Exbury

Last updated

Exbury
Exbury Church - The Parish Church of St Katherine - geograph.org.uk - 387035.jpg
Exbury Church
Hampshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Exbury
Location within Hampshire
OS grid reference SU425003
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town SOUTHAMPTON
Postcode district SO45
Dialling code 023 [1]
Police Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Fire Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Ambulance South Central
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Hampshire
50°48′03″N1°23′47″W / 50.8008°N 1.3965°W / 50.8008; -1.3965
Exbury House Exbury House - geograph.org.uk - 189526.jpg
Exbury House
Exbury Water Tower built to provide water to the gardens The Water Tower, Exbury.jpg
Exbury Water Tower built to provide water to the gardens

Exbury is a village in Hampshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe. It lies just in the New Forest, near the Beaulieu River and about a mile from the Solent coast. It is best known as the location of Exbury House, built by the Rothschild family, and the famous Exbury Gardens. The Rothschild family still have significant land ownings in the area.

Contents

Overview

The village was originally in the southwest corner of the parish but moved inland in the early 19th century. [2] The present village was built to provide homes for workers on the Exbury Estate and still does provide homes for a few workers but is now mainly private housing. A prominent feature of the village is a water tower which provided the water to the gardens that was used to water the plants. The parish church was built in 1827, replacing an earlier chapel near Lower Exbury Farm. Until 1863 Exbury was a chapelry in the parish of Fawley. [3]

The village forms part of the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe, which in turn is part of the New Forest district of the county of Hampshire. The parish, district and county councils are responsible for different aspects of local administration. [4]

History

People have lived near Exbury since prehistoric times. An Iron-Age promontory fort is visible on the east bank of the Beaulieu River, where it is defended on the east side by a bank and outer ditch. [5]

In the 13th century the Foliot family were holders of the Exbury in chief of the Crown. [3] At the end of the century the estate was divided into two, but by the end of the 14th century both parts were in the hands of John de Bettesthorne. [3] On the death of John de Bettesthorne in 1399, his inheritance passed to his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Sir John de Berkeley. [3] It remained in the hands of the Berkeley family for most of the 15th century. At the end of that century the manor had passed to Katherine Berkeley, who had married John Brewerton, and it then descended to the Comptons of Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, who held it for the next two hundred years. [3]

In 1718 Exbury passed to William Mitford, and by the early 1800s it had descended to his grandson William Mitford the historian of Greece. [3] William decided to build a new village at Upper Exbury. [6] The original village and its chapel at Lower Exbury to the south-west were removed, [7] and a site was designated for a new church, which was built in 1827. [7] William Mitford died in 1827, and his grandson Henry Reveley Mitford succeeded to the estate. [3] He sold it, in the 1880s, to Major John Forster. His son Henry William Forster inherited Exbury, living in Lepe House. [3]

Exbury House

In 1919 the eminent banker Lionel Nathan de Rothschild bought Exbury House, the house being nearly derelict at that time. [8] The house was remodelled in 1927, [9] and Lionel created a new garden, collecting plants from all over the world. [8] When he died in 1942, the house was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and used for the planning and operation of the Dieppe raids and D-Day landings. [9] Exbury estate was used for experimental firing, and barracks housing up to 300 men were constructed within the grounds. [9] Lionel's son Edmund Leopold de Rothschild took on the responsibility for the estate after the war, restoring the house and gardens. [8] Exbury Gardens opened to the public in 1955. When Edmund died in 2009, his brother Leopold David de Rothschild took over, creating a Charitable Trust to secure the financial future of the gardens and railway which opened in 2001. [8]

Church

The earliest mention of a chapel at Exbury is in 1291, when "Master Nicholas de Audeby" held the church of Fawley with the chapel of Exbury. [3] The chapel of St. Katherine was at Lower Exbury. This chapel was served by the Cistercians from Beaulieu Abbey, the tradition being that the monks used to cross the river from Saint Leonard's on stepping-stones. [3] The chapel was pulled down in 1827, when the present church at Exbury was built. [3]

Exbury church is a stone structure with a northwest tower. [10] It was consecrated in 1827. [3] It contains a 13th-century font of Purbeck stone from the old church. [10] To the east of the church is the family vault of the Mitfords. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Mitford</span> British historian and politician (1744–1827)

William Mitford was an English historian, landowner, and politician. His best known work is The History of Greece, published in ten volumes between 1784 and 1810.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rothschild properties in the home counties</span>

In the 19th century members of the English Rothschild family bought and built many country houses in the home counties, furnishing them with the art the family collected. The area of the Vale of Aylesbury, where many of the houses were situated, became known as "Rothchildshire". In the 20th century many of these properties were sold off with their art collections dispersed. Today only Eythrope House still belongs to the family; however, they still retain influence in how Ascott House and Waddesdon Manor are managed. In the loss of country houses in the 20th century only Aston Clinton was lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Forest District</span> Non-metropolitan district in England

New Forest is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Lyndhurst, although the largest town is Totton. The district also includes the towns of Fordingbridge, Lymington, New Milton and Ringwood. The district is named after and covers most of the New Forest National Park, which occupies much of the central part of the district. The main urban areas are around the periphery of the forest. The district has a coastline onto the Solent to the south and Southampton Water to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marchwood</span> Human settlement in England

