In the Dark Ages much of the south of England – that broad tract of land between the North and the South Downs – was dense woodland. Anderida’s Wood, known as The Weald, was described by the Venerable Bede as thick and inaccessible, the haunt of wolves, swine and deer. Part of this was called Wulfmere, the Lake of the Wolves. With the coming of the Normans much of the woodland and associated scrub became Royal Forests. The Domesday Book lists twenty-five, of which the New Forest must be the best known. But there were two even closer to home: the Royal Forest of Woolmeer (Woolmer) and the adjoining Alice Holt Forest.

Geologically they are quite different: Alice Holt stands on thick Gault clay, and hardwoods regenerate easily, whereas Woolmer lies on beds of the Lower Greensand, where regeneration is virtually impossible. In fact for a thousand years Wolmer Forest has been a mixture of rolling hills, heather covered heathland and low lying bogs.


In the Middle Ages the combined forests stretched from Alton to Rogate and beyond, and came under the wardenship of the manor of East Worldham, where King John stayed whilst hunting wild boar. Kings may not have hunted in every forest, but they guarded their rights zealously, and 1278 Edward I ordered Adam Gordon to take all those indicted of trespass at Woolmer to be held safely until otherwise ordered.

In 1578 the last of Woolmer Forest’s native trees, at Linchborough, were felled “by persons unknown.” In addition to the poor soil, regeneration was hampered by exploitation of the forest for grazing and by turf cutting. In one year, 1782, three hundred and twenty-five loads of peat and 340,000 turfs were taken, resulting in the enlargement of the forest’s most distinctive feature today, Woolmer Pond. At about the same time Alice Holt, where nearly 40,000 mature oaks were standing in 1783, up to a thousand loads of timber were felled each year for the use of the navy.

The only trees which grow prolifically on the Greensand are Birch and Scots Pine. In 1789 Gilbert White had complained that The Royal Forest of Woolmer consisted entirely of sand covered with heath and fern, without one standing tree. He must have missed the majestic oak that still stands close to the River Wey at Lindford. The great naturalist was also appalled by the stagnant waters and bogs which abounded with what he called subterraneous trees. Following the planting of 1400 acres of Scots Pine in 1808, William Cobbett wrote in his Rural Rides “What they can plant the fir for, God only knows, seeing that the country is already overstocked with the rubbish.”

Woolmer was finally enclosed in 1864, and passed into the hands of the Crown Office for Woods (later the Forestry Commission), who leased the land to the War Office. Military occupation has prevented conversion to agriculture, so that today the bogs and heaths form one of Britain’s richest heathland wildlife reserves. It is, for example, the only site in England where all twelve native amphibians and reptiles can be found together, including the rare smooth snake and the Natterjack Toad.

The area near the Pond is well-known to bird-watchers, and over 130 different species have been recorded. It is quite possible to see rarities such as the dashing little hobby hawking dragonflies in summer, or the great grey shrike during the winter. In addition there are over 500 species of wild plants and eighty different fungi.

The Ministry of Defence’s own Conservation Group co-operates closely with Hampshire County Council, the Forestry Commission, English Nature and other bodies in managing the area. It is a Grade 1 Site of Special Scientific Interest, and there is limited public access at times when no firing is taking place on the ranges. Yet how many of us know that such a valuable resource, with such a long history, stands on our very doorstep?
Tom Muckley, February 2006

This article was originally published by the Petersfield Post

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