Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire: River Avon, New Forest, Fleet Pond, Basingstoke Canal, Sowley Pond, River Test, Beacon Hill

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 35. Chapters: River Avon, New Forest, Fleet Pond, Basingstoke Canal, Sowley Pond, River Test, Beacon Hill, Burghclere, Hampshire, Portsmouth Harbour, Chichester Harbour, River Blackwater, Foxlease, Beacon Hill, Warnford, Hampshire, Noar Hill, Selborne Common, River Itchen, Hampshire, Trodds Copse, Langstone Harbour, St. Catherine's Hill, Hampshire, Woolmer Forest, Southampton Water, List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire, Butser Hill, Southampton Common, Old Winchester Hill, Greywell Tunnel, Winnall Moors, Pamber Forest and Silchester Common, Cheesefoot Head, Mottisfont Bats SSSI, Galley Down Wood, Catherington Down, Boulsbury Wood, Lymington River, Hurst Castle And Lymington River Estuary, Ebblake Bog, Bourley and Long Valley. Excerpt: The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes 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. 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. Like much of England, the New Forest was originally woodland, but parts 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" that was probably used as an inter communal heath-wood facility. However it is likely there was still a significant amount of woodland in this part of Britain. The Romans called the whole area t...