Join National Park archaeologist James Brown for this New Forest History Hit on Bronze Age Barrows.
History Hits
You can find and enjoy the rest of the New Forest History Hits using the following links:
Contributor: Nfknowledge
Building Charms or ‘Witch Marks’
There are a number of interesting symbols found etched into the buildings in the New Forest. The charms can be found on fireplace mantels, ceiling beams, and door and window frames.
The purpose of the charm varied depending on what symbol was used and where it was carved, but in general they were evil-averting symbols believed to ward off evil spirits. They are sometimes called ‘witch-marks’, but this term can be misleading as it suggests the marks were created by witches, in fact many different people from all walks of life carved these symbols.
Old houses, pubs, and churches are natural places to find apotropaic marks, and all needing similar spiritual protection. One of the most intriguing finds so far in the New Forest may be at Queens House in Lyndhurst, which adjoins the Verderers Court. Here we find a half-finished hexafoil (a good-luck charm) in the oak mantel of the library room fireplace.
– Vikki Bramshaw, author of the book ‘New Forest Folklore, Traditions & Charms
What3Words Address: ///shark.glass.playback
Calshot Castle Gun Battery
Calshot Castle is a mid 16th century stone built artillery castle with 18th and 19th century alterations, lying on Calshot Spit on the southern shore of Southampton Water. The symmetrical plan of the castle centres on a three storey gun tower or keep, separated from the surrounding curtain wall by a courtyard within which lie both accommodation buildings and later searchlight emplacements.
Fears of a French Invasion at the end of the 19th century resulted in the castle undergoing substantial modification to become an artillery fort once again after a long period of use as a Coastguard base combatting smuggling in the area. In 1894 a large quick fire gun battery was built to the south east of the castle, which was completed by 1897. this was supplemented by the installation of Defence Electric Lights installed on the castle to be used in conjuction with the battery and a boom was built across Southampton Water controlled by the castle.
A set of detailed maps and colour drawings of Calshot Castle and battery completed in 1901 can be found in the National Archives WO78/4954 some of which have been reproduced for this article.
In 1907 Calshot Castle underwent its last major modification as a fortress; the roof of the keep was strengthened to permit the installation of a pair of quick fire guns to augment the adjacent battery.
Calshot Castle and its adjacent battery were stripped of their weapons before the end of the World War I.
The battery had been completely removed by the late 1920’s when aerial photos available from Historic England through the Britain From Above website show hangers built on where the battery once stood.
The full Historic England scheduling record for Calshot Castle can be found: Here
Christmas School Treats
Christmas School Treats. Most New Forest children in Victorian and Edwardian times experienced frugal celebrations in comparison with present day celebrations. At Bartley Infant School in 1893 there were dolls, other toys, sweets and crackers and an excellent tea was provided for the children.
Colt Pixy
The horse has long been associated with old customs, magic, and witchcraft across the British Isles and Northern Europe, so it is not surprising that the same applies in the New Forest where the pony is such an important animal.
The Collepixie is a local trickster spirit that takes the shape of a New Forest Pony and entices walkers, horses, and their riders into the treacherous bogs of the New Forest. The spirit is usually described as a small ‘wild’ looking pony with a long and rough pale coat, or a sleek and handsome young pony which lures the traveller to their untimely demise. The Colt-Pixy is also associated with the ‘hag-riding’ of horses; ponies who were found in the morning sweated-up and/or with rough wind-plaits in their mane, believed to have been charmed by the Colt Pixy into a wild gallop in the night.
Many places in the New Forest are named after this spirit, in some instances indicating dangerous patches of ground or otherwise places known to be haunted by the spirit.
Overtime, ‘colt pixy’ has become ‘cold pixy’.
– Vikki Bramshaw, author of the book ‘New Forest Folklore, Traditions & Charms’
What3Words Address: ///composed.parts.enveloped
Commoning and the Historic Landscape of Hunting Forests – Abstract & Video
This paper was presented at the New Forest Knowledge Conference 2018 entitled: The Role of Commoning in the Maintenance of Landscape and Ecology: A New Forest, National and Global Perspective.
