Lepe Country Park
| Lepe | |
|---|---|
 View towards the Coastguard cottages, Lepe |
|
 Lepe
|
|
| Lepe shown within Hampshire | |
| OS grid reference | SZ450986 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SOUTHAMPTON |
| Postcode district | SO45 |
| Dialling code | 023 |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Hampshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Lepe is a small settlement on the Solent in the English county of Hampshire. At the 2011 Census the settlement population was included in the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe. It is located at the mouth of the Dark Water, and is the site of the Lepe Country Park, which runs from Stanswood Bay to the mouth of the Beaulieu River.
Lepe is a hamlet on shore of the Solent. It is part of the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe, which in turn is part of the New Forest district of Hampshire. It is home to Lepe Country Park, with a mile of beach, pine-fringed cliffs, historic D-Day remains, and wild flower meadows. There is a cafe-and-shop open all year round.
From the cliff tops above the beach, commanding views of the Western Solent can be achieved resulting in a lookout position for Solent Rescue Independent Lifeboat station being placed there. Inchmery Quay lies to the west.
It is sometimes said that Lepe was a port in Roman times. The evidence for this is the apparent route of a Roman road, which ran down the eastern side of the New Forest, from the Totton area to Lepe.
Lepe is first recorded in the 13th century. The name may mean "leaping place," perhaps in relation to a jumpable stream, or other such crossing place. It seems to have been part of Exbury manor, which in later times was frequently called the "manor of Exbury and Lepe."
Tradition says that there was a village at Lepe that was destroyed by a great storm prior to the early 1700s. Two harbours, at Lepe and at Stone Point, are supposed to have been in existence also. Information from old maps shows that the Dark Water used to flow out to the east of where it does now, near Stone Point. An estate map of 1640 shows a tidal mill was situated at this location, and the tidal pond is still identifiable. If there was a sudden change, then it may have occurred during the Great Storm of 1703 when the south coast of England was ravaged for five days.
...
Wikipedia