Lyndhurst (Hampshire)

Lyndhurst is a small town of about 3,000 inhabitants in the district of New Forest in the county of Hampshire in southern England. The name Lyndhurst means " wooded with Linden Hill".

Location

Lyndhurst is located about 90 miles or 145 km ( driving distance ) southwest of London in the middle of the former royal hunting ground and today's New Forest National Park. The nearest large town is about 10 miles or 16 kilometers east airport, Southampton. The two historic towns of Winchester and Salisbury are located about 20 miles or 36 kilometers north-east or north-west.

Economy

The economic life of the town for centuries was dependent on agriculture in the area. Settled here in the Middle Ages merchants and crafts and service industries ( barbers, restaurants, etc.). Today, tourism plays a major role in the economic life of the city.

History

For the first time the place is mentioned in 1086 as Lynhest in the Domesday Book. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the basic rule of a family of the same name ( Lyndhurst Family ), but fell back in 1270 to the British Crown. Then Lyndhurst was about 100 years to the dowry of four different English queens ( Eleanor of Castile, Margaret of France, Isabelle de France and Philippa of Hainault ) before the place was 1362 again Kronbesitz. From the 14th to the 18th century, he was assigned as a royal fief to deserving people of the kingdom - he was from 1467 to 1581 in the possession of the Earls of Arundel.

Attractions

• The center of Lyndhurst is characterized by brick and half-timbered buildings in the Anglo -Norman style.
• The so-called Queens House (the name changes depending on the gender of the monarch ) was a 13th-century manor house ( manor house ) first mentioned; the present building stems but only from the time of Charles I and Charles II (17th century). The two-story brick building was used as a royal hunting and guest house. Today the building is the seat of the Forestry Commission; other parts have been converted into a museum for some time.

• The parish church of St Michael and All Angels is a neo-Gothic multicolored brick building from the years 1858 to 1870. The north aisle ends in the west in a 49 -meter-high bell tower with octagonal helmet attachment ( spire ). The three-nave interior is characterized by red, white and yellow brick bands. The nave ends - as usual in English churches - not in a semicircular apse, but in a shallow choir circuit. Worth seeing are the stone pulpit and the choir screen with their marble figures. Behind the altar is a fresco Frederic Leighton with the presentation of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Some of the stained glass windows are designed to designs by Edward Burne -Jones, William Morris and Charles Eamer Kempe.
• In the cemetery of the church is the grave of Alice Liddell ( 1852-1934 ). She was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland and lived after her marriage to Reginald Hargreaves in Lyndhurst and the surrounding area. Two of her three sons died within a week in the front line during the First World War.
• In 1988, the New Forest Centre was opened - a museum that focuses on the landscape and the lives of the inhabitants of the region.
• The hilly and wooded area of Lyndhurst is ideal for hiking. The most important viewpoint is Bolton's Bench.

Sister City

• La Chevrolière (France)