Dibden Purlieu () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

situated on the edge of the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. The village merges with the nearby town of

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a hamlet in Canada England *The ...

. It is in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Hythe and Dibden Hythe () is a town in Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton. Hythe has a shopping area, a pier, and a marina for yachts. History The name Hythe means landi ...

. The approximate population is around 4000 people. The regular Bluestar bus services provide Purlieu's quickest link with the city of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Dibden Purlieu is twinned with Mauves-sur-Loire,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

History

Dibden Purlieu was in the parish of

Dibden Dibden is a small village in Hampshire, England, which dates from the Middle Ages. It is dominated by the nearby settlements of Hythe and Dibden Purlieu. It is in the civil parish of Hythe and Dibden. It lies on the eastern edge of the Ne ...

, referred to in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as Deepdene, "dene" being an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

word for valley.

Purlieu Purlieu is a term used for the outlying parts of a place or district. It was a term of the old Forest law, and meant, as defined by John Manwood, ''Treatise of the Lawes of the Forest'' (1598, 4th ed. 1717), The owner of freelands in the purli ...

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

in the 14th century when the forest boundaries were established by perambulations about 1300.Dibden Purlieu, Old Hampshire Gazetteer
/ref> 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. Up to the 1950s Dibden Purlieu was a small settlement next to the village of Dibden, but the expansion of

Fawley Refinery Fawley Refinery is an oil refinery located at Fawley, Hampshire, England. The refinery is owned by Esso Petroleum Company Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation, which acquired the site in 1925. Situated on Southampton Water, it was r ...

lead to a demand for more houses for workers, and Hythe and Dibden Purlieu were allowed to expand into a small town. In 1983 the parish was renamed, and Dibden Purlieu is now part of the parish of Hythe and Dibden.What is the Parish Council
, Hythe and Dibden Parish Council

Notable residents

* Richard Eurich RA

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

was the

war artist A war artist is an artist either commissioned by a government or publication, or self-motivated, to document first-hand experience of war in any form of illustrative or depictive record.Imperial War Museum (IWM)header phrase, "war shapes lives" ...

for the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

in 1941. * Ron Lane was a wood sculptor of

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

.British Pathe (1969).
Wood Sculptor
', Canister: UN 4462 A; Film ID: 3318.20; Sort number: UN 4462 A; Tape: *PM3318*. * Damian Shirazi (born 1983), cricketer, grew up in the village

Schools

Dibden Purlieu has two large

secondary schools A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

; Noadswood School and Applemore College.

Totton College Totton College is a further education college located in Totton, Hampshire, providing vocational courses and apprenticeships mainly 16- to 19-year-olds. These include BTECs, NVQs, GCSEs and Access courses. Courses are also available to students ...

also has a small campus in the village that specialises in adult education services. Primary education is now provided at several schools in the village. Wildground, was the first in Armitage Avenue. The junior school opened on this site in 1962, with the infants' premises following two years later. Prior to that, the school had occupied temporary accommodation on Lunedale Road, which later included the use of the adjacent

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

Hall. The village had further primary's schools added with the opening in the late 60s of the separate Orchard Infant and Orchard Junior schools on Water Lane, adjacent to Noadswood School.

References

External links

Hythe and Dibden Parish CouncilWildground Infant SchoolWildground Junior School
{{authority control New Forest Villages in Hampshire