| The New Forest National Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)[1] | |
 Beech trees in Mallard Wood, part of the New Forest | |
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| Nearest city | Southampton |
| Area | 566 km2 (219 sq mi) National Park New Forest: 380 km2 (150 sq mi) |
| Established | 1079 (as Royal Forest), 1 March 2005 (as National Park) |
| Visitors | 14.75 million (est) (in 2009) |
| Governing body | New Forest National Park Authority |
| Website | https://www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/ |
  Location of The New Forest in southern England | |
| Geography | |
| Location | HampshireWiltshire, England |
| Coordinates | 50°51′47″N01°37′05″W / 50.86306°N 1.61806°W /50.86306; -1.61806 |
| Official name | The New Forest |
| Designated | 22 September 1993 |
| Reference no. | 622[2] |
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 Beaulieu Mill Pond | |
| Location | Hampshire Wiltshire |
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| Grid reference | SU 269 072[3] |
| Interest | Biological Geological |
| Area | 289 square kilometres (112 square miles)[3] |
| Notification | 1996[3] |
| Location map | Magic Map |
| UK National Parks |
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| Parentheses denotes the year. An area with‡ has similar status to a UK National Park. Areas marked† are proposed. |
TheNew Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosedpasture land,heathland andforest inSouthern England, covering southwestHampshire and southeastWiltshire. It was proclaimed aroyal forest byWilliam the Conqueror, featuring in theDomesday Book.
It is the home of theNew Forest Commoners, whose ancient rights of common pasture are still recognised and exercised, enforced by officialverderers andagisters. In the 18th century, the New Forest became a source of timber for theRoyal Navy. It remains a habitat for many rare birds andmammals.
The boundaries of the forest have varied over time and depend on the purpose of delimiting them.[4] It is a 289-square-kilometre (112-square-mile) biological and geologicalSite of Special Scientific Interest.[3][5] Several areas areGeological Conservation Review sites, including Mark Ash Wood,[GCR 1] Shepherd’s Gutter,[GCR 2] Cranes Moor,[GCR 3] Studley Wood,[GCR 4] and Wood Green.[GCR 5] There are also a number ofNature Conservation Review sites.[6] It is aSpecial Area of Conservation,[7] aRamsar site[8][9] and aSpecial Protection Area.[10][11]Copythorne Common is managed by theHampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust,[12] Kingston Great Common is anational nature reserve[13] and New Forest Northern Commons is managed by theNational Trust.[14]
Like much of England, the site of the New Forest was oncedeciduous woodland, recolonised bybirch and eventuallybeech andoak after the withdrawal of the ice sheets starting around 12,000 years ago. Some areas were cleared for cultivation from theBronze Age onwards; the poor quality of the soil in the New Forest meant that the cleared areas turned into heathland "waste", which may have been used even then as grazing land for horses.[15]
There was still a significant amount of woodland in this part of Britain, but this was gradually reduced, particularly towards the end of the MiddleIron Age around 250–100 BC, and most importantly the12th and 13th centuries, and of this essentially all that remains today is the New Forest.[16]
There are around 250round barrows[17] within its boundaries, and scatteredboiling mounds, and it also includes about 150scheduled monuments.[18] One may be the only knowninhumation site of the Early Iron Age and the only knownHallstatt culture burial place in Britain though, because of the acidic soil, any bodies are likely to have decomposed beyond detection.[19]
FollowingAnglo-Saxon settlement in Britain, according toFlorence of Worcester (d. 1118), the area became the site of theJutish kingdom ofYtene; this name was thegenitive plural ofYt meaning "Jute", i.e. "of the Jutes".[20] TheJutes were one of the earlyAnglo-Saxon tribal groups who colonised this area of southern Hampshire.
