Mark Horner

History | Middle Ages | Early modern era | Since 1945 | Places of interest | Football | Cricket | Transport
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brockenhurst is the largest village by population within the New Forest in Hampshire, England. The nearest city is Southampton some 13 miles (21 km) to the North East, while Bournemouth is also nearby, 15 miles (24 km) South West. Surrounding towns and villages include Beaulieu, Lymington, Lyndhurst, and Sway.
History The earliest signs of habitation in Brockenhurst date back 4,000 years to the Bronze Age: the area is dotted with burial mounds – called tumuli. Beyond that, few signs remain of other habitation during the subsequent 3,000 years.
Middle Ages The Saxon period was brought to an end by the events of 1066.

William the Conqueror created his Nova Foresta traditionally in 1079, a vast hunting area lying south and west of his capital at Winchester; it stretched south to the coast at Barton on Sea and west to what is now Bournemouth. In 1086, the Domesday Book recorded that there were four small Saxon manors in the Brockenhurst area, Mapleham, Hincelveslei, Brochelie and Broceste. Mapleham no longer exists, probably being subsumed within Brookley; the name Hincelveslei has become Hinchelsea which lies to the west of Brockenhurst. The third manor, Brochelie, gives the modern name, Brookley, which was granted a regular weekly market and an annual fair, lasting several days, in 1347. Brochelie had forest rights to graze sheep on the open forest, but only between Wilverley and what is now Rhinefield Road, this right is usually associated with religious houses and was probably attached to the medieval estate which Christchurch Priory held at Brookley.

The manor house of Brochelie was situated on the plot now occupied by the Watersplash Hotel. The Watersplash Hotel closed in or about 2017 and now building work is going on to provide high quality apartments due to open in 2019. Its manor itself extended over the lands on the western side of the A337 Lyndhurst-Lymington Road.

The fourth Saxon manor of the area was Broceste which gives the village its name. It was the most important manor, being a grand-serjeanty held by providing accommodation for the King when hunting in the area.

Royden to the south of Brockenhurst was a medieval grange belonging to Netley Abbey and was set up by a grant made by Henry III in 1253.

St Nicholas' Church, at that time, was no more than an outlying chapel linked to Twynham – later Christchurch Priory. William Rufus visited Brockenhurst, possibly worshiping in St Nicholas' church, as at least two writs were issued by him from here.
Early modern era By the 18th century, nearby Lymington was a thriving town, due to its port and the manufacture of salt from sea water. In 1765, the Lymington road became a turnpike, under the Lymington, Lyndhurst and Rumbridge Turnpike Act, and a regular route for the mail coaches from Lyndhurst and the north. During this time, Brockenhurst grew in size, with dwellings and inns strung along the main road.

In 1745, Henry Thurston, a local man who left to make his fortune in London, died, leaving a bequest to set up a school in the village. After being held in a number of houses it became fixed in a cottage on the corner of what is now Mill Lane and the A337.

In 1770, Edward Morant, using some of the vast wealth that flowed from the family estates in Jamaica, purchased Brockenhurst House – a late Stuart farmhouse – for £6,400. He rebuilt it as a large Georgian mansion, while he and his heirs laid out avenues in the grounds and acquired adjacent land, eventually peaking at some 3,000 acres (12 km²).
Since 1945 The western part of the village greatly expanded in the 1970s and, in the early 1990s, Berkeley Homes built Ober Park, which is now known as The Coppice, this despite having been known as Clerks (or variations thereof) from the 13th to 19th centuries. More construction of the village still continues today by Pennyfarthing Homes.
Places of interest • Brockenhurst College • Brockenhurst railway station • Lymington Flyer – Heritage line • New Forest Show • St. Nicholas' Church • Setley Lodge.
Football Brockenhurst F.C. was founded in 1898 and plays at Grigg Lane, the current manager is Patrick Macmanus. In season 2012/13 the club returned to the Wessex Premier Football League as Division One champions and reached the final of both the Southamption DFA Senior Cup and the Wessex league Cup. During a Hampshire Senior Cup match Brockenhurst (and Andover Town) set a new record when they scored 29 consecutive penalties in a shoot-out after the tie had finished 0–0. After 29 successful attempts (a total confirmed by the Football Association as an English record) Andover missed and 'The Badgers' won the tie.
Cricket Brockenhurst Cricket Club was founded in 1797 and has been situated on the Balmer Lawn for over 150 years. Brockenhurst Cricket Club has two senior Saturday teams that compete in the Hampshire Cricket League, a Friendly Sunday XI team, and a junior section that play in the New Forest District Cricket league.
Transport Brockenhurst railway station offers frequent South Western Railway services to Bournemouth, London Waterloo, Southampton and Weymouth. CrossCountry express services also run to Manchester via Birmingham.

The station is the junction where the branch line to Lymington Pier connects to the mainline. The "Lymington Flyer" services connect with the ferry to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. The branch line is a heritage line and its self-contained nature permitted the use of slam-door rolling stock, until this was withdrawn in 2010. In 1967 it was the last standard-gauge branch line in the south of England to cease using steam haulage.

Bus transport is provided mainly by Bluestar service 6 to Lymington and Southampton (Previously the Wilts & Dorset 56 and 56A, the 6 now runs the route of the 56A). In the summer, the New Forest Tour serves the village and station.

In the 19th century the railway station was introduced to Brockenhurst, increasing a large number of holiday visitors and the local population.

Europe/London/Hampshire

Image: Adobe Stock J-F Phillips #289891321

Brockenhurst has a population of over 3,552 people. Brockenhurst also forms part of the wider New Forest District which has a population of over 180,086 people. It is also a part of the larger Hampshire County. Brockenhurst is situated near Lyndhurst.

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Brockenhurst has links with:

🇫🇷 Pont St Martin, France

Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

William Henry Romaine (Romaine-Walker, William Henry) Walker |
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Painter/Illustrator/Architect/Interior Decorator/Poster Designer William Henry Romaine-Walker is associated with Brockenhurst. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1881.