East Boldre

History

People have lived in the East Boldre area since prehistoric times. Over thirty Bronze Age barrows lie within the parish boundaries.

The village of East Boldre was originally a straggling hamlet and was known as Beaulieu Rails. This earlier name reflected the fact that the settlement had grown up along the wooden railings defining the western boundary of the manor and parish of Beaulieu. The residents were described in a parliamentary report in 1834 as "for the most part smugglers and deer-stealers."

The first church was a Baptist church founded in 1810. The Anglican church of St. Paul was built in 1839 but was restored and the chancel added in 1891. The ecclesiastical parish of East Boldre was formed in 1840. There were 650 inhabitants in 1871. The village hall was built in 1917. In 1929 East Boldre Civil Parish was created from the Parish of Boldre.

An airfield was built in East Boldre in 1910. There was a flying school there for two years before the airfield reverted to grazing land. In 1914, one of the sheds on the airfield was taken over by the Royal Flying Corps, and by 1915, the demand for pilots for World War I resulted in a training school called RFC Beaulieu being built. On 24 October 1917, the village post office at East Boldre was accidentally damaged by a British aeroplane, and for six months, the elderly inhabitants had to live under tarpaulins in the house even whilst transacting postal business. The camp was closed in 1919. The airfield identification letters, BEAULIEU, have been restored and are still visible at this location 50°48'25.9"N 1°28'52.7"W

In 1942, during World War II, a three-runway airfield, RAF Beaulieu, was built on the opposite side of the road. It was used by both the Royal Air Force and then later by the United States Army Air Forces. After the war, the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) came to RAF Beaulieu and used the former airfield as a parachute dropping zone until September 1950. The site was then neglected, and the Air Ministry relinquished control of the land in 1959. Today, model aircraft are flown on the site.

The film director Ken Russell and his fourth wife Elize lived in a thatched cottage in East Boldre. On 3 April 2006, the cottage burned down, destroying most of their possessions, including much of Russell's movie-making equipment. They afterwards moved to nearby Lymington.

Notes

References

1. "2001 Census Neighbourhood Statistics - Civil Parishes in the New Forest". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.
2. "Civil Parish population 2011". Office for National Statistics.
3. [http://www3.hants.gov.uk/index/your-area/localpages/south-west/brockenhurst/east-boldre.htm East Boldre] {{Webarchive. link. (18 September 2011 , www3.hants.gov.uk, retrieved 10 July 2011)
4. [http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/newforest/public/resources/eastb.html East Boldre: A New Forest Squatters Settlement 1700 - 1900]
5. ''Report on the Administration and Effects of the Poor Laws, more particularly in the County of Hants'', page 2, (1834). Selection of reports and papers of the House of Commons: Volume 43.
6. link. (18 October 2012 , www.genuki.org.uk, retrieved 10 July 2011)
7. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56896 Victoria County History, (1911), A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4 - Boldre, Pages 616-623]
8. William White, (1878), ''History, gazetteer and directory of the county of Hampshire'', page 211.
9. [http://www.eastboldre.org/airfieldhistoryww1.html History], East Boldre Parish Council, retrieved 10 July 2011
10. [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1918/mar/05/east-boldre-post-office EAST BOLDRE POST OFFICE. (Hansard, 5 March 1918)]
11. [https://rafbeaulieu.co.uk/t-shaped-drop-zone-target-afee/ RAF Beaulieu Airfield], rafbeaulieu.co.uk, retrieved 22 December 2022
12. [https://archive.today/20120804140713/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/wife-escapes-as-blaze-destroys-ken-russells-home-472761.html Wife escapes as blaze destroys Ken Russell's home], ''[[The Independent]]'', 4 April 2006, retrieved 2 December 2011
13. [http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/heritage/hampshire100/100stage/1487945.Ken_Russell/ Stage & Screen: Ken Russell], ''[[Southern Daily Echo. Daily Echo]]'', 21 June 2007, retrieved 2 December 2011