Dibden is a small village in

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

, England, which dates from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. It is dominated by the nearby settlements of

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

Dibden Purlieu Dibden Purlieu () is a village situated on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, England. The village merges with the nearby town of Hythe. It is in the civil parish of Hythe and Dibden. The approximate population is around 4000 people. The r ...

. It is 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 authorit ...

of Hythe and Dibden. It lies on the eastern 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, fea ...

in a valley, which runs into

Southampton Water Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point, where the estuaries of the River Test and River Itchen meet. Along its salt marsh-fringed wes ...

History

The name "Dibden" is from the

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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

for "deep valley", although the village is only slightly lower than the land around it. It 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 manus ...

of 1086 as "Depedene" and was held by Odo of Winchester.Domesday Map - Dibden
/ref> Prior to 1066 it had been held by "Ketil the Steersman" from King Edward. There was a saltpan and a fishery in the manor. The overlordship of Dibden belonged in the 12th century to Reynold de St. Valery, who died in 1166, and his son Bernard de St. Valery, who was killed at the siege of Acon in 1192, was probably the Bernard who was lord of Dibden in 1167.Victoria County History, (1912), ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5'', Dibden Liberty
/ref> Descending with his granddaughters to Robert

Count of Dreux The Counts of Dreux were a noble family of France, who took their title from the chief stronghold of their domain, the château of Dreux, which lies near the boundary between Normandy and the Île-de-France. They are notable for inheriting the Du ...

, it fell, with the rest of the honour of St. Valery, into the hands of the

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

, when it was given to Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall whose son

Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall Edmund of Almain (26 December 1249 – 1300) was the second Earl of Cornwall of the fourth creation from 1272. He joined the Ninth Crusade in 1271, but never made it to the Holy Land. He was the regent of the Kingdom of England from 1286 to 1289 ...

died in 1300 seised of a

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in cont ...

there which belonged to the honour of St. Valery. Dibden was thereafter held of the Crown. It was thus held in the reign of Henry VII of Arthur, Prince of Wales. The demesne of Dibden was at an early time split up into three parts: In the 12th century, Reynold de St. Valery gave a third of the manor to Edmund and Osbert de Dibden. Nicholas de Dibden held this third of Dibden of Edmund Earl of Cornwall in 1300. The Dibdens held their one third of the estate down to 1428, when Agnes, daughter and heir of Thomas de Dibden, inherited it. It passed to her daughter, Alice, who became the wife of Richard Waller of

Groombridge Groombridge is a village of about 1,600 people. It straddles the border between Kent and East Sussex, in England. The nearest large town is Royal Tunbridge Wells, about away by road. The main part of the village ("New Groombridge") lies in t ...

, who died in 1486. It stayed in the Waller family until 1594 when William Waller sold the manor to William Webbe, who was already lord of the other two manors in Dibden. The part known as Dibden Hanger derived its name from the family first found holding it: John atte Hanger holding the land there in 1276. Richard son of Richard atte Hanger held this third of Edmund Earl of Cornwall in 1300. His son and namesake held it in 1346. By 1422 both this and the manor of Dibden Poleyn had come to the hands of John Hall, who granted them at that date to John Rogers. In 1544 Sir John Rogers sold the manors to William Webb, Mayor of Salisbury in 1523 and 1534. His son William Webbe died seised of the manors in 1585, leaving a son William, who in 1594 purchased the manor of "Dibden's Fee," thus uniting the three estates. In 1300 Walter Nott held one-third of Dibden from Edmund Earl of Cornwall. Sixteen years later John Nott held it. In 1360 Walter Nott, parson of the church of

Michelmersh Michelmersh is a small, scattered village in Hampshire, England some three miles () north of Romsey. It forms a civil parish with Timsbury, Hampshire, Timsbury that forms part of the Test Valley district. The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath ...

, reserved a messuage and 2 carucates in Dibden from a grant of land which he made to

Romsey Abbey Romsey Abbey is the name currently given to a parish church of the Church of England in Romsey, a market town in Hampshire, England. Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was the church of a Benedictine nunnery. The surviving Norman-era c ...

. Shortly after this the estate came into the hands of the family which gave it the distinctive name of Dibden Poleyn. John Poleyn held it in 1369 and the Poleyn family was still holding it in 1413. By 1422 the manor had come, with Dibden Hanger, to the hands of John Hall, and thereafter followed the same descent. After 1594 the three estates were united. William Webbe owned it when he died in 1627, leaving an only daughter and heir Rachel wife of Sir John Croke of Chilton. Their son

John Croke Sir John Croke (1553 – 23 January 1620) was an English judge and politician who served as Speaker of the English House of Commons between October and December 1601. He also served as Recorder of London, and won the City of London constituen ...

had succeeded by 1650. The Harris family owned the estate throughout the 18th century. James Harris dealt with the manor by fine in 1756, and his son

James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, GCB (21 April 1746 – 21 November 1820) was an English diplomat. Early life (1746 – 1768) Born at Salisbury, the son of James Harris, an MP and the author of ''Hermes'', and Elizabeth Clarke of Sandfor ...

presented to the church in 1796. It passed out of their hands before the middle of the 19th century, and in 1862, it was sold to the Romsey Charity Commissioners who owned the manor into the 20th century. The church of All Saints, which was built about 1291, was destroyed in an air raid on 20 June 1940. It was restored and reopened on 2 April 1955 using much of the original material. Buried in the churchyard are members of the Lisle family, Royalists who fought against Monmouth in the

Battle of Sedgemoor The Battle of Sedgemoor was the last and decisive engagement between the Kingdom of England and rebels led by the Duke of Monmouth during the Monmouth rebellion, fought on 6 July 1685, and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerse ...

. At the beginning of the 20th century, Dibden consisted of a large number of farms scattered around the little cluster of buildings which still constitutes the village of Dibden. Like nearby Beaulieu, Dibden was at one time a

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

. The

of Dibden was created in 1894.What is the Parish Council
, Hythe and Dibden Parish Council The village of

was taken from Fawley parish and added to Dibden parish in 1913.Relationships / unit history of Dibden
A Vision of Britain through Time Since the 1950s the villages of Hythe and

have grown enormously, and today the parish is dominated by those two settlements. In 1983 the parish was renamed to Hythe and Dibden, to reflect the importance of Hythe as a new focal point of the Parish.

References

External links

Hythe and Dibden Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire