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Boldre (St. John)

BOLDRE (St. John), a parish, in the union of Lymington, partly in the E. division of the hundred of New Forest, and partly in the hundred of Christchurch, Lymington and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 2 miles (N.) from Lymington; including the chapelry of South Baddesley, and the tythings of Battramsley, Pilley with Warborne, Sway, and Walhampton; and containing 2888 inhabitants. This parish, in the Domesday survey named Bovreford, or "the ford for cattle," comprises by computation 6000 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the livings of Lymington and Brockenhurst annexed, valued in the king's books at £12; net income, £394; patron, J. B. Shrubb, Esq.; impropriators, Joseph Weld, Esq., and others. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1811. The church, occupying an elevated site commanding an extensive prospect of great beauty and variety, is a very ancient and irregular edifice, with a low square embattled tower, singularly placed at the south-eastern part of the structure, and partially rebuilt in 1697. At Baddesley is a small chapel, of modern architecture, erected and endowed by the Worsley family; and at East Boldre is a church, the incumbent of which has an income of £100: a district church was built in Sway tything in 1838. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. A school, for instructing and clothing 20 boys and 20 girls, was founded at Pilley by the Rev. William Gilpin, vicar, celebrated for his intense feeling and accurate delineation of natural beauty, and especially of that of forest scenery: he was born at Scaleby Castle, in Cumberland, about the year 1724, and reckoned among his ancestors the amiable reformer, Bernard Gilpin; he died here, April 5th, 1804.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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