New Forest Nears Its Millennium

As of 2026, the New Forest in southern England is roughly 947 years old, dating to about 1079, when Norman King William the Conqueror proclaimed it a royal hunting preserve. In medieval usage, "forest" described territory governed by forest law and reserved for royal game, not simply land covered with trees. William used the preserve mainly to hunt deer and created it at the expense of more than 20 hamlets and isolated farmsteads. Recorded as Nova Foresta in the 1086 Domesday Book, the area became a national park in 2005.

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