The earliest signs of habitation in Brockenhurst date back 4,000 years to the
Bronze Age: the area is dotted with burial mounds – called
tumuli. Beyond that, few signs remain of other habitation during the subsequent 3,000 years.
Middle Ages The
Saxon period was brought to an end by the
events of 1066.
William the Conqueror created his
Nova Foresta traditionally in 1079, a vast hunting area lying south and west of his capital at
Winchester; it stretched south to the coast at
Barton on Sea and west to what is now
Bournemouth. In 1086, the
Domesday Book recorded that there were four small Saxon manors in the Brockenhurst area,
Mapleham,
Hincelveslei,
Brochelie and
Broceste.
Mapleham no longer exists, probably being subsumed within Brookley; the name
Hincelveslei has become
Hinchelsea which lies to the west of Brockenhurst. The third manor,
Brochelie, gives the modern name, Brookley, which was granted a regular weekly market and an annual fair, lasting several days, in 1347. Brochelie had forest rights to graze sheep on the open forest, but only between Wilverley and what is now Rhinefield Road, this right is usually associated with religious houses and was probably attached to the medieval estate which Christchurch Priory held at Brookley. The manor house of
Brochelie was situated on the plot formerly occupied by the Watersplash Hotel and now the Holmwood apartments built by Pegasus Homes and opened in 2019. Its manor itself extended over the lands on the western side of the A337 Lyndhurst-Lymington Road. The fourth Saxon manor of the area was
Broceste which gives the village its name. It was the most important manor, being a grand-serjeanty held by providing accommodation for the King when hunting in the area. Royden to the south of Brockenhurst was a medieval grange belonging to
Netley Abbey and was set up by a grant made by
Henry III in 1253.
St Nicholas' Church, at that time, was no more than an outlying chapel linked to
Twynham – later
Christchurch Priory.
William Rufus visited Brockenhurst, possibly worshiping in St Nicholas' church, as at least two writs were issued by him from here.
Early modern era By the 18th century, nearby Lymington was a thriving town, due to its port and the manufacture of salt from sea water. In 1765, the Lymington road became a turnpike, under the Lymington, Lyndhurst and Rumbridge Turnpike Act, and a regular route for the mail coaches from Lyndhurst and the north. During this time, Brockenhurst grew in size, with dwellings and inns strung along the main road. In 1745,
Henry Thurston, a local man who left to make his fortune in London, died, leaving a bequest to set up a school in the village. After being held in a number of houses it became fixed in a cottage on the corner of what is now Mill Lane and the A337. A tower was added to St. Nicholas' Church between 1758 and 1763. In 1770,
Edward Morant, using some of the vast wealth that flowed from the family estates in Jamaica, purchased – a late Stuart farmhouse – for £6,400. He rebuilt it as a large Georgian mansion, while he and his heirs laid out avenues in the grounds and acquired adjacent land, eventually peaking at some 3,000 acres (12 km2). In the 19th century the railway station was introduced to Brockenhurst, increasing a large number of holiday visitors and the local population. Brockenhurst gained its second Church of England church in 1903 in the form of St Saviour's. The reason for its construction was that Mabel Walker-Munro didn't want to use the same church as members of the Morant family.
First World War In the
First World War, Brockenhurst hosted the
Lady Hardinge Hospital for Wounded Indian Soldiers. The name
Meerut Road recalls the Indian troops of the Meerut and Lahore Divisions who fought on the Western Front in the war and were patients at Brockenhurst. Specialist sections were also established in the Balmer Lawn and Forest Park Hotels. The hospital was later transferred to the New Zealand Army and, as
No. 1 New Zealand General Hospital, continued in use until 1919. Auckland Avenue and Auckland Place commemorate the stay of the New Zealanders.
Interwar Cass Gilbert, the noted American architect of the
Woolworth Building and many other structures, died in the town in 1934. The Roman Catholic church of St Anne was built between 1937 and 1939.
Second World War s and
gaiters, during training at the
Eastern Warfare School, learning jungle tactics, before deployment to the
Pacific War. In the
Second World War, what is now The Balmer Lawn Hotel was often used as a Divisional HQ and was the location of many of Generals
Montgomery and
Eisenhower's meetings, away from their headquarters in
Southsea, as they planned the
D-Day Landings in
Normandy. In early 1944, Brockenhurst also became a secret training area for troops preparing to do battle in Normandy. The area's ancient oak trees were ideal for concealing military vehicles. The
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, the core of Assault Force "G", tasked with storming
Gold Beach on D-Day, had its HQ at the Carey's Manor Hotel. Afterwards, the
Eastern Warfare School, near Brockenhurst, taught jungle infantry tactics suited to the
Asian and Pacific campaigns, to personnel from the
Royal Marines and shore units of the
Royal Navy.
Since 1945 The western part of the village greatly expanded in the 1970s and, in the early 1990s, Berkeley Homes built Ober Park, which is now known as The Coppice, this despite having been known as Clerks (or variations thereof) from the 13th to 19th centuries. More construction of the village still continues today by Pennyfarthing Homes. ==Sport and leisure==