Speaker:
Graham Bathe, Open Spaces Society & Researcher
Abstract
At one time there were 900 royal hunting forests in England and Wales, perhaps covering a quarter of the land. A king could not even visit them in an average lifetime, let alone hunt in them. So, what were they really for? This talk will examine the genesis of the royal forests, the role of commoners within them, and how such rights arose and have shaped the landscape. It will consider winners and losers in royal forests, and how the rights of the king, his forest officers, the local nobility and peasant graziers all interplayed. It will seek to explode some of the myths associated with the royal forests, and explore the protection afforded to commoners and vegetation within them. Finally, it will consider how the modern values placed on the forests, of conservation, amenity and access are all dependent on maintaining ancient traditions.
The Talk
Commoning Voices: Interpreting the Real New Forest – Abstract & Video
This paper was presented at the New Forest Knowledge Conference 2018 entitled: The Role of Commoning in the Maintenance of Landscape and Ecology: A New Forest, National and Global Perspective.
Speaker:
Lyndsey Stride, Commoning Voices
Abstract
‘If you are silent someone else will tell your story.’
Commoning Voices is an interpretation project, developed to complement the Shared Forest behaviour change work. Commoners are by their nature private people and as a result are largely invisible in the general discourse about the New Forest. Whilst people talk about commoning they rarely talk about commoners. Through the project we have empowered commoners to tell their own stories in their own words. With professional support commoners have embarked on social media and people are fascinated by the Real New Forest commoning stories which are emerging. Commoning Voices is showing people who are dedicated to the commoning way of life and the important contribution it makes to the New Forest.
To know us is to love us.
The Talk
Conquest and land clearance: the Domesday account of the New Forest – Abstract
The following paper was presented at the New Forest Knowledge Conference 2017 entitled: New Forest Historical Research and Archaeology: who’s doing it? Below you will find the abstract of the paper and a video of the paper given if permission to film it was given by the speaker.
Speaker:
Katherine Blayney, University of Oxford
Abstract:
Twelfth century chroniclers, such as Orderic Vitalis and John of Worcester, claimed that the creation of the New Forest led to the destruction of houses and churches, and families being driven from the land. This paper looks at the information in Domesday Book to assess the communities that existed in the south-west of Hampshire before the creation of the New Forest, and uses ArcGIS mapping software to illustrate the transformation of the region by 1086, using the Domesday data. It draws together recent scholarship on royal forests and the New Forest in particular, and questions the extent to which the prosperity of this part of Hampshire had been affected by conquest, land clearance, and afforestation.
D-Day at Lepe – New Forest History Hit Film
Join National Park archaeologist James Brown for this New Forest History Hit on the role of Lepe Beach in D-Day.
You can find out more about the New Forest’s vital role in D-Day from Mulberry Harbour, to holding camps, road widening, advanced landing grounds, PLUTO and Embarkation by visiting our main page on D-Day in the New Forest.
History Hits
You can find and enjoy the rest of the New Forest History Hits using the following links:
Future Forest: Habitats and Hope
This colourful and vibrant display is the product of a collaborative project with local schools. In March 2023, the Learning team delivered a funded project ‘Future Forest: Habitats and Hope’ as part of the ‘Wild Escape’. The Project The Wild Escape is a major project uniting hundreds of museums and schools in a celebration of UK wildlife and creativity. Led by the Art Fund and supported by Arts Council England, The Wild Escape is an opportunity for the next generation to join in the conversation about biodiversity. Primary school children (ages 7-11) were invited to find a favourite animal in their local museum and create an artwork imagining its journey to a natural habitat.
Here at the New Forest Heritage Centre, we used the New Forest Embroidery as inspiration for the children to explore the rich wildlife that makes the New Forest their home and to imagine what a hopeful future should look like for the New Forest if we were to be mindful of biodiversity loss.
Schools worked with • The New Forest Small School, 24 pupils, aged 7-11yrs • Bartley Junior School, 19 pupils from year groups 3-5