Bisterne is a hamlet in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Ringwood in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

National Park in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. Its nearest town is Ringwood, which lies to the north.

History

Bisterne is listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as Betestre. It was possessed by the sons of Godric Malf in 1086, who had himself possessed it prior to 1066. The place was known as Bettesthorne in the 13th century, and gave its name to its early lords, the Bettesthorne family, who also owned lands in

Minstead Minstead is a small village and civil parish in the New Forest, Hampshire, about north of Lyndhurst. There is a shop and a pub, the ''Trusty Servant''. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's grave is under a large tree at the back of the 13th century Al ...

.Victoria County History, (1911), ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4'', pages 606-614, Ringwood
/ref> In the 15th century it passed by inheritance to the Berkeley family, and in the 16th century to the Compton family.Victoria County History, (1911), ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4'', pages 635-638, Minstead
/ref> In 1792, John Compton sold the manor to William Mills and the manor house subsequently remained in the Mills family. The church of

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, Bisterne, was built in 1842 of brick with stone dressings to a design by George Evans. It consists of a nave of five bays, aisles, north porch and tower with spire containing one bell. A schoolhouse built in 1840 survives in the hamlet.

RAF Bisterne

RAF Bisterne was opened in March 1944, as a prototype for the type of temporary

Advanced Landing Ground Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) were temporary advance airfields constructed by the Allies during World War II during the liberation of Europe. They were built in the UK prior to the invasion and thereafter in northwest Europe from 6 June 19 ...

type airfield which would be built in France after

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

. It was situated to the east of the B3347 road between Bisterne and Kingston, It was used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as a fighter airfield. It was closed in the late summer of 1944. Today the site is covered by fields.

The Bisterne Dragon

Bisterne is notable in English folklore for being the supposed location of a dragon-slaying. The local tradition is that a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

had his den at Burley Beacon, about east of Bisterne, at Burley.John Henry Blunt, (1877)
''Dursley and its neighbourhood; being historical memorials of Dursley''
pages 124-6 There are several versions of the tale, one being that the creature "flew" every morning to Bisterne, where it would be supplied with

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

. In order to kill the dragon, a valiant knight (usually named Berkeley) built a hide, and with two dogs lay in wait. The creature came as usual one morning for its milk, and when the hut door was opened the dogs attacked it, and while thus engaged the knight took the dragon by surprise, the dogs dying in the affray. The fight raged throughout the forest, with the dragon finally dying outside Lyndhurst, its corpse turning into a great hill (now known as Boltons Bench). Though the knight had defeated the dragon he had been mentally broken by the battle, and after thirty days and thirty nights he went back to Boltons Bench to die alone atop it, his body turning into the yew tree which can still be seen today.Reeve, Richard
New Forest Hauntings
Historic-UK, 2016

Notes

External links

{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Ringwood, Hampshire