|
The New Forest is an area of Hampshire in England which was created as a royal forest in 1079 by William the Conqueror for the hunting of (mainly) deer. William's successor, William Rufus was killed in a suspicious 'accident' while hunting in the New Forest.
The forest gives its name to the New Forest district of Hampshire. Today it includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and old-growth forest in the heavily-populated south east of England.
Among the towns and villages lying in or adjacent to the Forest are Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Fordingbridge, Ringwood, Beaulieu and Lymington. It is bounded to the west by Bournemouth and to the east by the city of Southampton.
It is the habitat of the famous New Forest ponies and contains a profusion of other rare wildlife, including the New Forest cicada, the only cicada native to Great Britain. Several species of sundew may be found there, and the Forest is also the habitat of many unusual ant species, including the narrow-headed ant, Formica exsecta, recorded there by Horace Donisthorpe.
In the Great Storm of 1703, there were about 4000 oak trees lost in the New Forest.
The Forest is drained to the south by two rivers, the Lymington and Beaulieu.
New Forest National Park
 Proposed National Park area in green; pink area shows the Hampshire area for comparison Consultations on the possible designation of a National Park in the New Forest were commenced by the Countryside Agency in 1999. In February 2002 they submitted a draft order to the Secretary of State. Following objections from seven local authorities and others, a Public Inquiry was held from October 2002 to April 2003, concluding in the proposals being endorsed with some detailed changes to the boundary of the area to be designated.
On June 28, 2004, Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael confirmed the government's intention to designate the area as a National Park, with further detailed boundary adjustments.
The proposed area of 571 km² will have a population of approximately 38,000 (and thus excluding most of the 170,256 people who live in the New Forest local government district). As well as most of the New Forest district of Hampshire, it will take in a small corner of Test Valley district around the village of Canada, and part of the Salisbury district in Wiltshire south-east of Redlynch.
External Links
| 
