More information : The text of this record has been re-written to incorporate new references, see the OS record card for the original text. The NGRs for the boundary of the New Forest are arbitary points taken from the limits defined by the New Forest Committee (01-Oct-1991).
The core of the New Forest is located on the infertile sands and gravels of the Bagshot Beds covering an area of c.75,000 acres, situated to the west of Lyndhurst (1). Prior to the Conquest this area was virtually uninhabited, with settlements located on the wooded margins. This area may have been a royal forest as laws relating to the hunting and woodlands were in effect during the Saxon period. Untenanted tracts were placed under ban as royal hunting grounds. The earliest extant specimens of West Saxon legislation, the Laws of King Ine, 690 to 693 AD, imposed penalties for the burning of trees to protect the woodland. A document purporting to be a charter of Canute, 1018, establishing the New Forest as a royal hunting ground is a Norman forgery intended to make the harsh forest laws seem to be a strict application of pre-existing law. (2)
The New Forest was created by William I in 1079, by enlarging the extent of the `royal hunting-grounds', with the afforestation of c. 20,000 acres to the north, south and on the Lyndhurst strip of the pre-existing forest. In addition another 10,000-20,000 acres of partly wooded areas on the borders of the newly extended areas were also annexed (1). This had its own forest laws administered by the Verders Court.
The New Forest comprised of heathland as well as woodland, the heathland dating back to the Bronze Age. The native woodland covered about a quarter of the forest. Placename evidence indicated many of the isolated woods were isolated in the Medieval period. It is probable that less than half of the New Forest in the 11th century
was heathland. The legal boundaries extended little outside the physical limits of the Forest (3). During the 11th and 12th centuries the boundary was extended, but the original bounds were reinstated following the Magna Carta (1215) and the Charter of the New Forest (1217). The original bounds were again revoked in 1227 but were back in effect from 1300 until 1327, when replaced by bounds implemented by the Charter of The New Forest. These were in force, relatively unchanged, until the New Forest Act of 1964. (4-5).
Reports of 12th century annalists gave the impression that the creation of the New Forest involved the wholesale destruction of settlements with the mass eviction of inhabitants, reducing a flourishing district to waste. The poor soils of the area could not have supported extensive agriculture and therefore a large population. This, together with evidence from the Domesday Book, indicate that the creation of the forest did not involve as extreme measures as allegedly reported. (6-8)
One of the main sources of income to the crown was coppicing, the earliest references dating from 1389, with the sale of 109 acres of timber and underwood from unspecified coppices. A survey of 1608 recorded 1304 acres of coppice woods. By 1609, Norden's survey records a decline with 741 acres of coppice wood (9). It is during this century that the coppices fell into decay; many of the woodbanks still survive. At the same time pollarding was also discontinued in the belief it conflicted with the timber interest (10). The forest was also a source of timber, mainly oak, for shipbuilding (11). The forest contained 123,927 trees which were suitable for shipbuilding in 1608 this declined to 12,476 trees in 1707 (2). This was a result of neglect and waste. The work of the royal foresters at this time was described as `so much destruction the forest is more like a woodyard than a wood...scarce any tree left in the forest without a badge of their cruelty' (12). This was remedied by the passing of an Act (1698) concerned with the increase and preservation of timber by the immediate enclosure of 2,000 acres with provision for the enclosure of another 6,000 carried out over the following 20 years (1). A survey was carried out in 1705 from which a rudimentary management plan was set out. By 1789 the forest had been divided into nine bailiwicks which were subdivided into 15 walks (8)(13). For its adminstration there were: a lord warden, lieutenant, riding forester, bow bearer, two rangers, a woodward and under woodward, four verderers, a high steward and under steward, 12 regarders, nine foresters (master keepers) and 15 under foresters (groom keepers). (1)
In a response to forest laws forest rights and customs were established; the right to wood for fuel (estovers), turf fuel (turbary), to dig marl, take bracken. These became Commoners' Law together with pasturage for cattle and pannage for pigs. (5)
The number of inclosures was expanded in 1851 as a result of the Deer Removal Act. This act also legalised the planting of conifers. Prior to this date, planting of trees was limited to oak and beech within plantations of 12,000 of which not more than 6,000 could be inclosed at any one time. The Act resulted in the inclosure of 9,000 acres between 1851 and 1870 and changed the character of the forest. In 1877 an Act was introduced limiting the number of inclosures to areas already planted and the size of inclosures; no more than 16,000 acres could be inclosed at any one time. (14-15)
Additional bibliography, details on OS record card. (15-41)
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