Burley is located towards the western edge of the New Forest, 4 miles (6 km) south-east of the town of Ringwood.

[13] Burley is not specifically mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086, but the entry for nearby Ringwood may well refer to Burley when it mentions lands in the forest with "14 villagers and 6 smallholders with 7 ploughs; a mill at 30d; and woodland at 189 pigs from pasturage.

[13] The ecclesiastical parish of Burley was formed in 1840 out of Ringwood.,[15] this was served by the Anglican church of John the Baptist which was built in 1839 and added to in 1886–7.

It was part of the lands of the "bailiwick of Burley" which was held in the 18th century by the Paulets, Dukes of Bolton and Marquesses of Winchester.

[15] From 1847 to 1964, Burley was served by trains at nearby Holmsley railway station, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of the village.

Arthur Clough (son of Arthur Hugh Clough) and his wife Eleanor Freshfield built Castletop House on Castle Hill Lane in 1898: Eleanor's father was President of the Royal Geographic Society and brought back many exotic plants from his travels which were planted at Castletop.

To kill the dragon, a valiant knight (usually named Berkeley) built a hide, and with two dogs lay in wait.

[19] The fight raged throughout the forest, with the dragon finally dying outside Lyndhurst, its corpse turning into a great hill (now known as Boltons Bench).