St Leonards and St Ives is a

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 ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. The parish contains the settlements of Ashley,

Ashley Heath Ashley Heath is a village in Dorset, England, adjacent to the villages of St Leonards and St Ives, with which it forms the civil parish of St Leonards and St Ives. Ashley Heath is located north-east of Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is ...

, St Ives and St Leonards, which have merged to form a single urban area.

History

The parish was created on 1 April 1932, mostly from the part of the

ancient 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 ...

of Ringwood which lay west of the River Avon, but also gaining a smaller part from the parish of

Hurn Hurn is a village and civil parish in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole district of Dorset, England. It is situated between the River Stour and River Avon north-west of Christchurch and north-east of Bournemouth town centre. In 2001, t ...

(which had been created in 1894 from part of

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

). The parish was named after two small hamlets of St Ives and St Leonards, which were both gradually being developed in an area that had been largely undeveloped

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and woodland until the early twentieth century. Much of the heath had been called Ashley Heath, and Ashley Heath Halt railway station was opened in 1927 by the Southern Railway to serve the area. The station subsequently closed in 1964. The parish was transferred from

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, ...

to Dorset in 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

Geography

The three formerly separate settlements of Ashley Heath, St Ives and St Leonards have now coalesced into a single built-up area, which the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

calls Ashley Heath. The built-up area had a population at the 2021 census of 7,150, being the significant majority of the overall parish's population of 7,905. Although administratively separate from Ringwood since 1932 and in a different county to it since 1974, the area continues to have Ringwood as its

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering St Leonards and St Ives, at parish and

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

level: St Leonards and St Ives Parish Council and the St Leonards and St Ives ward for Dorset Council. The parish council meets at the village hall on Braeside Road in St Leonards.

References

{{Dorset Civil parishes in Dorset