The Importance of the New Forest, Southern England

The New Forest is located in Hampshire to the west of the Solent and Southampton. Although for years many areas of the Forest have been designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), it was only in March 2005 that it became a National Park. This was the first park to be designated for 50 years and became the eighth National Park in England.

Historically, the New Forest covers an area of approximately 145 square miles. Its boundary is called the 'perambulation'. The New Forest National Park covers a wider area than the traditional peramabulation.

About half is 'open forest', this includes the so-called 'lawns', wooded areas, heathland and valley bogs (see conservation and ecology), around a quarter is enclosures and the remainder is privately owned.

Although the majority of people probably see the New Forest principally as a recreational area, it must be remembered that this is not its most important role and people live and work there.
The New Forest is managed by the Forestry Commission and timber is produced there.

It is of paramount importance to conservation.

Traditional pastoral agriculture is still practised, ie grazing animals, mainly ponies, in the open forest.

Activities
Of course, the New Forest is ideal walking country whether for the dedicated hiker who wants to cover many miles a day or for people who prefer a gentle amble without undue exertion.

There is also horse riding, cycling and fishing. There are nearby beaches like those at Milford-on-Sea and Barton-on-Sea for swimming and there is sailing on the Solent to the east. There are also boat trips to the Isle of Wight from Lymington.

If you visit in the winter, when the Forest receives fewer visitors, you will have a better chance of seeing some of the wildlife. One November I had birds actually perching on my hand to eat biscuits crumbs - I couldn't believe it.

Lyndhurst
Picture from Freefoto.com

This is the administrative centre of the New Forest and still home to the Verderers Court, the New Forest District Council and the Forestry Commission offices.

A legacy of forest law can be seen in the Tudor stirrup, kept in the Verderers' Hall, used to decide whether a dog was a threat to the king's deer. If a dog was too big to pass through the stirrup its claws were maimed so that it could no longer hunt effectively. Next door is the Queen's House, built in 1563 and a former royal hunting lodge. Another celebrated local attraction is the grave of Alice Liddell, the original Alice in Wonderland.

The New Forest Centre is situated in Lyndhurst and it makes an ideal place for newcomers as it has displays about the Forest and a visitor information centre.

In Lyndhurst you are surrounded by the New Forest. There are ancient and ornamental woodlands nearby as well as heathland and valleys with streams splashing through them. It is an ideal area to get out of the car and walk. Park in any of the car parks and you will soon be away from other visitors and enjoying peaceful, secluded and a relatively rare type of countryside, important for conservation and wildlife.

Just 3 miles away, you can see the famous Rufus Stone (take the A337 north from Lyndhurst then turn left onto the A31). The stone commemorates the spot where King William II, also known as William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, was killed. The story is that on 2nd August 1100, King William and his friend Walter Tyrrell were out hunting when the two of them were separated from their friends. They saw a stag and Tyrrell fired an arrow which missed the deer, hit a tree and ricocheted into the king and killed him. Because William Rufus was a very unpopular king, people have been saying "a likely story" ever since but, who knows, it could be true.

Beaulieu Palace House
From Wikipedia, in the Public Domain

Beaulieu
Standing at the head of the Beaulieu River, the village of Beaulieu (pronounced bewlee - bew rhymes with you) was the site of a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1204 on land granted by King John. The abbey church was torn down during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 and the abbey gatehouse is now incorporated into Palace House, the home of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, and built in 1870. The estate includes the National Motor Museum with over 250 vintage and historic cars on display including Donald Campbell's Bluebird.

Downstream from Beaulieu stands Bucklers Hard comprising two rows of 18th century houses. Incredibly this tiny village was once the centre of a thriving ship building industry supplying men-of-war for the navy in the war against Napoleon. In the village there is a Maritime Museum which includes a display of how Bucklers Hard looked then. The Museum also has reconstructions of rooms in the the New Inn in 1793 and some of the village houses have also been restored to their original state so that the homes of an 18th century labourer, shipwright and master shipbuilder may be experienced.

