at the beginning of the 20th century, dibden consisted of a large number of farms scattered around the little cluster of buildings which still constitutes the village of dibden. like nearby beaulieu, dibden was at one time a liberty. the civil parish of dibden was created in 1894. the village of hythe was taken from fawley parish and added to dibden parish in 1913. since the 1950s the villages of hythe and dibden purlieu have grown enormously, and today the parish is dominated by those two settlements. in 1983 the parish was renamed to hythe and dibden, to reflect the importance of hythe as a new focal point of the parish.