| Old Hampshire Mapped
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| Cobbett's Hampshire
Transcription (94)
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1826, October
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FROM WESTON NEAR SOUTHAMPTON TO KENSINGTON
[October 1826]
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New Forest
Rose, George
Southampton Water
Oux, River
Avon, River
Lymington Haven
church
Norman Conquest
Christchurch
Lymington
Ringwood
Fordingbridge
Boldre
Fawley
Lyndhurst
Dibden
Eling
Minsted
William the Conqueror
Domesday Book
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This Forest [New Forest] has been crawled upon by favourites, and
is now much smaller than it used to be. A time may, and WILL
come, for inquiring HOW George Rose, and others, became owners
of some of the very best parts of this once-public property; a
time for such inquiry MUST come, before the people of England
will ever give their consent to a reduction of the interest of
the debt! But, this we know, that the New Forest formerly
extended, westward, from the SOUTHAMPTON WATER and the River OUX,
to the River AVON and northward, from LYMINGTON HAVEN to the
borders of WILTSHIRE. We know, that this was its utmost extent;
and we know also, that the towns of CHRISTCHURCH, LYMINGTON,
RINGWOOD, and FORDINGBRIDGE, and the villages of BOLDER, FAWLEY,
LYNDHURST, DIPDEN, ELING, MINSTED, and all the other villages
that now have churches; we know, I say (and, pray mark it), that
all these towns and villages EXISTED BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST;
because the Roman names of several of them (all the towns) are
in print, and because an account of them all is to be found in
DOMESDAY BOOK, which was made by this very WILLIAM the CONQUEROR.
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historian
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'Historians' should be careful how they make statements relative
to places which are within the scope of the reader's inspection.
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New Forest
Avon, River
Oux, River
Christchurch
Calshot Castle
Southampton Water
compass
church
William the Conqueror
population
historian
map
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The true statement is this: the New Forest, according to its
ancient state, was bounded thus: by the line, going from the
river OUX, to the river AVON, and which line there separates
Wiltshire from Hampshire; by the river AVON; by the sea from
Christchurch to Calshot Castle; by the Southampton Water; and by
the river OUX. These are the boundaries; and (as any one may,
by scale and compass, ascertain), there are, within these
boundaries, about 224 square miles, containing 143,360 acres of
land. Within these limits there are now remaining eleven parish
churches, all of which were in existence before the time of
William the Conqueror; so that, if he destroyed thirty-six parish
churches, what a populous country this must have been! There
must have been forty-seven parish churches; so that there was,
over this whole district, one parish church to every four and
three quarters square miles! Thus, then, the churches must have
stood, on an average, at within one mile and about two hundred
yards of each other! And, observe, the parishes could, on an
average, contain no more, each, than 2,966 acres of land! Not
a very large farm; so that here was a parish church to every
large farm, unless these historians are all fools and liars. I
defy any one to say that I make hazardous assertions: I have
plainly described the ancient boundaries: there are the maps:
any one can, with scale and compass, measure the area as well as
I can. ...
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