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: Tradition
New Forest: autumn drifts in
A sure sign of autumn in the commoner’s calendar is the commencement of the pony drifts that take place each year. The drifts are round-ups that are conducted by the Agisters and commoners with the aim of collecting together as … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner, New Forest pony, New Forest Pony Drift
Tagged Agister, autumn, Commoner, community, district, drift, New forest, ponies, pony, pound, round-up, Tradition, Verderers
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New Forest: autumn activity, tradition and festival
Autumn is always a busy season for farmer, smallholder and commoner alike. It is also a time of ritual, tradition, and festival that reminds us of our connection to the natural or, indeed, supernatural world. Michaelmas, which signals the end … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest customs, Pannage season
Tagged autumn, cereal, Christian, Christmas, Commoner, custom, dam, deer, drift, Equinox, famine, farmer, feast, festival, foal, fortune, gods, Halloween, harvest, Harvest Festival, hay, mare, Michaelmas, moon, natural, New forest, October, pagan, Pannage, pig, pony, pork, produce, round-up, season, September, smallholder, spirits, spring, straw, supernatural, Tradition, winter
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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: Christmas customs and traditions
Christmas is a time for celebration, merry social gatherings and observing Yuletide customs. In the New Forest during times past traditional mummers plays were performed at Christmas. The plays were usually folk dramas, often featuring Father Chrismas, the heroic figure of … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest customs
Tagged Boxing Day, carol singing, custom, Father Christmas, go gooding, mummers plays, New forest, point, point-2-point, scales, snogs, squirrel hunt, squoyles, St George, tipeering, Tradition
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Autumn: the season of tradition and heritage
Autumn is a time when the traditional rural practices and cultural heritage of the New Forest come alive. The annual drifts, or pony round-ups, that were ordered by Henry VIII in 1540, are in full progress and are still conducted … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner, New Forest pony, New Forest Pony Drift, Pannage season
Tagged acorns, Agisiter, beech mast, Commoner, countryside, drift, heritage, Mast Year, New forest, Pannage, pigs, pony, round-up, Tradition
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New Forest: Kindness can kill ponies born to be free
With spring definitely beginning to establish its influence on the landscape it is getting near the time of year when my recently purchased New Forest ponies will be going back out on the Open Forest to roam free. My two … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner, New Forest pony
Tagged Agister, back up land, Commoner, couchancy, custom, farming, grazing, horses, kindness can kill, levancy, New forest, New Forest pony, ponies, Tradition, Verderer, winter heyning
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Learning to be a Commoner on the New Forest
I recently had a meeting at the Verderer’s Office in Lyndhurst to progress my status to a ‘practicing’ New Forest commoner. The Verderer’s Clerk, whom I met with, was very friendly and answered all my questions with cheerful enthusiasm. I … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest Commoner
Tagged Agister, Commoner, Culture, Medieval, Middle Ages, New forest, New Forest Commoner, New Forest pony, pony, Right of Common, Ritual, Tradition, Verderer
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