Fritham

Coordinates: 50°55′32″N 1°39′40″W / 50.925558°N 1.6611920°W / 50.925558; -1.6611920

Fritham is a small village in Hampshire, England. It lies in the north of the New Forest, near the Wiltshire border. It is in the civil parish of Bramshaw.

History

The name Fritham may be derived from Old English meaning a cultivated plot (hamm) in scrub on the edge of a forest (fyrhth).

The oldest feature in Fritham is a Bronze Age Bowl barrow, known as The Butt, which lies just east of the village, although it has been partially damaged on top by a brick structure.

Fritham is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was once thought that the Domesday settlement of Truham (or Trucham) may have been Fritham, but this is now thought unlikely as Truham was within Boldre Hundred. The first mention of Fritham appears early in the 13th century, when Geoffrey de Baddesley held land in Baddesley and Fritham. Fritham remained attached to the manor of South Baddesley in the parish of Boldre at least until 1429.