New Forest - Cultural References

Cultural References

There is an allusion to the foundation of the New Forest in an end-rhyming poem found in the Peterborough Chronicle's entry for 1087, The Rime of King William.

The forest forms a backdrop to numerous books. The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat, set in the time of the English Civil War. Charles Kingsley's A New Forest Ballad (1847) mentions several New Forest locations, including Ocknell Plain, Bradley Water, Burley Walk and Lyndhurst churchyard. Edward Rutherfurd's work of historical fiction, The Forest is based in the New Forest in the time period from 1099 to 2000. The forest is also a setting of the Warriors children's novel series. The New Forest and southeast England, around the 12th century, is a prominent setting in Ken Follett's novel The Pillars of the Earth. It is also a prominent setting in Elizabeth George's novel This Body of Death.

The forest has inspired diverse music and has been used as a setting for promotional music videos. The track English Curse from Frank Turner's 2011 album England Keep My Bones tells the story of King William taking the forest, and how this leads to the death of his son Rufus the Red. Rock band The Crossfire's song Glow (based on a poem about a girl lost in the Forest) uses multiple New Forest locations for the promotional video directed by Ross Vernon McDonald. Pop singer Pete Lawrie's All That We Keep uses locations along the eastern side of the New Forest for the promotional video by Alexander Brown.

In film, Jo Barnes Tidbury directed the short film Electric Dragon of Venus in the New Forest in 2004 using super 8mm film to video transfer. Teasers for the BBC series Cavegirl were shot in the vicinity of New Milton, Highcliffe, and Barton on Sea on the New Forest coastline, as well as undisclosed locations further inland.

Some Wiccans trace their origin to the New Forest coven.