Following theNorman Conquest, the New Forest was proclaimed aroyal forest, in about 1079, byWilliam the Conqueror. It was used for royal hunts, mainly ofdeer.[21] It was created at the expense of more than 20 smallhamlets and isolatedfarmsteads; hence it was then 'new' as a single compact area.[22]
The New Forest was first recorded asNova Foresta inDomesday Book in 1086, where a section devoted to it is interpolated between lands of the king'sthegns and the town ofSouthampton; it is the only forest that the book describes in detail. Twelfth-century chroniclers alleged that William had created the forest by evicting the inhabitants of 36 parishes, reducing a flourishing district to a wasteland; this account is thought dubious by most historians, as the poor soil in much of the area is believed to have been incapable of supporting large-scale agriculture, and significant areas appear to have always been uninhabited.[23][24]
Two of William's sons died in the forest:Prince Richard sometime between 1069 and 1075, andKing William II (William Rufus) in 1100. Though many claim the latter was killed by an inaccurate arrow shot from his hunting companion, localfolklore asserted that this was punishment for the crimes committed by William when he created his New Forest; 17th-century writer Richard Blome provides detail:
In this County [Hantshire] is New-Forest, formerly called Ytene, being about 30 miles in compass; in which said tract William the Conqueror (for the making of the said Forest a harbour for Wild-beasts for his Game) caused 36 Parish Churches, with all the Houses thereto belonging, to be pulled down, and the poor Inhabitants left succourless of house or home. But this wicked act did not long go unpunished, for his Sons felt the smart thereof; Richard being blasted with a pestilent Air; Rufus shot through with an Arrow; and Henry his Grand-child, by Robert his eldest son, as he pursued his Game, was hanged among the boughs, and so dyed. This Forest at present affordeth great variety of Game, where his Majesty oft-times withdraws himself for his divertisement.[25]
The reputed spot of Rufus's death is marked with a stone known as theRufus Stone.John White,Bishop of Winchester, said of the forest:
From God and Saint King Rufus did Churches take, From Citizens town-court, and mercate place, From Farmer lands: New Forrest for to make, In Beaulew tract, where whiles the King in chase Pursues the hart, just vengeance comes apace, And King pursues. Tirrell him seing not, Unwares him flew with dint of arrow shot.[26]
Thecommon rights were confirmed by statute in 1698. The New Forest became a source of timber for theRoyal Navy, and plantations were created in the 18th century for this purpose. During theGreat Storm of 1703, about 4,000 oak trees were lost.
The naval plantations encroached on the rights of the Commoners, but the Forest gained new protection under the New Forest Act 1877, which confirmed the historic rights of the Commoners and entrenched that the total of enclosures was henceforth not to exceed 65 km2 (25 sq mi) at any time. It also reconstituted the Court of Verderers as representatives of the Commoners (rather than the Crown).
As of 2005[update], roughly 90% of the New Forest is still owned by the Crown. The Crown lands have been managed byForestry England since 1923 and most of the Crown lands now fall inside the new National Park.
Felling of broadleaved trees, and their replacement byconifers, began during the First World War to meet the wartime demand for wood. Further encroachments were made during the Second World War. This process is today being reversed in places, with some plantations being returned to heathland or broadleaved woodland.Rhododendron remains a problem.
During the Second World War, an area of the forest,Ashley Range, was used as a bombing range.[27] TheBeaulieu, Hampshire estate ofLord Montagu in the New Forest was the site of group B finishing schools for agents[28] operated by theSpecial Operations Executive (SOE) between 1941 and 1945. (One of the trainers wasKim Philby who was later found to be part of a spy ring passing information to the Soviets.) In 2005, a special exhibition was mounted at the estate, with a video showing photographs from that era as well as voice recordings of former SOE trainers and agents.[29][30]
| New Forest Act 1964 | |
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| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An Act to alter the perambulation of the New Forest, to make further provision for the New Forest, to amend the New Forest Acts 1877 to 1949 and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. |
| Citation | 1964 c. 83 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 31 July 1964 |
Status: Current legislation | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the New Forest Act 1964 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, fromlegislation.gov.uk. | |
Further New Forest Acts followed in 1949, 1964 and 1970. The New Forest became aSite of Special Scientific Interest in 1971, and was granted special status as the New Forest Heritage Area in 1985, with additional planning controls added in 1992. The New Forest was proposed as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in June 1999, but UNESCO did not take up the nomination.[31] It became aNational Park on 1 March 2005,[32] transferring a wide variety of planning and control decisions to the New Forest National Park Authority, who work alongside the local authorities, land owners and crown estates in managing the New Forest.[33]
A report in 2023 stated that the region will face hotter, drier summers and wetter winters. In 2019, the carbon dioxide emissions of the New Forest District Council area were recorded as 928,000 tonnes.[34]
Forest laws were enacted to preserve the New Forest as a location for royaldeer hunting, and interference with the king's deer and its forage was punished. The inhabitants of the area (commoners) had pre-existingrights of common: to turn horses and cattle (but only rarely sheep) out into the Forest to graze (common pasture), to gather fuel wood (estovers), to cut peat for fuel (turbary), to dig clay (marl), and to turn out pigs between September and November to eat fallenacorns and beechnuts (pannage ormast). There were also licences granted to gatherbracken afterMichaelmas Day (29 September) as litter for animals (fern).
