Place:Holdenhurst, Hampshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this article is based on one in Wikipedia

Holdenhurst civil parish at one time included the greater part of what is now Bournemouth, England. The civil parish was subsumed into Bournemouth County Borough in 1931, but was re-created following a Community Governance Review in 2012. However, the ecclesiastical parish continued to exist; it encompasses Hurn, East Parley and Bournemouth International Airport, as well as adjacent areas of Bournemouth.

Although there were many boundary and name changes over the years, even by the start of the 19th century the parish of Holdenhurst (also known as the Liberty of West Stour) encompassed the whole area between Christchurch in the east and Poole in the west. The area was still a remote and barren heathland, and much of it was common land used by the inhabitants for livestock and by the poor for wood and turves.

Holdenhurst is now a small isolated village situated in green belt land in the northeast suburbs of Bournemouth. The village comprises fewer than 30 dwellings, two farms and the parish church. There are no shops and few local facilities in the village. The village has only been accessible by car via a single narrow lane since the through route was cut off in the late 1960s by the building of the Bournemouth Spur Road (A338). There is no public transport.

19th and 20th century changes

In 1802, the Christchurch Inclosure Act, entitled An Act for dividing, allotting and inclosing certain Commonable Lands and Waste Grounds within the Parish or Chapelry of Holdenhurst in the County of Southampton was passed in Parliament. Commissioners were appointed to divide up the land and allot it according to an individual's entitlement, and to set out the roads and to sell plots of land in order to pay for their work.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Holdenhurst seventy years later from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"HOLDENHURST, a village and a parish in Christchurch district, Hants. The village stands on the river Stour, 3 miles NW of Christchurch [railway] station. The parish contains the tythings of Redhall. Moordown, Charminster, Stronden, Great Dean and Little Down, Muccleshell, Muscliffe, and Throop; extends to the coast: and is all included in Christchurch borough. Post town: Christchurch. Acres: 7,390; of which 70 are water. Real property: £9,648; of which £45 are in fisheries. Population in 1851: 1,330; in 1861: 2,488. Houses: 417. The property is much divided. The living is a [perpetual] curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Christchurch, in the diocese of Winchester. The church was built in 1833. There are an Independent chapel and a national school. A part of the parish, with a population of 1,707 in 1861, is in Bournemouth chapelry."

Up until 1894 the parish comprised 7,390 acres (29.9 km2). In that year part of it was formed into a separate parish of Winton, and that part lying on the coast was transferred to the new parish of Bournemouth. Further portions of the parish were later transferred to Bournemouth and to Southbourne, and by 1912 the parish of Holdenhurst was reduced to an area of 3,080 acres (12.5 km2).

In 1931, the whole of the remaining part of the parish was subsumed into the County Borough of Bournemouth, later to be transferred from the county of Hampshire to Dorset in 1974, and in 1997 to become a unitary authority.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on the Liberty of Westover with Holdenhurst and Bournemouth.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons
• Dorset research tips to be added