In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Beaulieu like this:
BEAULIEU, or Bewley, a village, a parish, and a liberty, in the district of New Forest, Hants. The village stands at the head of a creek, 4 miles SE of Lyndhurst Road r. station, and 7 NE of Lymington. It has a post office‡ under Southampton; carries on some sack-making and ship-building; and has fairs on 15 April and 4 Sept. ...
It is a quaint old-fashioned place; and was formerly of more note than now. The creek at it goes 4½ miles south-south-eastward to the Solent; is navigable hither; and receives, at the head, a streamlet of 5 miles, coming from the vicinity of Lyndhurst, and called variously the Beanlieu and the Exe.—The parish comprises 9,480 acres of land, and 2,560 of water. Real property, £4,820. Pop., 1,176. Houses, 238. The property all belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch. A Cistertian Abbey was founded here, in the neighbourhood of the village, in 1204, by King John; had the privilege of sanctuary; and gave shelter to Margaret of Anjou and to Perkin Warbeck. The abbot's house, the refectory, the cloister walls, the dormitory, and the ruins of the sacristy, fratry, and chapter-house still remain. The abbot's house was moated by a Duke of Montague, to protect it from French privateers; and is still maintained as a seat of the Duke of Buccleuch. The refectory is now the parish church; measures 125 feet by 30½; and shows the characters of late early English. An hospital of the Knights Templars, of earlier date than the Abbey, stood about ½ a mile distant, on a rising-ground commanding an extensive view; and the ruins of it have been converted into farm-buildings. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £140.* Patron, the Duke of Buccleuch. There are two baptist chapels.-The liberty comprises the parishes of Beanlieu and Exbury. Acres, 15,106. Pop., 1,549. Houses, 304.
Beaulieu through time
Beaulieu is now part of New Forest district. Click here for graphs and data of how New Forest has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Beaulieu itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Beaulieu, in New Forest and Hampshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/5315
Date accessed: 26th April 2024
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