Along with grazing, pannage is still an important part of the Forest's ecology. Pigs can eat acorns without problem, but for ponies and cattle, large quantities of acorns can be poisonous. Pannage always lasts at least 60 days, but the start date varies according to the weather – and when the acorns fall. Theverderers decide when pannage will start each year. At other times the pigs must be taken in and kept on the owner's land, with the exception that pregnant sows, known asprivileged sows, are always allowed out providing they are not a nuisance and return to the Commoner's holding at night (they must not be "levant andcouchant" in the Forest, that is, they may not consecutively feedand sleep there). This last is an established practice rather than a formal right.
The principle of levancy and couchancy applies generally to the right of pasture.[35][36] Commoners must have backup land, outside the Forest, to accommodate these depastured animals when necessary, for example during afoot-and-mouth disease epidemic.
Commons rights are attached to particular plots of land (or in the case of turbary, to particularhearths), and different land has different rights – and some of this land is some distance from the Forest itself. Rights to graze ponies and cattle are not for a fixed number of animals, as is often the case on other commons. Instead a "marking fee" is paid for each animal each year by the owner. The marked animal's tail is trimmed by the local agister (verderers' official), with each of the four or five forest agisters using a different trimming pattern. Ponies are branded with the owner's brand mark; cattle may be branded, or nowadays may have the brand mark on an ear tag. Grazing of Commoners' ponies and cattle is an essential part of the management of the forest, helping to maintain the heathland, bog, grassland and wood-pasture habitats and their associated wildlife.
Recently this ancient practice has come under pressure as houses that benefit from forest rights pass to owners with no interest in commoning. Existing families with a new generation heavily rely on inheritance of, rather than the (mostly expensive) purchase of, a benefiting house with paddock or farm.
The Verderers and Commoners' Defence Association has fought back against these allied economic threats. The EUBasic Payment Scheme (BPS) helped some Commoners significantly. Commoners marking animals for grazing can claim about £200 per cow per year, and about £160 for a pony, and more if participating in the stewardship scheme. With 10 cattle and 40 ponies, a Commoner qualifying for both schemes would receive over £8,000 a year, and more if they also put out pigs: net of marking fees, feed and veterinary costs this part-time level of involvement across a family is calculated to give an annual income in the thousands of pounds in most years. Whether those subsidies will surviveBrexit is unclear. The BPS payment was based on the number of animals marked for the Forest, whether or not these are actually turned out. The livestock actually grazing the Forest are therefore considerably fewer than those marked.
The New Forest National Park area covers 566 km2 (219 sq mi),[37] and the New ForestSSSI covers almost 300 km2 (120 sq mi), making it the largest contiguous area of unsown vegetation in lowland Britain. It includes roughly:
The New Forest has also been classed asNational Character Area No. 131 byNatural England. The NCA covers an area of 738 km2 (285 sq mi) and is bounded by theDorset Heaths andDorset Downs to the west, theWest Wiltshire Downs to the north and theSouth Hampshire Lowlands andSouth Coast Plain to the east.[38]
The New Forest is drained to the south by three rivers,Lymington River,Beaulieu River andAvon Water, and to the west by theLatchmore Brook, Dockens Water, Linford Brook and other streams.
The highest point in the New Forest is Pipers Wait, nearNomansland. Its summit is 129 metres (423 feet)above sea level.[39][40]
Thegeology of the New Forest consists mainly of sedimentary rock, in the centre of a sedimentary basin known as the Hampshire Basin.
The ecological value of the New Forest is enhanced by the relatively large areas of lowland habitats, lost elsewhere, which have survived. There are several kinds of important lowland habitat includingvalley bogs,alder carr, wetheaths, dry heaths and deciduouswoodland. The area contains a profusion of rare wildlife, including the New ForestcicadaCicadetta montana, the only cicada native to Great Britain, although the last unconfirmed sighting was in 2000.[41] The wet heaths are important for rare plants, such as marsh gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) and marsh clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) and other important species include the wild gladiolus (Gladiolus illyricus).[42]
Several species ofsundew are found, as well as many unusual insect species, including the southern damselfly (Coenagrion mercuriale), large marsh grasshopper (Stethophyma grossum) and the mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa), all rare in Britain. In 2009, 500 adult southern damselflies were captured and released in the Venn Ottery nature reserve inDevon, which is owned and managed by theDevon Wildlife Trust.[43] The Forest is an important stronghold for a rich variety offungi, and although these have been heavily gathered in the past, there are control measures now in place to manage this.
