Purlieu is a term used for the outlying parts of aplace or district. It was a term of the oldForest law, and meant, as defined byJohn Manwood,Treatise of the Lawes of the Forest (1598, 4th ed. 1717),
a certain territory of ground adjoining unto the forest [which] was once forest-land and afterwards disafforested by the perambulations made for the severing of the new forests from the old
The owner of freelands in the purlieu to the yearly value of forty shillings was known as apurlieu-man orpurley-man. The benefits of disafforestation accrued only to the owner of the lands. There seems no doubt thatpurlieu orpurley represents the Anglo-Frenchpourallé lieu (old Frenchpouraler,puraler, to go throughLatinperambulare), a legal term meaning properly aperambulation to determine the boundaries of a manor, parish, or similar region.
The word survives in placenames. Examples includeDibden Purlieu inHampshire, on the border of theNew Forest andBedford Purlieus, once part ofRockingham Forest; also asPurley, in London, andPurley on Thames, in Berkshire. It also survives in the surname,Purley.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Purlieu".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 665.