Brockenhurst

"BROCKENHURST, a parish in the hundred of New Forest, Lymington division of the county of Hants, 4 miles to the N. of Lymington. It is a station on the London and South-Western railway. A village existed on this spot before the time of the Norman Survey, in which it is called Broceste. The parish is crossed by the Boldre Water, and contains much fine scenery. The living is a perpetual curacy annexed to the vicarage of Boldre, in the diocese of Winchester. The church is a very ancient building, and though several times altered and repaired, exhibits still the Norman style; it has a curious old font. In the churchyard are an oak and a yew of very large size. There is a free school, endowed by Henry Thurston in 1745 with an income of £24 a year. The principal seats in the parish are Brockenhurst Park, containing fine old trees and beautiful scenery; and Watcombe House, or Brockenhurst Lodge, in which John Howard, the philanthropist, long resided. Near the village is a heath, called Sway Common, on which several tumuli and remains of entrenchments are found."

[From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]