Herbaceous borders in Exbury Gardens
from Wikipedia In the Public Domain

While in the area visit Exbury Gardens. about 2 miles south east of Beaulieu on the east bank of the Bucklers Hard estuary. Here Lionel Nathan de Rothschild bought the Exbury estate in 1919 and proceeded to make a spectacular garden. Although he was a banker, it seems that gardening was his first love. The garden is world famous for its rhododendrons and azaleas and the hybrids that have been created here. You can see the gardens from the steam railway and the Summer Lane Garden can only be seen from it. For keen gardeners or plant lovers, this is definitely a garden not to miss.

Brockenhurst
This most attractive small New Forest town, is ideal for exploring the surrounding countryside. The church of St Peter here is claimed, to be the oldest in the Forest. In its graveyard there is a memorial to Brusher Mills who was responsible for catching 3,180 adders. If you want an unusual way to see the Forest, take a horsedrawn wagon ride into areas inaccessible by car.

Nearby Rhinefield House is worth a visit. Now a hotel, it was built at the end of the 19th century mixing extravagant Tudor and Gothic styles. It has a magnificent ornamental drive, built about 50 years earlier than the present house, featuring enormous and unusual trees like a giant redwood and Douglas firs. It is especially beautiful in spring when the rhododendrons are in bloom.

Burley
This little village is in the New Forest. It is a picturesque place with thatched cottages, little tearooms and there are even ponies wandering freely along its streets. If you visit in autumn, you can see cider being made the traditional way at New Forest Cider in Pound Lane.
*Picture below used under GNU Free Documentation license, from Wikipedia.

Fordingbridge, on the edge of the New Forest
Picture from Freefoto.com.

Fordingbridge
Situated on the River Avon, Fordingbridge stands on the north west of the New Forest, just outside the perambulation (boundary) and is a good base for exploring the forest and surrounding area. Don't miss Breamore House, an Elizabethan manor house built in the 1580s and set in parkland about 3 miles north of the town off the A338. It has fine collections of paintings, tapestries, furniture and porcelain.

In the village of Breamore, the Countryside Museum has replicas of a farmworker's cottage, a blacksmith's forge, a brewery, a saddler's shop, amongst others. The museum also has a good collection of farming tools and tractors.

Ringwood
It is said that the Duke of Monmouth, pretender to the English throne, sheltered in a house in Ringwood's High Street after the Battle of Sedgemoor. He was later caught and executed in London. Also on the Avon, the town attracts anglers for river fishing and on Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve nearby (permits required). The lakes are a result of gravel extraction and are now an important area for recreation and wildlife. There is sailing, water skiing, good walks and a study centre for educational groups. The lakes and connecting stream attract a variety of wildlife especially birds like pochard, wigeon, goldeneye, shoveler, coot and teal. Its importance has led to its designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Moors Valley Country Park
© Copyright Michael Ely and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Just 3 miles west of the town, you can visit Moors Valley Country Park. There you can walk, cycle (bike hire available), take a ride on a narrow gauge railway through the park or play golf. There's also a play trail for children featuring such things as a giant ants' nest and snakes and ladders. If you want a really active time, you can try Go Ape, featuring bridges, swings, tunnels and ziplines. You must be at least 10 years old to go on it but there is no upper age limit and somebody in their 70s recently completed the course.

Avon Heath Country Park
© Copyright Stuart Buchan and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

There's another country park, Avon Heath about 2 miles to the south west on the A31 and owned and managed by Dorset County Council. This one doesn't have the manmade attractions of Moor Valley but is a good day out for active people who like birds and other wildlife. It covers around 600 acres and you might be lucky enough to spot a green woodpecker, a stonechat or rare sand lizard. It is also important for butterflies, roe deer and plants like green winged orchid. The park has waymarked trails for walkers and cyclists and there are also a variety of special events held here throughout the year. These include pond dipping, Easter egg trails, bug hunts, den building, orienteering, kite making, animal tracks and signs, making bird boxes and bird feeders. You can bring your dog too. Remember that they should be under control as the site has grazing livestock, although not necessarily on a lead except in certain areas.

