Holdenhurst Village Conservation Area Appraisal - Bournemouth ...

5 Historic Development and Archaeology
Origins and Historic
Development
5.1 Historically much of the land between
Poole and Christchurch was covered
by a heathland of gorse, ferns and
heather. It was also dotted with
remains of the area’s rich prehistoric
past, but uninhabited apart from the
occasional village or hamlet such as
Holdenhurst, Throop, Kinson and Iford
along the fertile valley of the River
Stour.
5.2 It is the location of Holdenhurst, on the
edge of the flood plain of the Stour,
close to a crossing point, and bounded
by heath to the west, that made it
an ideal spot for early settlers. The
large number of archaeological finds
in the Bournemouth area, suggest that
Holdenhurst was occupied from the
prehistoric era onwards.
5.3 It is also likely that the Romans settled
or passed by the area as Roman coins
have been found in Holdenhurst. A
hoard was found buried in a vessel in
1911.
5.4 At the time of the Domesday survey
(1086) Holdenhurst was known as
‘Holeest’ meaning ‘holly copse’.
The survey reveals that Holdenhurst
had a chapel, a mill, 181 acres of
meadow and three fisheries supplying
a substantial hall. The number
of fisheries and the extent of the
meadows was large and, prior to the
building of the Priory in Christchurch
(then Twynham) in 1094, Holdenhurst
would have been more important
than the neighbouring Saxon Port of
Twynham. The decline of Holdenhurst
from its importance in the Domesday
period is reflected in a lack of later
expansion of the village.
5.5 The administrative history of
Holdenhurst is complicated as it moves
in and out of crown ownership, and
that of the Manor of Christchurch (of
which Holdenhurst became a part).
It passed regularly between absentee
landlords who paid it little attention
and consequently Holdenhurst
developed slowly as a nucleated
settlement according to the needs of
the tenant farmers.
5.6 Historically the Holdenhurst area was
a part of the ‘Liberty of Westover’
(possibly derived from being ‘west of
the Stour’), as the 1791 map in Figure 4
demonstrates. The Liberty of Westover
was divided into six tythings: Muscliff,
Muccleshell, Throop, Iford, Tuckton
and Wick and Holdenhurst. Holdenhurst
tything covered a much larger area
than the village as we know it today.
5.7 The village would have been principally
centred around the junction of the
former Holdenhurst Road and the
present Church Lane, this open space
later became the village green. From
Church Lane the track led past the
Saxon chapel to connect with Ferry
Lane which in turn led to the ropedrawn
Blackwater Ferry across the
River Stour. The ferry accessed the
main routes to the local market towns
of Christchurch and Ringwood, and
the road to London. The location of
Blackwater to the north of Holdenhurst
can be seen in Figure 4.
5.8 A village green in Holdenhurst is
evidenced by the map in Figure 4,
however, its present elongated shape
is likely to be a more recent form as
it is shown on later maps (see Figures
6 and 7) with pathways across it. A
number of cottages were built facing
this space or in close proximity to it.
The oldest surviving building in this
location is the timber framed sixteenth
century Magdalen Cottage No. 1
Holdenhurst Village, behind No. 17
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Holdenhurst Village Conservation Area Appraisal - March 2014