Monument record MWX1163 - Street (Purewell), Christchurch; medieval vill

Street - Village by 1327-8. name changed to Purewell by the late 19th century.

Street is listed as a Village in the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1327-28. <1> The settlement is depicted on an estate map dated 1796 in which it appears as a smal village of several houses clustered at the junction of Scotts Hill Lane and Purewell. The village also appears to be associated with a lobed enclosure delineated by drainage ditches and roads which seems to define the limit of burgage plots (2). This may represent the area of the primary settlement enclosed from the marsh. The settlement is also depicted on Ogilby's road map of 1675 in which it is represented as two rows of houses fronting on to the main street <3>. The name of the settlement appears to have changed to Purewell by the 1st edition 25 inch OS map (c. 1870) <3>. The name Purewell was associated with a settlement in the region of Stanpit on the 1796 map, close to Tutton Well <2>. This well has a reputation for maintaining a strong flow of pure water, even though it is occasionally overwhelmed by salt water at High Tides. The Purewell place name may have gradually translated from the area of Tutton Well, Stanpit, to Purewell Cross and Purewell Farm, and thence to the settlement at Street over the course of the 19th century.

Record last edited

Jan 26 2022 11:53AM