Bank, Hampshire
| Bank | |
|---|---|
 The Oak Inn, Bank | |
  Bank Location withinHampshire | |
| OS grid reference | SU286071 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LYNDHURST |
| Postcode district | SO43 |
| Dialling code | 023 |
| Police | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
| Fire | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
Bankis a village in the EnglishcountyofHampshire.The settlement is within thecivil parishofLyndhurstin theNew Forest,and is located approximately 8 miles (13 km) from bothRingwoodandSouthampton.It has one inn and approximately 30 distinct dwellings.
Overview[edit]
Bank is southwest ofLyndhurstand south of the mainA35 roadthrough theNew Forest.[1]It is bounded by woodland or wood pasture except on the east where there are arable lands, and former parkland of the Cuffnells Estate.[2]The hamlet is an eclectic mix of former workers cottages together with higher status buildings constructed by 19th century cultured owners seeking country retreats.[2]The hamlet has no community facilities, other than the Oak Inn.[1]
History[edit]
The village of Bank seems to begin in the 16th century, as a settlement encroaching on the Forest.[3]The original name was apparently "Annis' Bank".[3]The oldest surviving building is Japonica Cottage, which dates from the 16th century.[4]Old Cottage dates from the 17th century, although it is nowadays dominated by a 20th-century wing.[4]To the east of Bank were the large 18th-century estates of Cuffnells and Wilverley,[1]and the inhabitants of Bank may have been involved in servicing these two large estates and their associated farms.[1]The Oak Inn is a two-storey late 18th century building of painted brick,[5]which may have been acider housein the 18th century.[6]
Nearby is a small cluster of cottages which go by the name of Gritnam. It is likely that Gritnam is the place recorded in theDomesday Bookof 1086 under the name "Greteha".[7][8]It was one of the 51 manors held byWaleran the Hunteras recorded in theDomesday Bookof 1086.[7]Prior to 1066, Bolla had possessed it fromKing Edward.[7]Gritnam is also mentioned in 1300 as "Grettenhamdune" (i.e. Gritnam down).[9]The name might mean "the gravelly place,"[9]or "the great homestead."[10]The famous New Forest "snakecatcher"Brusher Millswas reported living in an oldcharcoalburner's hut by the boundary of nearby Gritnam Wood in around 1895.[11]
TheLiberalMP,Robert John Price,was a resident of Bank,[12]as was the Liberal M.P.John Fletcher Moulton,[13]who, when he entered theHouse of Lordsin 1912, took the title "Baron Moulton of Bank".[14]
Several literary figures have stayed in Bank.Mary Elizabeth Braddon,author of thesensation novel,Lady Audley's Secret,built Annesley House, with her husband, in the 1880s.[14]They used it as a country home, whilst retaining a main residence inRichmond, Surrey.[14]Her son, the novelistW. B. Maxwell,also stayed here as a young man.[15]The house was later used as aBarnardo'schildren's home.[14]
In Christmas and New Year, 1904–05,Virginia Woolfstayed at Lane End House in Bank with her sister and two brothers.[16]Later,Rupert Brookestayed at a cottage called "Beech Shade" in Gritnam.[10]He would later write to his friend, Bryn Olivier, about his recovery from depression in Bank:
Then there was Bank, Bryn. For three whole months I'd been infinitely wretched & ill, wretcheder than I'd thought possible. And then for a few days it all dropped completely away, and — oh! how lovely Bank was! — I suppose I should never be able to make you see what beauty is to me, — physical beauty —, just even the seeing it in spite of all the hungers that come.[17]
Notes[edit]
- ^abcdNew Forest National Park Authority,Draft Character Appraisals. Conservation Areas, Lyndhurst, Swan Green and Bank.October 2008.Archived3 March 2011 at theWayback Machine,page 108, retrieved 12 July 2011
- ^abNew Forest National Park Authority,Draft Character Appraisals. Conservation Areas, Lyndhurst, Swan Green and Bank.October 2008.Archived3 March 2011 at theWayback Machine,page 137, retrieved 12 July 2011
- ^abBank and Gritnam – what’s in a name?,New Forest Explorer's Guide, retrieved 11 July 2011
- ^abNew Forest National Park Authority,Draft Character Appraisals. Conservation Areas, Lyndhurst, Swan Green and Bank.October 2008.Archived3 March 2011 at theWayback Machine,page 121, retrieved 12 July 2011
- ^New Forest National Park Authority,Draft Character Appraisals. Conservation Areas, Lyndhurst, Swan Green and Bank.October 2008.Archived3 March 2011 at theWayback Machine,page 116, retrieved 12 July 2011
- ^Ant Veal's Top UK Pubs – The Oak Inn, Bank, Lyndhurst,retrieved 11 July 2011
- ^abc"Domesday Map, Place: Gritnam".Archived fromthe originalon 28 March 2012.Retrieved12 July2011.
- ^An alternative suggestion is that "Greteha" is the hamlet of Swan Green just west of Lyndhurst:New Forest National Park Authority,Draft Character Appraisals. Conservation Areas, Lyndhurst, Swan Green and Bank.October 2008.Archived3 March 2011 at theWayback Machine,page 89, retrieved 12 July 2011
- ^abGritnam, Lyndhurst,Old Hampshire Gazetteer
- ^abMike Read, (1997),Forever England: the life of Rupert Brooke,page 67. Mainstream
- ^G. E. Mingay, (1998),Rural life in Victorian England,page 134. Sutton
- ^Royal blue book: Fashionable directory and parliamentary guide,(1900), page 1185. London (England)
- ^Charles Roger Dod,Robert Phipps Dod, (1914),Dod's parliamentary companion,page 93
- ^abcdAnnesley, Miss Braddon and the History of Bank,New Forest Explorer's Guide, retrieved 11 July 2011
- ^Stanley Kunitz, Howard Haycraft, (editors), (1985), "MAXWELL, WILLIAM BABINGTON" entry inTwentieth Century Authors: A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature: Volume 2,page 940
- ^Virginia Woolf, (1994),The Essays of Virginia Woolf: 1904 to 1912: Volume 1,page 53. Hogarth Press
- ^Nigel Jones, (2003),Rupert Brooke: life, death & myth,page 291. BBC Worldwide
External links[edit]
- Bank and Gritnam – what’s in a name?,New Forest Explorer's Guide
- Bank and Gritnam – historic families; historic buildings,New Forest Explorer's Guide
- Annesley, Miss Braddon and the History of Bank,New Forest Explorer's Guide
