Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Historical Description
Lyndhurst, a village and a parish in Hants. The village stands near the centre of the New Forest, 2¼ miles SW by W of Lyndhurst Road station on the L. & S.W.R., and 9 SW of Southampton, is the capital of the New Forest, and a seat of petty sessions, contains the Queen's House, in which the Forest courts are held, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It takes its name from the linden or lime tree, and gives the title of Baron to the family of Copley The Queen's House is a plain edifice dating from the time of Charles II., is the official residence of the Lord Warden when he visits the Forest, was the abode of George III. during a week in 1789 when on his road to Weymouth, and includes the Verderer's Hall fitted with green-covered magisterial seats and containing an ancient iron stirrup probably not older than the time of Henry VIII., but traditionally eaid to have been the stirrup used by William Rufus on the day of his fatal hunting. The parish contains also the hamlets of Pike Hill, Clay Hill, and part of Emery Down. Acreage, 3825; population of the civil parish, 1867; of the ecclesiastical, with Minstead, 2281. Under the Local Government Act of 1894, Lyndhurst, Emery Down, and Bank were formed into a parish council with fifteen members. Lyndhurst is fast becoming a large summer fashionable resort. The manor belongs to the Crown. Brooklands, Foxlease, Cuffnells, and Glasshayes are all handsome seats in the neighbourhood. The living is a chapelry, annexed to the rectory of Minstead, in the diocese of Winchester; net value, £175. The church, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, is modern, and consists of nave and aisles with clerestory, a deep chancel, and N and S transepts. It was reroofed in 1894, and has beautiful carvings representing angels, running the whole length of the nave, and archangels in the chancel. The chancel-screen and pulpit are of stone, finely carved, representing angels in the act of worship. In 1894 the bap-tistery at the W end under the tower was enriched with a font of rare marble, and the floor of thesacrarium andbaptisteryare in whole blocks of white and black marble. It has also a fine organ. The church occupies the site of an ancient one rebuilt by George II. It has some beautiful flower-carving on the capitals; also a magnificent fresco representing the parable of the Ten Virgins, painted and presented to the church by Sir F. Leighton, a native of the parish, and several monuments, one by Flasman. There are Baptist and Plymouth Brethren chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Hampshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Lyndhurst St. Michael | |
Hundred | New Forest | |
Poor Law union | New Forest |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Lyndhurst from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Lyndhurst (St. Michael))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hampshire (County Southampton) is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Lyndhurst are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Hampshire newspapers online:
- Portsmouth Evening News
- Hampshire Telegraph
- Hampshire Advertiser
- Hampshire Chronicle
- Aldershot Military Gazette
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Hampshire, 1530, 1575, & 1622-34 is available to view on the Heraldry page.