The New Forest....in brief
A synopsis:
- The "New Forest" is an English medieval deer hunting area created in 1079 by William the Conqueror. It is still largely in the possession of the Crown. It has recently become a National Park.
- It is a nationally important environment of woodland pasture, heaths, bogs and the remains of 17th, 18th & 19th century coppices and timber plantations.
- It is grazed by the ponies, cattle and pigs of the local "Commoners" - one of the "Rights" extracted from the Crown by the locals centuries ago, and guarded vigorously to this day.
- The vestiges of the ancient Forest Law courts that controlled the local population and their animals (to ensure they did not interfere with the deer and its food) still have a role in the administration of the Forest.
Who founded it?
The New Forest in Hampshire, England was originally commandeered in 1079 as a deer hunting area by the king, William the Conqueror. As Duke William of Normandy (known as "William the Bastard"), he had successfully invaded England in 1066.
The New Forest is a beautiful area, but it is not "natural" in the sense of untouched by man.The Forest has been moulded by the fads of monarchs since William, and the changing priorities of the Crown over the last 900 years: deer; timber for naval shipbuilding; commercial timber production; recreation.
What is a "Forest"?
"Forest" in a medieval sense was a legally defined area - subject to special laws - where the "beasts of the chase" (deer & wild pig) and their food were protected for the pleasure of the monarch. It was not necessarily a wooded area in the modern meaning - nearly half the New Forest is open heath, grassland and bog.
The laws enacted to preserve the deer for the royal pleasure were the Forest Laws. The odious penalties of Forest Law for interference with the king's deer and its food ("browse") became less severe over the centuries, but remnants of the legal structure that policed the area for the Crown are still present in the New Forest as the Verderers' Court.
Who owns the ponies and cattle?
The dominance of the preservation of the deer over the agricultural and fuel requirements of the sparse local population led to some concessions by the Crown. These concessions - which include the right to turn out stock into the open Forest, the gathering of fuel-wood, the digging of clay - are now enshrined as the "Rights of Common". These Rights attach to certain plots of domestic and agricultural land both within the boundaries of the Forest, and close by.
this beautiful stand of trees has now been cut back by
the Forestry Commission)
The ponies, cattle and pigs turned out into the open forest are owned by the "Commoners", and are there by the Rights whose foundations extend back 900 years to William's time.
The Commoner has also shaped the Forest. The open forest is dominated by the activities of his stock, and by the deer. These herbivores have been called the "architects of the Forest". The flora is defined by what they will, or will not eat. Above their heads is the hand of man - the Inclosures (fenced woodland) - either still enclosed to keep stock out to prevent damage to timber, or mature plantations "thrown open" for the Commoners' animals to enter.
At its greatest extent in the 12th & 13th centuries, 3% of the acreage of England was used for the keeping of deer in Forests; the legal boundaries of Forest Law extended beyond this physical Forest and up to one third of England was subject to Forest Law. The demands of cultivation and other pressures have led to the extinguishing of nearly all the Royal Forests.
Why has the New Forest survived?
In a simple practical sense, it has survived because the soils are impoverished. There is evidence of cultivation within the area in the Bronze Age (field enclosures) but the clearing of woods in that era and the subsequent leaching of nutrients impoverished the poor soils. It was an infertile "waste" when William brought it under Forest Law ("afforested" it); it is still an infertile waste.
It will support grazing herbivores and the cultivation of timber (which in the 17th, 18th & 19th centuries was for shipbuilding). It has supported little else, but this waste has served the requirements of the Crown. Its preservation now is an - at times - uneasy balance of commercial forestry, its ecological status as a unique environment and the Rights of the Commoners (guarded by the Verderers).
This balance of the frequently divergent interests of the Commoners and the Crown is not new. Historically, the Crown could only exploit the Forest at the expense of the Commoners; on the other hand, the exercising of Rights by the Commoners reduced the ability of the Crown to expand timber production and maintain the deer. Remarkably, the New Forest has survived many challenges over 900 years. These pages offer an overview of its history, ancient practices and beauty.
"But in its wild scenery lies its greatest charm...... Nowhere, in extent at least, spread such stretches of heath and moor, golden in the spring with the blaze of furze, and in the autumn purple with heather, and bronzed with the fading fern. Nowhere in England rise such oak-woods, their boughs rimed with the frostwork of lichens, and dark beech-groves with their floor of red brown leaves, on which the branches weave their own warp and woof of light and shade."
John Wise, 1895 - The New Forest. Its History and Its Scenery.