Dibden Purlieu

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Dibden Purlieu (IPA: [dɪbdεn pɝluː]) is a small village situated on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, UK and is twinned with Mauves-sur-Loire. Purlieu is a Norman-French word meaning "the outskirts of a forest" – a place free from forest laws. Dibden Purlieu is in the parish of Dibden, referred to in the Domesday Book as Deepdene, "dene" being an Anglo-Saxon word for valley.

The approximate population, as of 2006, is 3,500.

Dibden Purlieu is amongst the richest wards in the UK. (According to the Indices of Deprivation 2000 it is 247th richest out of 8414.)

Dibden Purlieu has long been proud to be associated with several distinguished people, one of whom, Richard Eurich RA OBE, was the official war artist to the Admiralty from 1941. The village was also home to Ron Lane, a wood sculptor of wildlife, well known not just in Hampshire but throughout the entire United Kingdom. The Ron Lane Memorial Trust organises a schoolchildren's annual wood sculpturing competition in his memory.

Dibden Purlieu has frequently been referred to as the village but it is an ever-expanding area containing a busy shopping complex and a couple of large comprehensive schools. The Hythe Ferry is Purlieu's quickest link with the city of Southampton via the water.