Burgate (divided into Upper Burgate and Lower Burgate) is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

situated on the western edge of 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. The hamlet is situated on the A338 road. The nearest town is

Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest, famed for its late medieva ...

, which lies approximately 0.5 miles (1 km) to the southwest.

Overview

Burgate is a

on the A338 road just to the east of the town of

. It was known locally for the Tudor Rose Inn, which has now gone out of business. The hamlet is just to the west of the River Avon, and there is a footbridge over the river at Burgate.Burgate Suspension Bridge
/ref> The footbridge is a steel suspension bridge made of reused parts of a

Bailey bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. A ...

, and was erected in 1949-50. Burgate Manor, in Lower Burgate, is the headquarters of the

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (formerly the Game Conservancy Trust) is a British charitable organisation promoting game and wildlife management as a part of nature conservation, whilst working with the shooting and hunting community. For ...

.Our Offices
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, retrieved 29 February 2012

History

The name Burgate is

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

for "gate at the fortification". The fortification perhaps being the Iron-Age hillfort of Frankenbury Camp across the River Avon at

Godshill Godshill is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, with a population of 1,459 at the 2011 Census. It lies between Newport and Ventnor in the southeast of the island. History Godshill is one of the ancient parishes that exis ...

. Burgate was already divided by the time of 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.Victoria County History of Hampshire: Fordingbridge
/ref> Lower Burgate is probably represented by the

virgate The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( la, virgāta was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal ...

of land in Burgate which was held directly by the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, whereas Upper Burgate was probably the virgate of land which Picot held from the King.

Lower Burgate

The land representing Lower Burgate (or "Nether Burgate") was granted by Henry II to Baron Manser Bisset, from whom it descended with

Rockbourne Rockbourne is a village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire, close to Fordingbridge. Overview Rockbourne is a village of thatched, brick and timber houses, next to a stream now known as Sweatfords Water. In the 14th century, it was in the possession of

Simon de Burley Sir Simon de Burley, KG (ca. 1336 – 5 May 1388) was holder of the offices of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle between 1384–88, and was a Knight of the Garter. Life Sir Simon Burley was one of the most influent ...

, the favourite of

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...

, and who was executed in 1388. At the beginning of the 15th century, John Hall and his wife Katherine complained that Sir Richard Arundell and others had violently seized the manor and goods, money, title deeds and three bonds, and had bound one of their servants and thrown him into the Avon. Katherine's son John de Lekhull, who took the name of Rivers, inherited the manor in 1433–4, but was murdered by two of his servants. It passed to his kinsman William Bulkeley of Eyton, and the manor stayed with the Bulkeleys down to the 18th century when John Bulkeley Coventry, youngest son of

William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry (c.1676 – 18 March 1751), of London and later Croome Court, Worcestershire, was a British Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1719. Early life Coventry was the son of Walter Coven ...

, held the manor. On his death in 1801 Lower Burgate passed to his nephew, John Coventry, a son of the 6th Earl, and the manor was merged with the manor of Upper Burgate.

Upper Burgate

For a long time the overlordship of Upper Burgate (or "Over Burgate") seems to have belonged to the lord of the manor of Rockford. At the beginning of the 16th century, the 'manor' of Upper Burgate was in the possession of William Coke. In 1670 the manor was owned by Robert Blachford, who also owned a

moiety Moiety may refer to: Chemistry * Moiety (chemistry), a part or functional group of a molecule ** Moiety conservation, conservation of a subgroup in a chemical species Anthropology * Moiety (kinship), either of two groups into which a society is ...

of Sandhill Manor (

Sandleheath Sandleheath is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish about west of Fordingbridge in the New Forest (district), New Forest District of Hampshire, England. It has a population of 663, increasing to 680 at the 2011 Census. It lie ...

), and in 1702 it was sold with Sandhill Manor to Thomas Warre. Some years later the manor seems to have been purchased by William and Jeremiah Cray and descended with

Ibsley Ibsley is a village in Hampshire, England. It is about 2.5 miles (4 km) north of the town of Ringwood. It is in the civil parish of Ellingham, Harbridge and Ibsley. Overview The village of Ibsley lies to the east of the River Avon on the m ...

to Percival Lewis, to whom it belonged in 1810. It was subsequently purchased by the Coventry family and merged with the manor of Lower Burgate. A mill in Upper Burgate, mentioned in the Domesday Book and held with the manor in the 14th century, has long since disappeared. In the 13th century the Prior and convent of Beaulieu acquired property in Upper Burgate, afterwards described as a manor. At the

Dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

it was described as the manor of Freren Court (now known as Fryern Court), and henceforth followed the descent of Rockford, being later merged in the manor of Lower Burgate.

Notes

External links

{{New Forest towns Hamlets in Hampshire Fordingbridge