The New Forest
| New Forest National Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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Beech trees in Mallard Wood, part of the New Forest
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| Location | Hampshire, England |
| Nearest city | Southampton |
| Coordinates | 50°52′N 1°34′W / 50.867°N 1.567°WCoordinates: 50°52′N 1°34′W / 50.867°N 1.567°W |
| Area | 566 km2 (219 sq mi) National Park New Forest: 380 km2 (150 sq mi) |
| Established | 1 March 2005 |
| Visitors | 14.75 million (est) (in 2009) |
| Governing body |
New Forest National Park Authority |
| Designated | 22 September 1993 |
New Forest National Park Authority
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily populated south east of England. It covers southwest Hampshire and extends into southeast Wiltshire and towards east Dorset.
The name also refers to the New Forest National Park which has similar boundaries. Additionally the New Forest local government district is a subdivision of Hampshire which covers most of the Forest and some nearby areas, although it is no longer the planning authority for the National Park itself.
There are many villages dotted around the area, and several small towns in the Forest and around its edges.
Like much of England, the site of the New Forest was once deciduous woodland, recolonised by birch and eventually beech and oak after the withdrawal of the ice sheets starting around 12,000 years ago. Some areas were cleared for cultivation from the Bronze Age onwards; the poor quality of the soil in the New Forest meant that the cleared areas turned into heathland "waste", which may have been used even then as grazing land for horses.
There was still a significant amount of woodland in this part of Britain, but this was gradually reduced, particularly towards the end of the Middle Iron Age around 250–100 BC, and most importantly the 12th and 13th centuries, and of this essentially all that remains today is the New Forest.
There are around 250 round barrows within its boundaries, and scattered boiling mounds, and it also includes about 150 scheduled ancient monuments. One such barrow in particular may represent the only known inhumation burial of the Early Iron Age and the only known Hallstatt culture burial in Britain; however, the acidity of the soil means that bone very rarely survives.
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Wikipedia