THE REVEREND WILLIAM GILPIN - William Gilpin, absolutely nothing to do with the John Gilpin of William Cowper's poem, was vicar of Boldre church from 1777 till his death in 1804. Born at Scaleby Castle near Carlisle in 1724, he was the headmaster of Cheam School for twenty-five years and was given the living of Boldre on his retirement by one of his former pupils, William Mitford of Exbury House, at that time Patron of Boldre.
William Gilpin was an artist of distinction, the first president of the Watercolour Society, and can be credited with the founding of the Picturesque movement that gained ground in the eighteenth century. He produced several essays on his general theory of landscape painting intended for the guidance of the growing band of eighteenth century amateur artists, travellers and collectors, of whom he could claim to be one. He had started making his own 'Tours' in about 1776, of the New Forest, the Lakes and Scotland, and illustrated them himself. They were extremely popular and sold well, though he himself set more store on his religious publications, which included a complete paraphrase of the New Testament.
At the time of his appointment as Vicar his parishioners were notorious as 'little better than a gang of gypsies, and without the opportunity of the humblest education, or the means of religious instruction' and 'presented a picture of almost ferine (wild beast-like) life, which had few parallels in our civilized country'. William Gilpin set to, ex-headmaster that he was, to change this state of affairs. From the time of his appointment until his death in 1804 he worked ceaselessly and apparently successfully to improve their morals and behaviour. Home visits, 'gentle exhortation, and a ready relief of their necessities' all played their part. He also improved their lot materially by building a Poor House and a model school for 20 girls and 20 boys, both of them the first of their kind in the country. He raised funds to build and endow these institutions largely by the painting and sale of his watercolours.
He showed the same reforming zeal for his church. In one of his letters we can read: 'Some time ago I was engaged in the same business with my church - that is to make it decent. I made a neat cornice - gave capitals to my pillars - tinted the whole a light leaden colour and turned a very ugly deformed thing into a very decent parish church.'
There is a wall tablet to him in the North Chapel, and his tomb is in the churchyard.

THE LIST OF INCUMBENTS - Since the first known Vicar, Walter, in 1257, this list is remarkably complete, and a copy hangs on the south wall by the doorway. The succession has been almost continuous since 1352 except for the height of the Civil War and the subsequent Restoration, when the benefice was discreetly vacant, and the duties were carried out by a layman, John Beesley, for a total of five years. Some of the more noteworthy clerics are listed below.

• Walter the Vicar was accused at the Assizes of 1257 of unjustly disseising the widow Haweise of Wereburne.
  
• Richard Blaunchard the Vicar was fined £2 for deer stealing in 1270.
  
• Robert Jackson, Vicar 1585-1596, sued Lymington in 1588 for tithes due to Boldre and secured judgment. He provided a curate for Lymington, but in 1596 on his death they were granted a Rector.
  
• John Howell, Vicar 1706-1724, sued by Lymington for living within 'their' parish, was required to move to Boldre.
  
• William Gilpin, Vicar 1777-1804 (see above).
  
• Richard Johnson, Curate to William Gilpin 1784-1785 (see above)
  
• Richard Warner, Curate to William Gilpin 1790-1794. An eminent and prolific author whose work included 'Literary Recollections' covering his early upbringing in Lymington, schooling in Christchurch, and his first parishes of Boldre and Fawley.
  
• Henry Comyn, Curate 1812-1819. He compiled a remarkable survey of every family and the house they lived in for the joint parishes of Boldre and Brockenhurst in 1817. It was published in 1982 as 'Comyn's New Forest'.
  
• The Reverend Canon John Hayter, Vicar 1955-1982. In 1941 he arrived in Singapore as a young missionary priest and was soon interned in the notorious Changi Gaol, spending four years under the Japanese occupation. Soon after his return to England hebegan his twenty-seven years of inspiring ministry in Boldre.