At the heart of Bartley is "The Tin Church" - an Anglican church reading room built in 1900 from corrugated iron and painted green. It was used for church services until 1992. A Charitable Trust then bought and renovated it. Now it is used as a Village Hall and community centre. Also central to the community is Fourways Stores and Bartley Post Office, owned and run by the same family for over thirty years. There is a pub called "The Haywain" (featuring the painting by Constable on the pub sign). Bartley Junior School[1] is just north of the village centre.
There are a number of entrances to the New Forest in Bartley, with cattle grids to keep the horses and other grazing animals in the forest. Bartley has a stream running near it called Bartley Water.
History
The name Bartley means "birch wood".[2][3] In 1586 it is recorded as "Bartlie Regis",[2] the name being Anglicised to "Barkley Kings" on a map of 1695.[3] Nearby Bartley Manor is an 18th-century house with a three-storey main block and two-storey wings.[4]Bartley Lodge is also an 18th-century house which now operates as a hotel.
