Purlieu is a term used for the outlying parts of a

place Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Of ...

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 purlieu to the yearly value of forty shillings was known as a purlieu-man or purley-man. The benefits of disafforestation accrued only to the owner of the lands. There seems no doubt that ''purlieu'' or ''purley'' represents the Anglo-

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

''pourallé lieu'' (old French , , to go through

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

), a legal term meaning properly a perambulation to determine the boundaries of a manor, parish, or similar region. The word survives in placenames. Examples include

Dibden Purlieu Dibden Purlieu () is a village situated on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, England. The village merges with the nearby town of Hythe. It is in the civil parish of Hythe and Dibden. The approximate population is around 4000 people. T ...

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, ...

, on the border 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 ...

, and Bedford Purlieus, once part of

Rockingham Forest Rockingham Forest is a former royal hunting forest primarily located in the English county of Northamptonshire, with a small section extending into neighbouring Cambridgeshire. It is an area of some lying between the River Welland and River ...

; also as Purley, in London, and

Purley on Thames Purley on Thames (known locally as Purley) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. Purley is centred north-west of Reading, east of Pangbourne, and south-east of Oxford. Historically, Purley comprised three separate manors and ...

, in Berkshire. It also survives in the surname, Purley.

References

Bibliography

Rackham, Oliver Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books inclu ...

(1976) ''Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape.'' (London: J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd.) .

External links

{{Wiktionary, purlieu French words and phrases French legal terminology English forest law