St Leonards and St Ives Parish History
The Parish of St. Leonards and St. Ives lies in East Dorset, between the Avon, as its boundary with Hampshire, and the Moors River. In the 2001 census, there was a population of 6,672, of whom 41.6% were retired. At the start of the 20th century there may have been 50 at the most. (i)
The present civil Parish of St. Leonards and St. Ives was not formed until 1932, from parts of Ringwood and Christchurch Parishes. The mission church of All Saints was first built by local people on donated land in 1912, and came under Christchurch Parish. By then there may have been about 500 residents. It became the Conventional District of St. Ives and St. Leonards in 1927 when a resident priest-in-charge arrived. The name changed to match that of the civil parish when in 1969 it became an ecclesiastical parish in its own right. A new church was built on the site in 1972, and a Church Centre replaced the old wooden hall in 1994. (ii)
The land covered by the present Parish contains several named areas, the boundaries between which are today somewhat blurred, yet each has its own piece of history to tell, some stretching over many centuries. St. Leonards is one of the older names, with an origin well to the west, that is potentially pre-Domesday. Today it is generally used to refer to the more developed western parts of the village north of the A31, but in fact it applies to all the areas to the south west as well. (iii)
The earliest record of the name St. Ives has been traced to a Somerley Estate map dated 1781, which has potential links to a land purchase map of 1731. It became the area that first attracted settlement in the late 19th century, although either a cottage or house of that name may have first appeared about 1820. (iv)
Of the saints, there is a likely Saint Leonard on whom the original dedication was probably based. However, there never ever has been a St. Ives, but a potential alternative candidate has been found. (v)
A VIEW OF MODERN HOUSING(Parish Plan, p17) - PRESENT CHURCH (Church archive, 1990s)