| Hordle | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hordle lies between the coastline of the Solent and
the edge of the New Forest and its name is believed to have derived from
'hordhyll' when meant treasure mound or treasure hill but if it ever
existed nobody has found it yet! But there had been quite a
few variations of the name over theyears, the Domesday book has it as
Herdel, in 1242 it was Horhull then Hordwell appeared on the very first
OS map. The present civil parish is a lot smaller today than when it used to be 3,854 acres, but its north to south boundaries still remain the same. The parish is mainly agricultural but there were salterns on the coast. The Domesday Survey of 1086 first records the village and a church is recorded in the cartulary of Christchurch Priory back in the 12th century. It is a scattered place with small groups of houses forming hamlets like Tiptoe in the north and Taddiford in the south and there are signs that, in the 18th century, the main centre of population went north away from the sea. And the parish church was pulled down in 1830 and rebuilt at Downton Common two miles away in the north. There are in fact two churches that were relocated from their original sites, Opposite St Andrew's Church at Tipte was the old iron church that came from Netley Hospital but is no longer in use. All Saints is the parish church that was moved and rebuilt in 1830 and 1831 but it was so badly built that it had to be built again in 1872. A lot of 'infilling' took place around 1920 and this was increased in the 50s and 60s and this meant that a larger population was seeking to make a livelihood in nearby New Milton and Lymington, in fact the population of the parish in 1801 was 446 but by 1931 this had grown to more and a thousand more and has been increasing ever since then. The school did not ar rive until 1860 and there are no endowed charities, but the parish has kept a lot of its rural character mainly through areas of pasture that separate it from the nearby parishes.
A large granite memorial stands in the churchyard, this is to John Collett, 1798 - 1856, a friend of the poachers as he often used to pay their fines for them. There is an inscription which reads "Rough as granite truth itself. Laborare est orare" This last part is latin for 'To Work is to pray'. Also in the churchyard but in unmarked
graves is Mrs Mary Girling and members of a religious sect which was
known as The Children of God but was more commonly known as The Shakers.
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