LYNDHURST                                                                                              

 

The name Lyndhurst, probably of Saxon origin, means ‘lime-wood’.  Although, nowadays, large stands or woods of lime are absent from Britain’s pasture woods, individual examples of the native small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata) can be found around the village.  Indicators of early settlement around Lyndhurst are in evidence.

On Matley Heath, between Lyndhurst and Beaulieu, the mounds of Bronze Age round barrows can be
seen and at Pondhead, near Matley, Roman coins have been excavated.

In 980, the recorded history of Lyndhurst begins.  It was, by this time, a royal manor granted to the Abbey of Amesbury in Wiltshire.

By 1075 the first Norman king, William I, had designated the whole area between the river Avon on the west, Wiltshire to the north, and to the south and east the Test, Southampton Water and the Solent as his “New” Forest, or Nova Foresta, to serve as a safe dwelling place for the beasts of the chase.

Historical text taken from:
LYNDHURST - A BRIEF HISTORY AND GUIDE
by Georgina Babey & Peter Roberts
Nova Foresta Publications

To purchase a copy visit Collections
 

LYMINGTON                                                                                              

 

The Saxons arrived in what is now South West Hampshire in the 6th century. They founded a settlement called limen tun. The Saxon word tun means a farm or hamlet. Limen is believed to be a Celtic name meaning either elm river or, perhaps, marshy river. So Lymington was the little village by the marshy river. The name Lymington was first recorded in 689 AD.

At the time of Domesday Book in 1086 the settlement was called Lentune.

From: A Brief History of Lymington by Tim Lambert
www.localhistories.org/lymington
 

AN EXTENSIVE ARCHIVE OF HISTORICAL POSTCARDS