South Baddesley is a small village 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
Boldre
Boldre is a village and civil parish in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is in the south of the New Forest National Park, above the broadening (estuary) of the Lymington River, two miles (3 km) north of Lymington. In the 2 ...
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 of
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. It lies 2.3 miles (3.7 km) north-east from
Lymington
Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...
, its nearest town.
The ''Groaning Tree'' of Baddesley
In his ''Remarks on Forest Scenery'', published in 1791, local author
William Gilpin relates the history of "the ''groaning-tree'' of Badesly". He explains how around the year 1750 a local villager in South Baddesley frequently heard a sound like a "person in extreme agony" behind his house.
[William Gilpin, (1791), ''Remarks on forest scenery, and other woodland views (relative chiefly to picturesque beauty), illustrated by the scenes of New Forest in Hampshire'', pages 162–164] He eventually discovered that the noise emanated from an
elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
tree. Within a few weeks the fame of the tree was such that people came from far and wide to listen to the tree, including
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fath ...
and
Princess Augusta. Many explanations were offered, both natural and supernatural for the phenomenon, but no adequate explanation could be found.
The groaning continued, intermittently, for "eighteen or twenty months", until the owner decided to bore a hole in the trunk in an attempt to discover the cause. The tree never groaned again, and eventually the tree was deliberately uprooted, but nothing unusual was found.
The ''Stratford Lyon''
Tradition holds that the pub in nearby
Boldre
Boldre is a village and civil parish in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is in the south of the New Forest National Park, above the broadening (estuary) of the Lymington River, two miles (3 km) north of Lymington. In the 2 ...
, the Red Lion, is named after a creature of local folklore, ''the Stratford Lyon''. Supposedly a giant red lion with a wild mane, yellow eyes, large teeth, and huge stag-like antlers, pulled from the ground by
John Stratford (verderer)
John Stratford (1380 – July 1433), also known as ''John Stratforde'', was a medieval English verderer and landowner.
John was born into the landed Wessex Stratford Family of Hampshire and Wiltshire, son of Robert Stratford, grandson of And ...
in a wood in South Baddesley named Haresmede in the late 14th or early 15th century. There have been recorded sightings of the monster as early as the 18th century, and as recently as the 20th century.
[''History of the Red Lion Boldre'', Christopher Tower Reference Library, Lyndhurst, 1989]
See also
*
North Baddesley
North Baddesley is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated east of the town of Romsey and north of Southampton. It occupies an area of approximately , and is home to a population of just over 10,000 people, reduci ...
References
External links
The story of St. Mary's Church South Baddesley Boldre and South Baddesley Benefice
South Baddesley Church of England Primary School
Hamlets in Hampshire
{{Hampshire-geo-stub