1 6 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



with the houses and possessions of so many 

 townships, to make them habitations for wild 

 beasts, seems a gross exaggeration, although the 

 afforestation was assuredly carried out without 

 any particular regard to the feelings of the 

 local population. The almost barren condition 

 of many portions of the poor, sandy soil make 

 it extremely improbable that this part of Hamp- 

 shire could ever have been a thickly-populated 

 and richly-cultivated tract ; and this actual physi- 

 cal evidence must be weighed against the accusa- 

 tions of the monkish records. Naturally, the 

 abbots and monks were not favourably inclined 

 to the Norman conquerors, who drove them forth 

 from their churches and monasteries. Hence a 

 true, dispassionate, unprejudiced account of the 

 royal proceedings could not be expected from 

 them ; for they were men at heart, though 

 monks in habit. 



Many of the wooded tracts in that part of 

 Hampshire had previously been appropriated by 

 the Crown in the earlier feudal times, and were 

 still in its possession; and when the reserved 

 area was enlarged and formed into one great 

 compact block, it was given the name of the 



