The Naked Man - New Forest

Sylvia Saunders

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The Naked Man provides the excuse for a circular walk in this beautiful part of the New Forest. A path from the car park takes you to a part of the disused Southampton to Dorchester railway, with some fine views of the forest from the embankment. The scenery is varied, taking you through heathland and woodland to the Naked Man. This was an oak-tree which was used for hangings.

The rising food prices of the early 19th Century saw the onset of smuggling and highway robberies. The numerous natural creeks and inlets around the coastline made life easy for the smugglers to get their contraband into the secrecy of the forest. The most popular routes were along the glen at Chewton Bunny, near New Milton and up the Beaulieu River. However if caught, both smugglers and highwaymen would be hanged from this tree. There is very little to be seen of it now.

Do remember that the New Forest has its boggy and muddy spots, so wear appropriate footwear, although this walk is usually pretty good underfoot.

England - South England - Hampshire - New Forest

Features

Ancient Monument, Butterflies, Flowers, Good for Kids, Mostly Flat, Toilets, Wildlife, Woodland
9/3/2017 - Paul and Tracy Dawson

Nice easy flat walk on good tracks and bridleways. Plenty of wildlife about, not just New Forest ponies, we saw a group of stag deer, seemingly used to people as we got pretty close to take some nice photos. The instructions were a little unclear at point 4 about coming off the railway line after the second bridge? We didn't seem to lose the embankment and ended up at the wooden structure bridge at point 6, and crossed under that. Other than that no problems. The Wilverley Inclosure carpark are charged by donation (suggested £3) at the time of writing

4/7/2015 - Sandy Bland

Just to let you know, there hasn't been any parking charges in the Wilverley car parks for at least two years.

2/25/2014 - Angela Argent

Followed this walk on 13th Feb after a day of heavy rain. Joined from the Setthorns Campsite just before point 5. We had difficulty following the instructions between points 10 and 11 and actually veered a long way from the correct path. As a result we had to cut the walk short and missed the Wilverly Enclosure section of the walk. We did however enjoy our walk much of which was in beautiful sunshine. However, the going was very wet and the following day the area between 10 and 11 would have been almost impassable due to flooding. Also, more importantly to note is that at present (as of mid. Feb) the railway line is officially closed within the area of the campsite as the old railway bridge is deemed unsafe.

9/24/2013 - Sylvia Saunders

I have re-routed the walk around the locked gate as suggested by Chris Baines. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

9/3/2013 - Chris Baines

During a recent visit to the New Forest, we decided to try out this walk, as it was not too long and seemed to encompass the main attractions to this area. All was going well until we reached the gate at waymark 11. Unfortunately, the gate was changed and padlocked shut. Not to be deterred, we climbed the gate and continued the walk. The directions basically take you in a big loop back to the Wilverley car park, but the instructions are unclear, and we found it difficult to work out the correct path to take. We did eventually find our way back to the road, and there back to the start point. I would suggest that alterations are made to the walk from waymark 12 onwards, and this would make this a really good walk.

2/20/2012 - Jill Larby

If you're new to Walkingworld this is the walk for you. Good clear instructions with photographs to back them up. Excellent for dogs and no difficult sections. It's a bit busy but then popular places in the forest always are. 9/10

12/5/2009 - Kaye Faiers

31.10.2009 A very popular area so lots of others around for a lot of the walk. So not as enjoyable as other walks.

8/7/2007 - Helena Pugsley

A very plesant walk through the New Forest. The walk starts through open countryside areas full of heather and ponies, and ends in the Forest. The carpark half way is quite a popular one and we found an icecream van which was perfect for a sunny day!

11/7/2006 - Pat Heynes

A really good walk for all ages, flat, easy to navigate and a loo half way round - thoroughly enjoyed it. A lovely sunny day but very cold, so glad it was mostly in the open. Thank you for the very good instructions

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