Prehistory Humans have lived in the Ashley area for thousands of years. Two
Palaeolithic hand axes were found in gravel excavated from the gravel pits at Ashley, and are now in the
Red House Museum in
Christchurch, Dorset. A third axe was found in 1962. In the
Domesday Book of 1086, two estates, Esselie and Esselei, are recorded. The other estate was in 1086 held by the sons of Godric Malf, who had himself held it from the king prior to 1066. She gave it to her son Nicholas, on whose death it went to his son William Avenel. Other estates which came into his possession include the New Forest manors of
Bisterne and
Minstead. In 1803 William Ireland and his wife Betty transferred the manor of Ashley Arnewood to Richard Randell. Because of his engagements in London, much of the actual farming at Ashley Arnewood was conducted by his wife until they chose to sell the estate in 1854. The old manor house of Ashley Arnewood still survives on the western side of Ashley, although today it is a
nursing home.
Ashley Manor Farm Another manor at Ashley still exists as a farm to the southwest of the village. Ashley Manor Farm, on Lymington Road, is an 18th-century farmhouse.
Ashley Clinton Another estate centre, dating from the 19th century, was that of Ashley Clinton, to the south of the current village, it was the residence of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Renebald Clinton. The house, which still stands, dates from the early 19th century.
The village A
Baptist chapel was constructed at Ashley in 1817. The Baptist church has been rebuilt twice, the first time in 1897, The first
Anglican church was built in 1904. It was replaced by a new building in 1957, and is dedicated to
Saint Peter. Ashley Great and Little
Commons were
inclosed in 1862.
William Charles Retford, who became a maker of violin
bows, was born in Ashley in 1875. He would later publish his memories of growing up in Ashley: I was born (June 1875) in a cottage in what is now Ashley Road; situated south of the lane at the base of the hill by the brook. This spot was known as "Litchford". As a tiny tot it had the elements of a fairyland to me. Fern Hill woods were west of the lane, east were a narrow meadow and Ashley Arnewood woods. In the spring these were a carpet of bluebells through which I waded; they were shoulder high to me. We never entered Fern Hill Woods; they were a game reserve and there were notices saying "Beware of Spring Guns." On the north edge of the lane from the top of the hill to Ashley Cross Road wild daffodils grew by thousands, none to the south but primroses and violets. . . . Mrs Corbin kept a little shop at the Cross Road, where we bought our sweets, a parrot on the counter. This was furze or common ground and a bog with water lilies. The railway was built over this and opened 1887-8. Mrs Corbin's little shop at the cross roads described by William Charles Retford has now been Restored to a Victorian looking Barbershop and soon the rear of the shop will be open at an old school gym, the Barbershop has all the original tongue and groove wood from when it was built. A school was built at Ashley in 1879, at the west end of Hare Lane. In its final years it was used as a
special school, but it was closed in 1987 and demolished soon afterwards. In 1939, a secondary school was built at Ashley ("Ashley County Secondary School"). The school was merged with the nearby New Milton school ("
Arnewood") in 1970, and shortly afterwards Ashley school became a
junior school. Writers
Laurence Housman and his sister
Clemence Housman, who lived at Ashley between 1913 and 1924. (right) visible in the fields of Lower Ashley In
World War II, two fortified bunkers known as
pillboxes were built in Ashley to defend against a possible
German invasion by sea. One of these pillboxes can still be seen in a field in Lower Ashley today. One other relic from World War II is visible on the northeastern corner of Ashley Crossroads. The car repair workshop there was originally one of the aircraft
hangars at
RAF Beaulieu. For decades a major industry in the area has been
gravel extraction.
New Milton Sand and Ballast has been extracting gravel from
gravel pits in south Ashley since before 1950. Because Ashley has no defined boundary the modern population of Ashley can only be estimated, but the population in the
2001 census was approximately 4500 people. ==Amenities==