Marchwood is a village and civil parish located in Hampshire, England. It lies between Totton and Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and directly east of the New Forest. The population of the village in the 2011 census was 6,141.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndhurst, Hampshire</span> Village in Hampshire, England

Lyndhurst is a large village and civil parish situated in the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England, about nine miles (14 km) south-west of Southampton. Known as the "Capital of the New Forest", Lyndhurst houses the New Forest District Council and Court of Verderers. It is also a popular tourist attraction, with many independent shops, art galleries, cafés, museums, pubs and hotels. As of 2001 Lyndhurst had a population of 2,973, increasing to 3,029 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fawley, Hampshire</span> Human settlement in England

Fawley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated in the New Forest on the western shore of the Solent, approximately 7 miles south of Southampton. Fawley is also the site of Fawley Refinery, operated by ExxonMobil, which is the largest facility of its kind in the United Kingdom. The decommissioned Fawley Power Station is also located less than a mile to the south east of the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holbury</span> Human settlement in England

Holbury is a village in Hampshire, England. It is part of the parish of Fawley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exbury Gardens</span> Botanical garden in Hampshire, England

Exbury Gardens is a 200-acre (81 ha) informal woodland garden in Hampshire, England with large collections of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, and is often considered the finest garden of its type in the United Kingdom. Exbury holds the national collection of Nyssa (Tupelo) and Oxydendrum under the National Plant Collection scheme run by the Plant Heritage charity. The gardens are rated Grade II* on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel de Rothschild (born 1882)</span> British politician

Major Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, OBE was a British banker and Conservative politician best remembered as the creator of Exbury Gardens by the New Forest in Hampshire. He was the eldest son of Leopold de Rothschild (1845–1917) and a part of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England. In 1910, he was elected to the House of Commons. In 1917, he co-founded the anti-Zionist League of British Jews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dibden</span> Village and parish in Hampshire, England

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 New Forest in a valley, which runs into Southampton Water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minstead</span> Human settlement in England

Minstead is a small village and civil parish in the New Forest, Hampshire, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Lyndhurst. There is a shop and a pub, the Trusty Servant. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's grave is under a large tree at the back of the 13th-century All Saints' church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sway, Hampshire</span> Village in Hampshire, England

Sway is a village and civil parish in Hampshire in the New Forest national park in England. The civil parish was formed in 1879, when lands were taken from the extensive parish of Boldre. The village has shops and pubs, and a railway station on the South West Main Line from Weymouth and Bournemouth to Southampton and London Waterloo. It is the site of Sway Tower, a 66-metre (217 ft) concrete folly built in the 19th century. The outbuildings of the Grade II listed Forest Heath House are used as artist studios and exhibition space by the charity SPUDWorks.

Major Edmund Leopold de Rothschild was an English financier, a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England, and a recipient of the Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH), given by the Royal Horticultural Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Langley, Hampshire</span> Human settlement in England

Langley is a small village in the civil parish of Fawley in Hampshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepe, Hampshire</span> Hamlet in Hampshire, England

Lepe is a linear hamlet on the Solent in south-west Hampshire, England. In the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe, It is beside the Dark Water, and has Lepe Country Park, which runs from Stanswood Bay to the mouth of the Beaulieu River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netley Marsh</span> Human settlement in England

Netley Marsh is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, close to the town of Totton. It lies within the New Forest District, and the New Forest National Park. It is the supposed site of the battle between an invading Anglo Saxon army, under Cerdic and a British army under the probably fictitious king Natanleod in the year 508.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denny Lodge</span> Human settlement in England

Denny Lodge is a large civil parish in the New Forest in Hampshire, England. It covers a large area of heathland and woodland encompassing much of the eastern side of the New Forest, but contains no towns, villages, churches, or schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisterne</span> Village in Hampshire, England

Bisterne is a hamlet in the civil parish of Ringwood in the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Ringwood, which lies 3 miles (4.8 km) to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exbury House</span> Country house in Exbury, Hampshire, England

Exbury House is an English country house in Exbury and Lepe, Hampshire, situated on the edge of the New Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley, New Forest</span> Village and parish in Hampshire, England

Ashley is a village located in the southwest of Hampshire, England. It lies on the eastern outskirts of New Milton in the New Forest district, and is two miles (3 km) inland from the sea. Its history dates back to the Domesday book of 1086, when two estates were recorded. In the 15th century much of Ashley merged with a neighbouring manor, and the estate became known as Ashley Arnewood. As a village, Ashley began to develop in the 19th century when a church and a school were built. Most of the current village was built in the 20th century, and today Ashley is effectively a suburb of New Milton.

References

  1. "Telecoms numbering". 11 March 2022.
  2. Hampshire County Council website Archived 2009-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Victoria County History of Hampshire: Exbury
  4. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  5. Historic England. "Monument No. 460661". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  6. The Parish Church of St. Katherine Exbury
  7. 1 2 Hampshire Treasures Volume 5 (New Forest) Page 115 Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1 2 3 4 Family Links The Rothschild Family
  9. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Exbury House (660872)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  10. 1 2 Hampshire Treasures Volume 5 (New Forest) Page 118 Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Exbury at Wikimedia Commons