New Forest can be found in south England and includes the largest tracts of pastures, forest and heathland that are not enclosed remaining the the southeast area of England that is densely populated. It goes all the way from southeast Wiltshire to southwest Hampshire. New Forest also refers to the New Forest National Park which shares similar boundaries. Also the local government district is a Hampshire subdivision that includes most of the forest as well as some close area.
They are no longer the planning authority for the park, however. There are many villages and small towns throughout the area. Telegraph Hill is the highest point in New Forest with a summit that reaches 550 ft above sea level. New Forest is similar to much of England in the fact that it started out at woodland that was then cleared during the Bronze Age and there after. In 1079 William I created New Forest to be a royal forest to do his private deer hunting in.
He cleared out 20 small farms and settlements to make it. Florence of Worcester claimed that the forest was known as the Great Ytene Forest before the Norman Conquest, Ytene meaning "of Jutes." The Jutes were an early tribal group of Anglo Saxon's that colonized the area of southern Hampshire. The 1086 Domesday Book first recorded the town as Nova Foresta, and it is the only book that goes into great detail about it.
In 1698 the formal commons right were set in place. The New Forest was a great source of wood for the Royal Navy to make timber out off. This lead to many plantations being developed just for this reason in the 18th Century. In 1703 the Great Storm ravaged the forest, killing roughly 4,000 oak trees. Because the plantations for the navy infringed on the rights of the Commoners leading to an Act of Parliament in 1877 that protect the forest. The Act gave historic rights of the forest to the Commoners and would not allow more than 16,000 acres to be enclosed at any one time.
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