East Boldre
county:
coords:
Hampshire
SU3700
Boldre, East
otherwise: Bolra, 1135-1154; Bolre, 1152
BOLDRE, EAST BOLDRE, two modern parishes
Usually said to the the old name of the LYMINGTON RIVER. In a document of the time of John we find 'usque fossatum quod descendit in Bolre' (etc)='up to the ditch which goes down to the Boldre', and the river is clearly alluded to in the name of 'Bolderford Bridge' (1331 'pontem de Bolre') above Brockenhurst, and possibly in 'Bolderwood Walk' further still up country. Origin quite uncertain. Ekwall's final suggestion involves the source of the dialect word 'boulder'='bulrush', therefore '(river marked by) stands of rushes'? The village name would then be from the river. However, some of the forms (eg 1236 'Balre') suggest rather hypothetical 'bi alre/alrum'='by the alder(s)', ie: a primary place name, with phonology as in BURE HOMAGE. (The definite article is normally absent in place names of this structure.) If Ekwall's earlier suggestion of hypothetical 'bolaern'='bole or plank house' is the right one, then again it is a primary place name and not a river name.
East Boldre is at the extreme eastern margin of the former undivided parish.
In the midst of all this uncertainty, the Domesday Book forms 'Bovre(ford)' do not fit in at all, unless they are for hypothetical 'bi ofre'='by the (flat topped) ridge', in which case all the later medieval forms would have to be explained as containing hypercorrect 'l' for what was interpreted as 'u'; scarcely likely. The manor of before 1066 was depopulated by the Conqueror and the site repopulated only later. The name 'Boldre' may therefore be a new one for the site. 'Bovre' may duplicate BURE HOMAGE. It should not be confused with 1300 'la Boverie' where Beaulieu Abbey had a grange chapel (Hockey 1974: lxv), which was Anglo Norman 'bouverie'='ox stall'.
