The northern section of Pondhead Inclosure, which contains the bulk of the hazel coppice, is subject to a series of 18th century boundary banks which were constructed to define field boundaries within the inclosure. Thanks to Richard Reeves, we now have the names of these old fields which are shown on the map below – the only exception is Rosie Close which is named after Dave Dibden’s old dog who lies at rest in there.

As our work in Pondhead progresses we are aiming to align our hazel coppice coupes to this old field system and you will find their names being used frequently in task descriptions. All rides on the map are shown in green and streams in blue.

Click here for a printable copy

Mine House Grounds in the south west sector is an area of ancient deciduous woodland which contains many large beech trees and an interesting series of earth scrapes and marl pits.

In 1789, a Royal Commission published a report on the New Forest. The report was accompanied by the first detailed map of the Forest based on surveys undertaken in 1786/87 by Thomas Richardson, William King, Abraham Driver and William Driver. It is commonly known as “Drivers’ map”. The map below is from the 2nd Edition published in 1814 with the current Pondhead inclosure outlined. For a printable copy, click here.

The map below is an 1869 Ordnance Survey map of Pondhead Inclosure which shows the old ride network. Those coloured gold are the current hard surfaced tracks and those coloured green are grass rides that are fully open and walkable. The red line is a newer grass ride that was cut through in the 1970s to improve access for the Fire Brigade and remains open. A copy can be downloaded here.