94-518: Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne , based on his son Christopher Robin Milne . The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney adaptations of the Pooh stories. Christopher Robin was based on the author A. A. Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne , who later in life became disappointed about
188-468: A boys' day school in Sloane Square , London. In May 1930, he started boarding school at Boxgrove School near Guildford . Of his time at boarding school, Milne said, "For it was now that began that love-hate relationship with my fictional namesake that has continued to this day." His father's books were popular, and they were well known by his schoolmates, which made Milne a target of bullying by
282-446: A barrier to agricultural improvement. The forest predominantly consists of lowland heathland . Of the 2,472 ha of forest common land, 55% (1365 ha) is heathland while 40% (997 ha) is mixed woodland. Lowland heathland is a particularly valuable but increasingly threatened habitat harbouring rare plant and animal species, which lends the forest importance at a European level. The survival of the forest's extensive heathlands has become all
376-614: A distinctive, iconic hilltop feature of Ashdown Forest were first planted in 1816 by the Lord of the Manor to provide habitats for blackgame . 20th-century plantings comprise Macmillan Clump near Chelwood Gate (commemorating former British prime-minister Harold Macmillan , who lived at Birch Grove, on the edge of the forest at Chelwood Gate), Kennedy Clump (commemorating a visit to the area by John F. Kennedy , when he stayed with Macmillan), Millennium Clump and Friends Clump, planted in 1973 to mark
470-409: A few hours at a time", and "we lived together in a large nursery on the top floor." Milne's father explained that "Rosemary" was the intended name of their firstborn child, if it was a girl. Realizing that it was going to be a boy, he decided on "Billy", but without the intention of actually christening him William. Instead, each parent chose a name; hence his legal name was Christopher Robin. Within
564-580: A few individual old trees, especially beech, that mark former boundaries. The two most common forms of forest woodland are oak woods on acid brown earth soils, including hazel and chestnut coppice (62% of the total woodland area), and birch woods with oak in degenerating heathlands (27%). Alder trees growing in wet and waterlogged peaty soils account for about 1% of the woodland, while birch and willow trees growing in wet areas each account for less than 1%. Beechwoods growing on acid brown earth soils account for another 3%. The clumps of Scots pine that form such
658-425: A first cousin on his mother's side and daughter of the translator Aubrey de Sélincourt , and they married on 24 July 1948. In 1951, he and his wife moved to Dartmouth , and opened The Harbour Bookshop on 25 August. This turned out to be a success, although his mother had thought the decision odd, as Milne did not seem to like "business", and as a bookseller he would have to meet fans of his father's work. The shop
752-732: A flowering season lasting from July well into October and is found in about a dozen colonies. Gorse ( Ulex europaeus ), silver birch ( Betula pendula ), pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ) and Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ) are scattered across the heath, in places forming extensive areas of secondary woodland and scrub. Older woodlands consist of beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) and sweet chestnut ( Castanea sativa ). These contain bluebell ( Hyacinthinoides non-scripta ), bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus ), hard fern ( Blechnum spicant ) and honeysuckle ( Lonicera periclymenum ) with birds-nest orchid ( Neottia nidus-avis ) and violet helleborine ( Epipactis purpurata ) found particularly under beech. In
846-406: A fruitless cul-de-sac. This was an unhappy and directionless period, sometimes referred to as his 'Downwards' turn. Of this idle interlude he commented "How hateful it is to have too little to do." But he entered an altogether more personally fulfilling chapter of his life: marriage, and rather strangely, as a successful bookshop owner. On 11 April 1948, Milne became engaged to Lesley de Sélincourt,
940-549: A harsh and much resented supplement to the common law that was designed to protect, for the king's benefit, the beasts of the chase, such as deer and wild boar, and the vegetation (the vert ) that provided them with food and cover. Forest law prescribed severe penalties, particularly in the 11th and 12th centuries, for those who transgressed, and for a time it governed large parts of the English countryside, including entire counties such as Surrey and Essex. However, while forest land
1034-563: A horseshoe shape around Ashdown Forest, which has influenced the historical geography of iron-working around the forest. Like the rest of the Weald, Ashdown lay beyond the southern limits of Quaternary ice sheets, but the whole area was subject at times to a severe periglacial environment that has contributed to its geology and shaped its landforms. Ashdown Forest is one of the largest single continuous blocks of lowland heath, semi-natural woodland and valley bog in south east England. Its geology
SECTION 10
#17327650031781128-555: A medieval hunting forest created soon after the Norman conquest of England. By 1283 the forest was fenced in by a 23 miles (37 km) pale enclosing an area of 20 square miles (52 km ; 13,000 acres; 5,200 ha). Thirty-four gates and hatches in the pale, still remembered in place names such as Chuck Hatch and Chelwood Gate, allowed local people to enter to graze their livestock, collect firewood, and cut heather and bracken for animal bedding. The forest continued to be used by
1222-624: A medieval hunting forest. Red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), an integral part of Wealden culture since as far back as 6,000-8,000 years ago, and fallow deer ( Dama dama )—brought by the Romans from mainland Europe—, present in Sussex in the Romano-British era and particularly favoured by the Normans for hunting, were both commonly hunted in the forest until the 17th century; around that time,
1316-767: A pretty village, called Forest-Row , and then, on the road to Uckfield , you cross Ashurst [ sic ] Forest, which is a heath, with here and there a few birch scrubs upon it, verily the most villainously ugly spot I saw in England. This lasts you for five miles (8.0 km), getting, if possible, uglier and uglier all the way, till, at last, as if barren soil, nasty spewy gravel, heath and even that stunted, were not enough, you see some rising spots, which instead of trees, present you with black, ragged, hideous rocks. The predominantly open, heathland landscape of Ashdown Forest described so vividly by Cobbett in 1822 and later immortalised by E.H. Shepard in his illustrations for
