hanger held this third of Edmund Earl of Cornwall in 1300. His son and namesake held it in 1346. By 1422 both this and the manor of Dibden Poleyn had come to the hands of John Hall, who granted them at that date to John Rogers. In 1544 Sir John Rogers sold the manors to William Webb, Mayor of Salisbury in 1523 and 1534. His son William Webbe died seised of the manors in 1585, leaving a son William, who in 1594 purchased the manor of "Dibden's Fee," thus uniting the three estates.
In 1300 Walter Nott held one-third of Dibden from Edmund Earl of Cornwall. Sixteen years later John Nott held it. In 1360 Walter Nott, parson of the church of Michelmersh
Michelmersh
Michelmersh is a small, scattered village in Hampshire, England some three miles north of Romsey.It forms a civil parish with Timsbury that forms part of the Test Valley district....
, reserved a messuage and 2 carucates in Dibden from a grant of land which he made to Romsey Abbey
Romsey Abbey
Romsey Abbey is a parish church of the Church of England in Romsey, a market town in Hampshire, England. Until the dissolution it was the church of a Benedictine nunnery.-Background:...
. Shortly after this the estate came into the hands of the family which gave it the distinctive name of Dibden Poleyn. John Poleyn held it in 1369 and the Poleyn family was still holding it in 1413. By 1422 the manor had come, with Dibden Hanger, to the hands of John Hall, and thereafter followed the same descent.
After 1594 the three estates were united. William Webbe owned it when he died in 1627, leaving an only daughter and heir Rachel wife of Sir John Croke of Chilton. Their son John Croke
Croke Baronets
The Croke Baronetcy, of Chilton in the County of Buckingham, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created in circa 1642 for John Croke. He was the grandson of Sir John Croke, Speaker of the House of Commons. The title became extinct on the death of the second Baronet in 1728.-Croke...
had succeeded by 1650. The Harris family owned the estate throughout the 18th century. James Harris
James Harris (grammarian)
James Harris, FRS was an English politician and grammarian.-Life and works:He was born at Salisbury and educated at the grammar school in the Close at Salisbury, and at Wadham College, Oxford. On leaving the university he was entered at Lincoln's Inn as a student of law, though not intended for...
dealt with the manor by fine in 1756, and his son James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury
James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury
James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury GCB was an English diplomatist.-Early life :...
presented to the church in 1796. It passed out of their hands before the middle of the 19th century, and in 1862, it was sold to the Romsey Charity Commissioners who owned the manor into the 20th century.
The church of All Saints, which was built about 1291, was destroyed in an air raid on 20 June 1940. It was restored and reopened on 2 April 1955 using much of the original material. Buried in the churchyard are members of the Lisle family, Royalists who fought against Monmouth
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, KG, PC , was an English nobleman. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter...
in the Battle of Sedgemoor
Battle of Sedgemoor
The Battle of Sedgemoor was fought on 6 July 1685 and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset, England.It was the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion and followed a series of skirmishes around south west England between the forces of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and the...
.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Dibden consisted of a large number of farms scattered around the little cluster of buildings which still constitutes the village of Dibden. Like nearby Beaulieu
Beaulieu, Hampshire
Beaulieu is a small village located on the south eastern edge of the New Forest national park in Hampshire, England and home to both Palace House and the British National Motor Museum.- History :...
, Dibden was at one time a liberty
Liberty (division)
Originating in the Middle Ages, a liberty was traditionally defined as an area in which regalian rights were revoked and where land was held by a mesne lord...
. The 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...
of Dibden was created in 1894. The village of Hythe
Hythe, Hampshire
Hythe is a village near Southampton, Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton...
was taken from Fawley
Fawley, Hampshire
Fawley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated in the New Forest on the western shore of the Solent, approximately 7 miles south of Southampton. Fawley is also the site of an oil refinery, operated by Exxon-Mobil, which is the largest facility of its kind in the United...
parish and added to Dibden parish in 1913. Since the 1950s the villages of Hythe and Dibden Purlieu
Dibden Purlieu
Dibden Purlieu is a village situated on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, UK. The village merges with the nearby town of Hythe.The approximate population is around 4000 people. The regular Blue Star bus service provides Purlieu's quickest link with the city of Southampton...
have grown enormously, and today the parish is dominated by those two settlements. In 1983 the parish was renamed to Hythe and Dibden, to reflect the importance of Hythe as a new focal point of the Parish.