Specialist heathland birds are widespread, includingDartford warbler (Curruca undata),woodlark (Lullula arborea),northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus),Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata),European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus),Eurasian hobby (Falco subbuteo),European stonechat (Saxicola rubecola),common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) andtree pipit (Anthus sylvestris). As in much of Britaincommon snipe (Gallinago gallinago) andmeadow pipit (Anthus trivialis) are common as wintering birds, but in the Forest they still also breed in many of the bogs and heaths respectively.
Woodland birds includewood warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix),stock dove (Columba oenas),European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus) andnorthern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis).Common buzzard (Buteo buteo) is very common andcommon raven (Corvus corax) is spreading. Birds seen more rarely includered kite (Milvus milvus), winteringgreat grey shrike (Lanius exubitor) andhen harrier (Circus cyaneus) and migratingring ouzel (Turdus torquatus) andnorthern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe).
All three British native species of snake inhabit the Forest. The adder (Vipera berus) is the most common, being found on open heath and grassland. Thegrass snake (Natrix natrix) prefers the damper environment of the valley mires. The rare smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) occurs on sandy hillsides withheather andgorse. It was mainly adders which were caught byBrusher Mills (1840–1905), the "New Forest Snake Catcher". He caught many thousands in his lifetime, sending some toLondon Zoo as food for their animals.[44][45] Apub inBrockenhurst is namedThe Snakecatcher in his memory. All British snakes are nowlegally protected, and so the New Forest snakes are no longer caught.
A programme to reintroduce thesand lizard (Lacerta agilis) started in 1989[46] and thegreat crested newt (Triturus cristatus) already breeds in many locations.
Sand lizards in a captive breeding and reintroduction programme[47] together with adders, grass snakes,smooth snakes,frogs andtoads can be seen at The New ForestReptile Centre about two miles east ofLyndhurst. The centre was established in 1969 by Derek ThomsonMBE, a Forestry England keeper, who was also involved in establishing the deer viewing platform at nearbyBolderwood.[48]
Commoners' cattle, ponies and donkeys roam throughout the open heath and much of the woodland, and it is largely their grazing that maintains the open character of the Forest. They are also frequently seen in the Forest villages, where home and shop owners must take care to keep them out of gardens and shops. TheNew Forest pony is one of the indigenous horse breeds of the British Isles, and is one of the New Forest's most famous attractions – most of the Forest ponies are of this breed, but there are also someShetlands and theircrossbreeds.
Cattle are of various breeds, most commonlyGalloways and their crossbreeds, but also various other hardy types such asHighlands,Herefords,Dexters,Kerries andBritish whites. The pigs used forpannage, during the autumn months, are now of various breeds, but the New Forest was the original home of theWessex Saddleback, now extirpated from Britain.
Numerous deer live in the Forest; they are usually rather shy and tend to stay out of sight when people are around, but are surprisingly bold at night, even when a car drives past.Fallow deer (Dama dama) are the most common, followed byroe deer (Capreolus capreolus) andred deer (Cervus elaphus). There are also smaller populations of the introducedsika deer (Cervus nippon) andmuntjac (Muntiacus reevesii).[49]
Thered squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) survived in the Forest until the 1970s – longer than most places in lowland Britain (though it still occurs on the Isle of Wight and the nearbyBrownsea Island). It is now fully supplanted in the Forest by the introduced North Americangrey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). TheEuropean polecat (Mustela putorius) has recolonised the western edge of the Forest in recent years.European otter (Lutra lutra) occurs along watercourses, as well as the introducedAmerican mink (Neogale vison). In 2021 a population ofPine Martens was confirmed to be present.[50]
The New Forest is designated as aSite of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), an EUSpecial Area of Conservation (SAC),[51] aSpecial Protection Area for birds (SPA),[52] and aRamsar Site;[53] it also has its ownBiodiversity Action Plan (BAP).[54]
The New Forest itself gives its name to theNew Forest district ofHampshire, and the National Park area, of which it forms the core.
