Hadrian Cook
Windgather Press, £34.99
ISBN 978-1911188193
Review Spencer Gavin Smith
The New Forest is in many ways a paradox: a liminal landscape that many of us have ventured past or through and feel a connection with. The death of an English king while hunting is for many the only narrative of which they are aware, but there is a much wider story to be told about this fascinating part of Britain.
This book chronologically explores the development of the landscape of the New Forest, examining how it has been managed, in both a practical and a legal sense, from the prehistoric period onwards. Importantly, it considers ‘the big picture’, and how decisions taken in the present could have far-reaching implications decades or even centuries later.
A lack of cohesion in the map reproduction and the position of the text on the page are minor problems with the production quality of the book. These aside, this publication functions as an excellent jumping off point to explore further all the different aspects of a landscape which is still new, undiscovered, and unfamiliar to many of us.
This review appeared in CA 342.
