CHAPTER VIII 



THE VERGE OF THE FOREST 



IN olden times the New Forest extended from South- 

 ampton Water on the east to the River Avon on 

 the west, and from the shore of the Solent to the borders 

 of Wiltshire. Its area is now somewhat restricted, but 

 it still covers an extent of nearly a hundred thousand 

 acres. It may be that the strip of land adjacent to 

 Southampton Water was always more or less under 

 cultivation, and therefore outside the strict boundaries 

 of the Forest. At any rate there is at Fawley, near to 

 Calshot Castle, an ancient church showing fine Norman 

 features, and another at Dibden, overlooking South- 

 ampton Water, possessing a Norman font ; and it seems 

 likely that these churches served the spiritual needs of 

 the population that occupied this strip of territory from 

 Norman times. 



Very attractive to the naturalist is this long, narrow 

 stretch of partly cultivated land lying between the 

 shore of Southampton Water and the trees and moor- 

 land of the Forest. The student of English literature 

 will doubtless call to mind that it was this well-wooded 

 district as viewed from the town of Southampton, across 

 the "narrow sea" or "swelling flood," that inspired 

 the fine hymn of the good Nonconformist, Isaac Watts, 

 in the year 1709, "There is a land of pure delight." 

 From a botanical and ornithological standpoint its 



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