The Forest itself is dominated by four larger 'defined' villages,Sway,Brockenhurst,Lyndhurst andAshurst, with several smaller villages such asBurley,Beaulieu,Godshill,Fritham,Nomansland, andMinstead also lying within or immediately adjacent. Outside of the National Park Area in New Forest District, several clusters of larger towns frame the area –Totton and the Waterside settlements (Marchwood,Dibden,Hythe,Fawley) to the East,Christchurch,New Milton,Milford on Sea, andLymington to the South, andFordingbridge andRingwood to the West.
Consultations on the possible designation of aNational Park in the New Forest were commenced by theCountryside Agency in 1999. An order to create the park was made by the Agency on 24 January 2002 and submitted to theSecretary of State for confirmation in February 2002. Following objections from seven local authorities and others, apublic inquiry was held from 8 October 2002 to 10 April 2003, and concluded by endorsing the proposal with some detailed changes to the boundary of the area to be designated.[citation needed]
On 28 June 2004, Rural Affairs MinisterAlun Michael confirmed the government's intention to designate the area as a National Park, with further detailed boundary adjustments. The area was formally designated as such on 1 March 2005. Anational park authority for the New Forest was established on 1 April 2005 and assumed its full statutory powers on 1 April 2006.[55]
Forestry England retain their powers to manage the Crown land within the Park. The Verderers under the New Forest Acts also retain their responsibilities, and the park authority is expected to co-operate with these bodies, the local authorities,English Nature and other interested parties.The designated area of the National Park covers 566 km2 (219 sq mi)[37] and includes many existingSSSIs. It has a population of about 38,000 (it excludes most of the 170,256 people who live in theNew Forest local government district). As well as most of theNew Forest district ofHampshire, it takes in theSouth Hampshire CoastArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a small corner ofTest Valley district around the village ofCanada and part ofWiltshire south-east ofRedlynch.
The area covered by the park excludes two of the areas initially proposed: most of the valley of theRiver Avon to the west of the Forest andDibden Bay to the east. Two challenges were made to the designation order, by Meyrick Estate Management Ltd in relation to the inclusion ofHinton Admiral Park, and byRWENPower Plc in relation to the inclusion ofFawley Power Station. The second challenge was settled out of court, with the power station being excluded.[56] TheHigh Court upheld the first challenge;[57] but an appeal against the decision was then heard by theCourt of Appeal in Autumn 2006. The final ruling, published on 15 February 2007, found in favour of the challenge by Meyrick Estate Management Ltd,[58] and the land at Hinton Admiral Park is therefore excluded from the New Forest National Park. The total area of land initially proposed for inclusion but ultimately left out of the Park is around 120 km2 (46 sq mi).
The New Forest is represented by twoMembers of Parliament; inNew Forest East andNew Forest West.
There is an allusion to the foundation of the New Forest in an end-rhyming poem found in thePeterborough Chronicle's entry for 1087,The Rime of King William.
The Forest forms a backdrop to numerous books.The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat, set in the time of theEnglish Civil War.Charles Kingsley'sA New Forest Ballad (1847) mentions several New Forest locations, including Ocknell Plain, Bradley [Bratley] Water, Burley Walk and Lyndhurst churchyard.[59]Edward Rutherfurd's work ofhistorical fiction,The Forest is based in the New Forest in the period from 1099 to 2000. The Forest is also a setting of theWarriors novel series, in which the 'Forest Territories' was initially based on New Forest.[60]
The New Forest and southeast England, around the 12th century, is a prominent setting inKen Follett's novelThe Pillars of the Earth. It is also a prominent setting inElizabeth George's novelThis Body of Death. Oberon, Titania and the other Shakespearean fairies live in a rapidly diminishing Sherwood Forest whittled away by urban development in the fantasy novelA Midsummer's Nightmare by Garry Kilworth. On Midsummer's Eve, a most auspicious day, the fairies embark on the long journey to the New Forest in Hampshire where the fairies' magic will be restored to its former glory.
The area provides the backdrop toGerald Gardner's mid-20th century work with theNew Forest coven.
Even though the IUCN call category II 'National Parks', the UK's National Parks are actually in category V.
Temporarily offline as of February 2025
The following out-of-copyright books can be read online or downloaded:
Extracts from the above texts have been brought together by the New Forest author and cultural historianIan McKay in his anthologies:
These anthologies also include writings byWilliam Cobbett,Daniel Defoe,William Gilpin,William Howitt,W. H. Hudson, andHeywood Sumner.
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