Broomy Walk
Broomy Walk, Ellingham, Harbridge and Ibsleycounty:
Hampshire
BROOMY WALK, part of Ellingham within the Forest, extraparochial
Recorded from 1787, in association with 'Broomy Lodge'. The chain of spellings is ambiguous between two older place names meaning 'broom hill' and 'broom clearing', and an adjective 'broomy' qualifying 'Walk' and 'Lodge'; it is never found alone. The third seems preferable; ie: the place name means what it appears to. There was a field name 'Broomy Close' in Christchurch (1878 (TA)) and another in Exbury (1609 (NF)); and no doubt many more. Broom is a typical plant of the sandy heaths, though a reference to gorse is not out of the question since that is far commoner in the New Forest.
