A short history of the Deadwater Valley area

Animals have always had an impact upon the countryside, particularly so since man settled as a farmer in the Late Stone Age. These early farmers, using fire and their primative tools, began clearing the wild woods that covered much of northern Europe. They planted their crops, then as soil nutrients were used up they moved on, clearing new areas with those effective slash and burn techniques. The abandoned "spent" areas were then used to graze their stock, thus preventing the re-establishment of forest. By the Medieval period much of Britain had developed an open praire like landscape dominated by sheep. Among the forests that did survive were those protected as hunting preserves by the Norman kings. Both Alice Holt and Woolmer Forest owe their survival to the passing of forest laws. The surviving areas we know today are but much reduced remnents of once sizable tracts of forest. Of course the word "forest" does not necessarily mean tree covered. Much of Woolmer survived as open heathland.

Wild and semi-wild animals have played their historical part. Red Deer, Cervus elaphus, a native species, were kept on Woolmer. When Queen Anne travelled the Portsmouth Road in 1710, she was taken to a viewpoint and the whole herd of some 500 Red Deer were driven before her by the forest keepers. This viewpoint still carries the name "Queen's Bank".

Fallow Deer, Dama dama, a southern European species probably introduced by the Romans, were kept within the confines of Alice Holt Forest. Now neither species exist in the area, although the occasional Fallow Deer may wander in fromthe West Sussex Downs.

Another historical aspect that has an animal connection is place names.

It is suggested that Bordon may have derived from, a place where pigs (boars) were kept. This is further supported by the more obvious name, Hogmoor Inclosure. The sandy, impoverished soils that dominate much of the area would not have been suitable for arable farming nor for intensive animal husbandry. Pigs however do not make such demands and may have provided an alternative living. They would certainly found rich pickings such as acorns and beech mast, in the riverside woods during the autumn pannage season. The small ancient meadows that occur throughout the river valleys on the richer alluvial soils would have provided the establishment of small holdings adjacent to grazing. Some still survive as flower rich fields, an ecological reminder of the past.

The name Broxhead may have derived from the old English name for the Badger, Brock.