WYLLIE LECTURE: Heart of Oak: the naval timber crisis in the reign of George III, 1760-1820.

During the eighteenth century there was a widely held belief that Britain was suffering from 'a great Scarcity of Timber' and more particularly 'that Sort of which our ships are constructed'.
The belief led to proposals for the New Forest, Hampshire, to be enclosed for timber production and the remainder to be sold by public sale. But was this modern history's first instance of 'fake news'?

Gale Gould is a third-year Doctoral student at the University of Southampton, Hampshire, with an interest in political and environmental history. She is also a practicing New Forest commoner with the Right of Pasturage, meaning she can depasture cattle, ponies and donkeys on the Open Forest.

Last updated 1:51pm on 28 April 2024