The New Forest has been widely recognised as a national heritage worthy of conservation. It is the largest tract of lowland unsown land in the country and it contains several kinds of lowland habitat rare or endangered elsewhere. These include valley bogs, wet heaths and deciduous woodland.

The value of the New Forest to conservation and science is its size and continuity of habitats. Also Common Rights have prevented modern farming methods being used and so changing the ecology.

The three major types of land found are: heath, valley bogs, woodland.

Heathland is threatened and becoming increasingly rare throughout Europe. Its rarity is due to the expansion of towns, agricultural reclamation and afforestation. It is also threatened by recreation which can destroy its usefulness as a habitat. The survival of the Forest's heathland is a consequence of the traditional pastoral economy and its past status as a Royal Forest which prevented wholesale enclosure.

The size of the heathland in the the Forest is seen as the best guarantee of survival of many rare and endangered species. It can support a larger population than in other more fragmented areas and this alone increases the chances of species survival. The size also means that a catastophic event like a fire is less likely to destroy the whole habitat and thereby the whole population of a species.

Valley bogs are an important habitat found in the New Forest. In other areas these have been drained or damaged by agricultural chemicals. They provide graded environments from the wettest areas to dry heathland and therefore form an almost complete ecosystem. The undamaged nature of these has given rise to considerable diversity of species of flora.

Leaving dead trees where they fall is important for species survival.

Parts of the New Forest woodland are thought to be a survival of the original 'wildwood' covering most of Britain after the last Ice Age. All the woodland outside the modern enclosures are a result of medieval woodland grazing. Because of the ancient nature of the woodland, the diversity of flora and fauna is considerably greater than in more recently established woodland.

In Britain ancient woodland is under threat. Since the end of the Second World War, about half of what remained in 1945 has now gone. Even the fact that dead trees are left where they fall is important to conservation of species of birds, insects and lichens.

Whilst these habitats are important individually, they must be considered as part of the whole. The margins of the different types of habitats are important for many species, and the continuity is valuable for those that require more than one type of habitat.

It is therefore as a continuous area of habitats which merge into each other that the New Forest is so important to conservation. It is this that must be protected from piecemeal development and fragmentation because it is feared that each small encroachment will gradually diminish the Forest's importance and ability to sustain such a rich and diverse variety of species." />

Map of the New Forest and Adjacent Country
Lewis, Percival Esq., F.A.S.: "Laws and History of the New Forest" (1811)
Picture from Liam Quin's Pictures From Old Books Web site.

It is thought that areas of the New Forest were originally part of the primeval forest that once covered much of Britain after the last Ice Age. Evidence indicates that Saxon and Danish kings used it for hunting but it is certain that after the Norman Conquest it was given the status of an official forest.

At that time, a forest was a large area of land, not necessarily wooded, in which the animals were protected by a special law, ie Forest Law, aimed at preserving game. The Domesday Book says of the New Forest "...that by 1086 William I [the Conqueror] had imposed Forest Law over his own land and that of other owners in the area." Because of this, private lands could no longer be enclosed and farmed. Instead they were turned over to grazing and taxation was reduced in exchange.

Special courts upheld Forest Law. This is the origin of the Court of the Verderers which is still in existence and based in Lyndhurst. Hunting in royal forests was the sole prerogative of the king and his licensees. There were severe penalties for poaching: the Anglo Saxon Chronicles says "...whoever killed a hart or hind should be blinded". By 1217 these harsh penalties were softened by the Charta de Foresta and fines were imposed instead. Trees were also protected but there were common rights to firewood and windblown trees.

The Frontispiece from Lewis, Percival Esq., F.A.S.: "Laws and History of the New Forest" (1811)
Picture from Liam Quin's Pictures From Old Books Web site.

