NEW FOREST TODAY MAGAZINE

Fly past

Listen to this article

J Armstrong Drexel

Nestled between Beaulieu and Lymington is the small village of East Boldre.

The name East Boldre dates from when it was created from the parish of Boldre - which gets its name from Bovre, probably a Norman corruption of Bol Re (plank over river). The village was originally called Beaulieu Rails because it developed alongside the edge of wooden railings on an earth bank. The thirteenth century Beaulieu Manor bank, to the east, is on common land and was the boundary with the parish of Beaulieu.

Probably because the land around East Boldre was so flat and accessible, it was considered to be an ideal location for the establishment of an airfield.

Flights began in 1910 from the airfield at East Boldre when William McArdle and J Armstrong Drexel established the New Forest Flying School there. The school folded in 1912 and then, four years later, the Royal Flying Corps took over the site as a training airfield in 1916. A small camp was built near East Boldre Village but, later, in 1918 a larger camp was built on the Lymington to Beaulieu road. The larger camp accommodated hangars, power house, separate quarters for women and an officers' camp. The camp closed, when flying ceased, in 1919 but remained listed as an airfield. Between 1945 and 1950 the site was used for experimental purposes as a parachute dropping zone.

The village is about two miles long and roughly a quarter of a mile wide. The boundary to the west is the road that runs from north to south alongside the open heathland and Hatchet Pond
Hatchet Pond has always been a popular place to stop and, even as far back as the 1800s, children would play on its shores. The pond was formed as a result of marl (clay) excavation and was the primary source of water for the mill which was nearby and the rope factory in Massey’s Lane.

The rope factory was built in 1816 by William Westbrook, a Beaulieu ropemaker, at the end of Factory Lane (now Massey’s Lane) which is not far from the airfield. It is thought that rope and other materials produced on this site were supplied to naval ship-building projects at nearby Buckler’s Hard.

East Boldre has even more secrets to reveal and is well worth a detour, and maybe a visit to the Turfcutters pub, as you drive past Hatchet Pond from Beaulieu to Lymington.