The Gallery
Learning about and practising commoning on the New Forest.
In medieval times a forest meant an area preserved for royal hunting, and not a wooded area as it does today.
The Agisiter ensures welfare standards of the free-roaming animals are maintained.
The ‘architects’ of the New Forest.
The New Forest landscape supports many species of plants, insects, birds and mammals. It should be valued as a reserve for nature.
One of many gatherings where Commoners can exchange news, information and knowledge.
Pannage season is part of the ancient commoning rights and a popular tradition.
Traditional management practices, particularly commoning, have conserved the ecological diversity of the Forest.
Tag Archives: Queen Victoria
New Forest: different views of the same landscape
I have really been enjoying the sepia colours of the frost-covered Forest recently; and came across a passage in a book recently that stuck a chord with me because I felt that it summed up, quite poetically, the seasons on … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged climate, Commoner, Daneshill, drainage, early spring, ecology, environment, Forestry, frost, furze, John Wise, late summer, Lords Commissioners, Mother Nature, New forest, Prior's Acre, Queen Victoria, restoration, soil, Stoney Cross, Treasury, trees, wetlands, woods
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New Forest: celebrating a Victorian Christmas
The traditions of Christmas that many of us enjoy, such as sending Christmas cards, bringing fir trees into our homes and decorating them, and eating turkey, were not observed prior to the nineteenth century. Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged Carol, Charles Dickens, Christmas, custom, decorations, festive, fir tree, Hampshire, handbells, Lyndhurst, minstrel, mulled wine, mummer, New forest, party games, Postmaster, Queen Victoria, sober, Tradition, troupe, Victorian
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New Forest: C19th daring marauder or domestic cottager?
Every so often I am passed little gems of information that shine a light into the recesses of time and illuminate the characters of those Forest dwellers long since past. One such item is from a newspaper article printed in … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged brandy, C18th, carter, cottager, deer stealer, Forester, furze, keg, marauder, New forest, peasant, pig, Queen Victoria, Royal Agricultural Society, smuggler, swine, turf, vegetable, Westminster Abbey, wood-cutter
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New Forest: four pony scheme 1890
In the last decade of the nineteenth century efforts were made to improve the breeding of the New Forest pony to fulfil a ready market for ‘the large class, daily increasing, who use good ponies in light carts instead of … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest pony
Tagged Arabian, breeding, Commoner, foal, Four Pony Scheme, mare, New forest, New Forest Pony Association, pony, purebred, Queen Victoria, stallion
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New Forest: hand fasting in a woodland glade
Recently I was invited to a hand fasting wedding ceremony that took place within a leafy glade in the New Forest*. The weather was perfect, as dappled sunlight showered through the canopy of beech, ash and oak trees. A gentle … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged Anglo Saxon, betrothal, Braveheart, bride, Celtic, ceremony, groom, hand fasting, Hollywood, Mel Gibson, Middle Ages, New forest, Oberon, Old Norse, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria, Romantic Period, sylvan, tyng the knot, wedding, William Wallace
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