Ogdens is a hamlet in the civil parish of Hyde. It is situated in the valley of Latchmore Brook (or Huckles Brook).[1] Most of the settlement is surrounded by the heathland and woodland of the New Forest.[1] The hamlet is very rural with a few post-war dwellings, mixed in with older houses scattered on tracks and farmland.[1] There is a car park at Ogdens allowing access to the heathland of the New Forest.[2] Nearby is Ogdens Purlieu, a boggy area of heathland between Ogdens and Dockens Water.
The hamlet is named after Ogden Rooke, a local landowner who possessed Ogdens Purlieu in the latter half of the 17th century.[3] Purlieu is a Norman-French word meaning "the outskirts of a forest" – a place free from forest laws.
