Forest Conservation And Ecology

New Forest, England: Important for Conservation and Recreation
By Carol Fisher

Located in Southern England, in the county of Hampshire, the New Forest covers an area of approximately 145 square miles. 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 the small town of 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 say "...whoever killed a hart or hind should be blinded." By 1217 these harsh penalties were reduced by the Charta de Foresta and fines were imposed instead. Trees were also protected but there were common rights to firewood and windblown trees.

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 important for ship building and by the 17th century, oak plantations were established to replace the ones being felled.