Travel through the New Forest near Lymington and one cannot help but notice the signs to Boldre, and it is certainly worth a visit. Known as one of the loveliest villages in the New Forest it has  a lot to offer. It sits astride a small stream which is the central river of the forest.

Yet this pretty little village has its own ghost! It has been a favourite haunt (excuse the pun!) of smugglers due to its easy access to the sea via the Boldre River and in the 1600s there lived a smuggler and his daughter in one of the remotest cottages in the area. It is said that a young man who was carrying urgent despatches for the Duke of Monmouth chose this cottage of an overnight stop and h the daughter took to him so well, probably because he was wearing expensive jewellery that she persuaded her lover to murder the messenger. The deed done they buried his corpse in the back garden.

Many years later after the smuggler and his daughter died the cottage was bought and extended and a Mrs Gordon-Hamilton became the owner i the early part of the 20th century, she renamed the cottage to Bywater House.

But it was not long before she started complaining about hearing strange sounds at night, sounds of barrels being rolled around and footsteps etc. Being told before hand the history of the cottage in regard to its smuggling activities she was not really alarmed until one particular day in 1920 when looking at a photograph she had had taken in the garden she noticed another figure in the picture, a young man who had his hair in long curly tresses which was a favourite with the Cavliers.

Feeling a bit anxious she showed the photo to a friend who later had a dream that the young man was trying to tell her to dig up a certain area of the garden. So the very next day digging began and it was discovered that there was a small chamber constructed of 17th century bricks under the spot. A medium was summoned who declared the murder of the young man, but no remains was there to be seen!

Boldre has a magic all of its own, maybe it is the long winding lanes that rise up to Vicars Hill where William Gilpin, who was classed as having a wealth of knowledge concerning the New Forest, and its flora and fauna,  and who with Caroline Bowles linked the village with literature. Later in 1839 Miss Bowles married Robert Southey . At the bottom of the hill is a timbered cottage which has a beautiful front garden in the summer months, a tread pump which is over 200 years old standing on its lawn and a Roman road running past.
 

St John the Baptist at Boldre has been a 
place of worship for nine centuries

In the churchyard of St John the Baptist is an old maple tree and here beside it the William Gilpin lies buried, he was perhaps one of England's finest gentlemen and a true friend of Boldre and the forest itself. Though the church replaces an earlier one from the 13th century it is charming and to unlock the doors one must use a huge iron key which the monks from Beaulieu Abbey used.

William Gilpin died in 1804 at the age of 80 and it is written..........

'In a quiet mansion beneath this stone, secured from the afflictions and still more dangerous enjoyments of life, lie the remains of William Gilpin, sometime vicar of this parish, together with the remains of Margaret his wife.'

It goes on that they await patiently the joy of waking in a much happier place and adds: 'Here it will be a new joy to meet several of their good neighbours who now lie scattered in these sacred precincts around them.'

Gilpin  was said to be more than a village parson as he had been a schoolmaster before arriving in Boldre and he wrote the story of his ancestor Bernard Gilpin the Apostle of the North and also the lives of Huss and Wycliffe. William Gilpin was the first Englishman to picture by pencil and verse the large collection of wildlife and fauna of his native country. He was ordained into the church at the age of 22 and after a few years of working as a curate he took ovr a school in Surrey where he was renowned for keeping order by electing a 'jury' of boys who alongside adult supervision levied finds and punishment to fit the crime that other students committed. The money raised from this was used to buy more reading material and to also help the local needy.

Henry Addington  who later became Prime Minster was one of these boys and William Mitford the writer of Greek history was another

Gilpin when he became the incumbent at Boldre found there was plenty to occupy him as the village through being remote had become run down and he wanted to make improvements to life here, He helped in the opening of a new poorhouse and from the money his books made he helped in the building of a school and not only gate the local children a better education but also donated clothes to them as well

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH HISTORY
EAST BOLDRE

IMAGES OF BOLDRE

Interior of St John the Baptist		The sundial on the church wall
A part of the Beaulieu River		A house on the road through Boldre