New Forest District

Coordinates: 50°52′44″N 1°37′59″W / 50.879°N 1.633°W / 50.879; -1.633

New Forest is a local government district in Hampshire, England. It is named after the New Forest.

It was created on 1 April 1974, and was a merger of the borough of Lymington, New Forest Rural District and part of Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District.

The district is one of the most populated in England not to be a unitary authority. It was recommended by the Banham Commission to become one in 1995, but this case was vetoed by the government of the day.

Parishes and settlements

New Forest

The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire and towards east Dorset.

The name also refers to the New Forest National Park which has similar boundaries. Additionally the New Forest local government district is a subdivision of Hampshire which covers most of the Forest and some nearby areas, although it is no longer the planning authority for the National Park itself. There are many villages dotted around the area, and several small towns in the Forest and around its edges.

Prehistory

Like much of England, the site of the New Forest was once deciduous woodland, recolonised by birch and eventually beech and oak after the withdrawal of the ice sheets starting around 12,000 years ago. Some areas were cleared for cultivation from the Bronze Age onwards; the poor quality of the soil in the New Forest meant that the cleared areas turned into heathland "waste", which may have been used even then as grazing land for horses. There was still a significant amount of woodland in this part of Britain, but this was gradually reduced, particularly towards the end of the Middle Iron Age around 250–100 BC, and most importantly the 12th and 13th centuries, and of this essentially all that remains today is the New Forest.

New Forest (disambiguation)

The New Forest ia an area of forest and heathland in England

New Forest may also refer to

New Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

New Forest was a county constituency in Hampshire which elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was first created under the Redistribution of Seats Act for the 1885 general election, and was abolished for the 1918 general election, when it was partially replaced by the New Forest and Christchurch constituency.

The New Forest constituency was re-established for the 1950 general election, and existed until its abolition for the 1997 general election, when the New Forest East and New Forest West constituencies were created.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Sessional Divisions of Lymington and Ringwood, part of the Sessional Division of Romsey, the Municipal Borough of Romsey, and the parishes of Chilworth and North Shoreham.

1950-1955: The Municipal Borough of Lymington, and the Rural Districts of New Forest, and Ringwood and Fordingbridge.

1955-1974: The Municipal Borough of Lymington, the Rural District of Ringwood and Fordingbridge, and part of the Rural District of New Forest.