Dibden Purlieu

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Dibden Purlieu
Hampshire
Dibden Purlieu.jpg
Dibden Purlieu village centre following snowfall
Location
Grid reference: SU412061
Location: 50°51’7"N, 1°24’54"W
Data
Post town: Southampton
Postcode: SO45
Dialling code: 023
Local Government
Council: New Forest
Parliamentary
constituency:
New Forest East

Dibden Purlieu is a village standing at the edge of the New Forest in the south-west of Hampshire. The village merges seamlessly with the nearby town of Hythe, stretching inland to here from the shore of Southampton Water.

The approximate population is around 4,000 people.

History

St Andrew's Church in Dibden Purlieu

Dibden Purlieu was in the parish of Dibden, referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Deepdene, "dene" being an Old English word for valley.[1] Purlieu is a Norman-French word meaning "the outskirts of a forest" – a place free from forest laws. In this particular case Dibden Purlieu was land removed from the New Forest in the 14th century when the forest boundaries were established by perambulations about 1300.[2] In practice the king retained or claimed, certain rights in the area, and the activities of the royal foresters in enforcing forest law there were a matter of great resentment.[2]

Up to the 1950s Dibden Purlieu was a small settlement next to the village of Dibden, but the expansion of Fawley Refinery lead to a demand for more houses for workers, and Hythe and Dibden Purlieu were allowed to expand into a small town.[3] In 1983 the parish was renamed, and Dibden Purlieu is now part of the parish of Hythe and Dibden.

Outside links

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References

  1. Dibden, Old Hampshire Gazetteer
  2. 2.0 2.1 Dibden Purlieu, Old Hampshire Gazetteer
  3. Journal of the Town Planning Institute, (1953), Volume 39, page 87: "At Fawley the construction of Europe's largest oil refinery on Southampton Water has created a demand for more housing accommodation and it is proposed to satisfy this by expanding the existing villages of Hythe and Dibden Purlieu into a small town of 10,000."