Purlieu
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Purlieu is a term used for the outlying parts of a place or district. It was a term of the old Forest law, and meant, as defined by John Manwood, Treatise of the Lawes of the Forest (1598, 4th ed. 1717),<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
a certain territory of ground adjoining unto the forest [which] was once forest-land and afterwards disafforested by the perambulations made for the severing of the new forests from the old
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The owner of freelands in the purlieu to the yearly value of forty shillings was known as a purlieu-man or purley-man. The benefits of disafforestation accrued only to the owner of the lands. There seems no doubt that purlieu or purley represents the Anglo-French pourallé lieu (old French Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang"., to go through Latin Script error: No such module "Lang".), a legal term meaning properly a perambulation to determine the boundaries of a manor, parish, or similar region.
The word survives in placenames. Examples include Dibden Purlieu in Hampshire, on the border of the New Forest, and Bedford Purlieus, once part of Rockingham Forest; also as Purley, in London, and Purley on Thames, in Berkshire. It also survives in the surname, Purley.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
Bibliography
- Rackham, Oliver (1976) Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. (London: J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd.) Template:ISBN.