By the beginning of the 16th century, the New Forest was no longer so important for hunting by the monarch and Forest Law was imposed as a revenue gathering exercise rather than to protect animals and trees. The Forest's oak trees were now important for ship building and by the 17th century, oak plantations were established to replace the ones being felled.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the Court of Verderers had declined in importance and most authority was vested in the Office of Woods, responsible for timber production and answerable to the Treasury. In the mid 19th century, the Commoners (people entitled to Common Rights - see below) petitioned for the removal of deer so that more pasture would be available for grazing their stock. An Act was passed allowing this but, in exchange, the government wanted to enclose 10,000 acres in addition to the 6,000 acres of enclosures already allowed under previous Acts. Opposition turned these into rolling enclosures rather than permanent ones, ie when trees had grown sufficiently to withstand grazing animals, the enclosures would be removed.

Disputes between the Office of Woods and Commoners over enclosures continued unabated until the whole matter was referred to a Committee of the House of Lords. They decided that there was no solution to the arguments that had continued since time immemorial and the answer was to deforest the area and partition up the forest. Compensation would be paid to landowners but tenant farmers would get nothing. Fortunately, the London to Dorchester railway had opened up the New Forest to visitors and this decision caused a public outcry enabling a Mr Fawcett to get a Bill through Parliament forbidding any further enclosure or planting until the whole question was re-examined.

In 1877 the New Forest Act was passed upholding the rights of Commoners and enforcing the rule that no more than 16,000 acres was to be enclosed at any one time. Additionally, it reconstituted the Court of the Verderers and gave it the power to make by-laws and levy fees on Commoners for grazing their animals. The Act also made provision to preserve the unenclosed woods, so laying the foundation for further Acts of Parliament on the subject. Further disputes occurred and changes have been made but the 1877 New Forest Act preserved and protected the Forest.

Over almost 1000 years of the Forest's recorded history, the customs and uses of land has changed but the essential character has remained largely intact in spite of enclosures.

Kestrel, Female Hunting, UK Photographic Print
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Birds These include:
sparrowhawks
buzzards
hobbies
kestrels
honey buzzard (rare)
firecrest(rare)
goldcrest

In boggy valleys there are:
curlew
snipe
lapwing
redshank

On the dry heathland:
Dartford warbler (rare)
woodlark
nightjar
Montagu's harrier

Muntjac Deer, Looking at Camera Photographic Print
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Invertebrates
10,000 species of invertebrates are found in the Ancient and Ornamental Woodland, many taking advantage of rotting wood from fallen trees.

Of invertebrates living in Britain, found in the New Forest are:
55% of butterflies and moths
46% of beetles
74% of dragonflies and damselflies
67% of grasshoppers and crickets

Mammals
deer: fallow, roe, red, Sika and Muntjac
badgers
grey squirrels
polecat (rare)
pine marten (rare)
13 species of bats

Reptiles
smooth snake
adder (Britain's only poisonous snake)
sand lizard (introduced with a breeding program)
3 species of newt
common frog
common toad

Most people who know anything about the New Forest will know about the ponies freely grazing there. The right to graze animals is one of the Common Rights under ancient forest law. These rights attach to property in the forest so anybody living in a house that has Common Rights attached, gets these rights automatically and they apply equally to property owners and tenants.

The rights are:

Turbary - the right to cut turf or peat from the heath for fuel. There were specific rules governing the size and way it was cut.

Pannage or Mast - the right to turn out pigs between 25th September and 22nd November each year to feed on acorns and beechnuts. Not only did this fatten pigs for Christmas, it also prevented ponies and cattle gorging on acorns which could cause inflammation and death.

Estover - the right to bundles (called cords) of wood 8ft long by 4ft deep x 4ft high.

Common Pasture - the best known of the Common Rights, which is to turn out ponies, cattle and donkeys to graze in the open forest.

Common or Marl - marl is a mixture of carbonate of lime and clay used as a compost to improve the acid forest soil.

Fern - this was the right to gather ferns after the 29th September when the sap was no longer in full flow so it could be gathered without killing the plants. It was used for litter for animals.

Nowadays, only the rights to Common Pasture and Mast are practised to any extent.