Boldre

A Parish of Distinct Settlements

Boldre Parish comprises distinct settlements, including Boldre and Pilley, amid farmland, woods and the Solent shoreline. The parish design statement describes Pilley as the centre of the hamlets, while St John the Baptist stands some distance from nearby houses.

The Red Lion is the pub most people mean when they say Boldre. Its 17th-century building was rebuilt in the 18th century, and its name comes from the Stratford Lyon: a giant red lion with stag's antlers that local legend says verderer John Stratford drew from Haresmede wood in the early 1400s. Sightings were reported into the twentieth century. The kitchen draws on locally sourced game and seafood, and its homemade puddings are popular. A 2017 Sunday lunch featured smoked Hampshire trout pâté, roast Hampshire beef with Yorkshire pudding and creamy leeks, and lime and stem ginger cheesecake. That same visit recorded treats for the dogs and a covered patio beside the garden.

Pilley's Ancient Pub and the Hilltop Church

The thatched Fleur de Lys in Pilley traces its first pint to 1096 and displays a list of landlords dating from 1498. Its kitchen serves classics such as aged fillet beef Wellington, chicken, ham and leek pie and Sunday roast sirloin.

St John the Baptist stands high above the fields and woods, away from any hamlet. Its late-11th-century core is built of chalk rubble and flint. Three sarsen stones in the foundations have prompted a theory of worship on the site around 2000 BC. The HMS Hood memorial recalls Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland, who worshipped here before the ship was sunk by the Bismarck in 1941. Only three of its 1,418 crew survived; the Book of Remembrance names the 1,415 who died.

Roydon Woods and Boldre's Domesday Record

From Rope Hill, the 4.3-mile circuit crosses Boldre Bridge, climbs past the hilltop church and drops through Roydon Woods, where coppiced hazel, butcher's broom, wild garlic and spring bluebells grow among ancient trees. It crosses the Lymington River again through the reserve, then returns across fields and beside the river to Boldre Bridge. Expect gentle gradients, two stiles and winter mud; keep dogs on leads in the reserve.

Lymington lies to the south, with rail stations on the Brockenhurst branch line; the A337 links it with Boldre. In 1086 the Domesday survey recorded the manor as waste, with no population listed and Hugh of St Quentin as lord. Its recorded value of three pounds belongs to 1066.

William Gilpin's Legacy

William Gilpin became vicar of Boldre in 1777 and helped popularise the picturesque approach to landscape. He funded schools for forty village children partly through the sale of his drawings, and he is buried in the hilltop churchyard.