Beaulieu ( ) is a small

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

located on the southeastern 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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and home to both

Palace House Palace House is the home of the National Horse Racing Museum in the remaining part of Charles II of England, Charles II's racing palace in Newmarket, Suffolk, England. It is home to the National Horse Racing Museum, the British Sporting Art Trust ...

and the British National Motor Museum.

History

The name Beaulieu comes

etymologically Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words an ...

from French ''beau lieu'', which means "beautiful place". It is derived from Beaulieu Abbey which was populated by 30 monks sent from the abbey of Cîteaux in France, the mother house of the

Cistercian order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

. The medieval Latin name of the monastery was ''Bellus Locus Regis'' ("The beautiful place of the king"') or ''monasterium Belli loci Regis''. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Beaulieu Estate of Lord Montagu in the New Forest area was the site of group B finishing schools for agents operated by the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE) between 1941 and 1945. (One of the trainers was

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...

who was later found to be part of a spy ring passing information to the Soviets). In 2005, a special exhibition was installed at the Beaulieu Estate, with a video showing photographs from that era as well as voice recordings of former SOE trainers and agents. The village has remained largely unspoilt by

progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

, and is a favourite

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

stop for visitors to the New Forest, and also for birdwatchers seeking local specialities like

Dartford warbler The Dartford warbler (''Curruca undata'') is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is ...

European honey buzzard The European honey buzzard (''Pernis apivorus''), also known as the pern or common pern, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Etymology Despite its English name, this species is more closely related to kites of the genera '' Leptodon'' a ...

and

hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing Sport, sports, or pursu ...

. Palace House was featured in the 2005 comedy-drama film ''

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont ''Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont'' is a 2005 US-produced comedy-drama film based on the 1971 novel by Elizabeth Taylor. It was directed by Dan Ireland and produced by Lee Caplin, Carl Colpaert and Zachary Matz from a screenplay by Ruth Sacks C ...

'' starring

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier, (née Plowright; born 28 October 1929), professionally known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English retired actress whose career has spanned over seven decades. She has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony ...

and

Rupert Friend Rupert William Anthony Friend (born 9 October 1981) is an English actor. He first gained recognition for his roles in '' The Libertine'' (2004) and '' Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont'' (2005), both of which won him awards for best newcomer. He port ...

. The village was rated as among the "20 most beautiful villages in the UK and Ireland" by Condé Nast Traveler in 2020.

Transport

The nearest railway station is Beaulieu Road, about away on the London-Weymouth main line. While previously this station had an infrequent service, there are now some 20 trains a day stopping here.

Wilts & Dorset Wilts & DorsetCompanies House extract company no 1671355
Wi ...

bus service 112 serves the village on its way between

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

and

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 ...

. In summer, Beaulieu is served by the

New Forest Tour The New Forest Tour is an open-top bus service in the New Forest, running three circular routes around various towns, attractions and villages in the protected forest. It is run by morebus and Bluestar in partnership with Hampshire County Counci ...

, an hourly open-top bus service.

Palace House

(not to be confused with the Palace of Beaulieu in Essex), which overlooks the village from across

Beaulieu River The Beaulieu River ( ), formerly known as the River Exe, is a small river draining much of the central New Forest in Hampshire, southern England. The river has many small upper branches and its farthest source is from its -long tidal estuary. ...

, began in 1204 as the gatehouse to Beaulieu Abbey, and has been the ancestral home of a branch of the Montagu family since 1538, when was seized from the monks by the Crown in Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries and then sold on. The house was extended in the 16th century, and again in the 19th century, and is today a fine example of a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

country house. Although still home to the current Lord and Lady Montagu, parts of the house and gardens are open daily to the public. It is a member of the

Treasure Houses of England The Treasure Houses of England group is a heritage consortium. It was founded in the early 1970s by nine of the foremost stately homes in England still in private ownership, with the aim of marketing and promoting themselves as tourist venues. ...

consortium.

Museum

The village is also home to the British National Motor Museum. The

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

was opened in 1952 as the Montagu Motor Museum and became a charitable trust in 1972. It contains an important collection of historic motor vehicles, including four world

land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

holders: * Sir

Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

's 1920 Sunbeam 350hp * His son

Donald Campbell Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

's 1961

Bluebird-Proteus CN7 The Bluebird-Proteus CN7 is a gas turbine-powered vehicle that was driven by Donald Campbell and achieved the world land speed record on Lake Eyre in Australia on 17 July 1964. The vehicle set the FIA world record for the flying mile at . Des ...

* The 1927

Sunbeam 1000hp The Sunbeam 1000 HP ''Mystery'', or "''The Slug''", is a land speed record-breaking car built by the Sunbeam car company of Wolverhampton that was powered by two aircraft engines. It was the first car to travel at over 200 mph. The car's l ...

(the first

motor car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

to reach ) * The 1929 Irving-Napier Special ' Golden Arrow'. The last two were both driven by Major

Henry Segrave Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave (22 September 1896 – 13 June 1930) was an early British pioneer in land speed and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneous ...

Beaulieu Jazz Festival

In the late 1950s Beaulieu was the surprising location for one of Britain's first experiments in pop festival culture, with the annual Beaulieu Jazz Festival, which quickly expanded to become a significant event in the burgeoning jazz and youth pop music scene of the period. Camping overnight, a rural invasion, eccentric dress, wild music and sometimes wilder behaviour — these now familiar features of pop festivals happened at Beaulieu each summer, culminating in the so-called 'Battle of Beaulieu' at the 1960 festival, when rival gangs of modern and traditional jazz fans indulged in a spot of what sociologists went on to call 'subcultural contestation'.McKay 2004, 2005

References

Bibliography

* Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (2000) ''Wheels Within Wheels: An Unconventional Life.'' London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. * George McKay (2004) '"Unsafe things like youth and jazz": Beaulieu Jazz Festivals (1956–61) and the origins of pop festival culture in Britain'. In Andy Bennett, ed. ''Remembering Woodstock'' (Aldershot: Ashgate). * George McKay (2005) ''Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain'', chapter one 'New Orleans jazz, protest (Aldermaston) and carnival (Beaulieu azz Festival 1956-61'. Durham NC: Duke University Press.

External links

{{Authority control Villages in Hampshire Tourist attractions in Hampshire New Forest District