Introduction

"Go where we will throughout England, there is no spot which is not boundup with our history. The New Forest is, perhaps, as good an example as could be wished of what has been said of English scenery, and its connection with our history. It remains after some eight hundred years still the New Forest. True, its boundaries are smaller, but the main features are the same as on the day when first afforested by the Conqueror."

The words of John R.. Wise, author of The New Forest: Its History and its Scenery, echo across one and a half centuries since its first publication in 1863. The Forest boundaries are still tweaked and altered today but the essential Forest remains. The illustrations in this book celebrate the things which make the New Forest unique and the contrasting images chronicle the similarities as well as the changes that have taken place over time.