1410-585: A real Canadian black bear named Winnipeg that Milne saw at London Zoo , eventually became the inspiration for the Winnie-the-Pooh character. Milne spoke self-deprecatingly of his own intellect, "I may have been on the dim side", or "not very bright". He also described himself as being "good with his hands" and possessing a Meccano set. His self-descriptions included "girlish", since he had long hair and wore "girlish clothes", and being "very shy and 'un-self-possessed'". An early childhood friend
1504-647: Is Old Lodge Local Nature Reserve , most of which is managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust . Though not a statutory designation, Ashdown Forest forms part of the Western Ouse Streams and Ashdown Forest Biodiversity Opportunity Area , and is thus a subject of the Sussex Biodiversity Action Plan , which aims to focus conservation bodies, local government and statutory agencies on work to conserve and enhance
1598-421: Is a grown adult, who sees his old friends again. However, due to leaving them for college five years ago, they are feral, and go on a rampage. He is depicted as a victim rather than a killer like his friends, because of the torture his former friends did to him. Of the nine main characters, Christopher Robin has the most voice actors. He has been voiced by the following: Reitherman, Hoskins, Gross and Tiesler are
1692-646: Is a major influence on its biology and ecology. The underlying sandstone geology of the Ashdown Sands, when combined with a local climate that is generally wetter, cooler and windier than the surrounding area owing to the forest's elevation, which rises from 200 feet (61 m) to over 700 feet (210 m) above sea level, gives rise to sandy, largely podzolic soils that are characteristically acid, clay, and nutrient-poor. On these poor, infertile soils have developed heathland, valley mires and damp woodland. These conditions have never favoured cultivation and have been
1786-460: Is a popular destination for bird-watchers. The forest contains four main bird habitats: The forest supports a rich invertebrate fauna, with many heathland specialities. Half of Britain's 46 breeding species of damselflies and dragonflies (the Odonata ) have been recorded, the scarcer among them being the black darter , brilliant emerald and small red damselfly . It is also an important home for
1880-581: Is considered to be a cheaper and more effective way of restoring and maintaining heathland than the use of mowing machinery. Sheep (which are a recent introduction to the forest, having only become 'commonable' since 1900 ) are particularly useful because they graze scrub and in places that are difficult to mow. In 1996 the Secretary of State for the Environment gave permission for a 550 hectares (1,400 acres) fenced enclosure, representing about one-third of
1974-460: Is dominant over large areas. On the damper heath, cross-leaved heath ( Erica tetralix ) becomes dominant with deer-grass ( Trichophorum cespitosum . The heath and bracken communities form a mosaic with acid grassland dominated by purple moor-grass ( Molinia caerulea ) mingled with many specialised heathland plants such as petty whin ( Genista anglica ), creeping willow ( Salicaceae sp.) and heath spotted orchid ( Dactylorhiza maculata ). In
SECTION 20
#17327650031782068-519: Is famous for serving as inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood , the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories written by A. A. Milne . Milne lived on the northern edge of the forest and took his son, Christopher Robin , walking there. The artist E. H. Shepard drew on the landscapes of Ashdown Forest as inspiration for many of the illustrations he provided for the Pooh books. Ashdown Forest notably lacks any significant settlements within
2162-573: Is growing up. In the final chapter, the inhabitants of the Forest throw him a farewell party after learning he must leave them soon. It is implied that he will attend boarding school; Christopher Robin Milne, for whom the stories were originally developed, left home to attend Stowe School at age 9. In addition to both Pooh books, the character was immortalized in other works by A. A. Milne including two books of poems: When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are Six (1927). An arrangement of one of
2256-584: Is noted (the illustration to this latter poem, from Now We Are Six , also features the cottage at Cotchford Farm). To Milne's parents, Darlington was, and remained to her death, the daughter that Milne wasn't, and Daphne long held fond hopes that Darlington and Milne would marry. In 1925, Milne's father bought Cotchford Farm , near the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex . Though still living in London,
2350-465: Is of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is probably derived from the personal name of an individual or people called Æsca , combined with dūn , Old English for hill or down, hence Æsca's dūn —the hill of Æsca. It has no connection with ash trees , which have never been common given the soil conditions. The second word, forest , is a term here used by the Normans to denote land that was subject to forest law ,
2444-665: Is shaped, roughly speaking, like an inverted triangle, some 7 miles (11 km) from east to west and the same distance from north to south. The boundary of the forest can be defined in various ways, but the most important is that given by the line of the medieval pale, which goes back to its origins as a hunting forest. The pale, first referred to in a document of 1283, consisted of a ditch and bank surmounted by an oak palisade . 23 miles (37 km) in length, it enclosed an area of some 20.5 square miles (5,300 ha). The original embankment and ditch, albeit now rather degraded and overgrown, can still be discerned in places today. In 1693
2538-533: Is someone Pooh and the others look up to. In the book illustrations, his house appears as a hollow tree with a door at the top of the forest. Since 1966, Disney has released numerous features starring Winnie-the-Pooh and related characters. Christopher Robin appears in all of the Disney adaptations except for Kingdom Hearts , Welcome to Pooh Corner , Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh , Springtime with Roo , and Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie . But in most of
2632-414: Is still the same person as before and is happy to share more good times with his friends all summer. At the end of the summer, he has to leave again for another school year, but the animals know they will see him again. Christopher Robin is cheerful, compassionate, adventurous, fun-loving, imaginative, and helpful. Despite being a child, he is much wiser and more mature than many of the other characters, and
2726-578: Is the largest area with open public access in South East England . The ecological importance of Ashdown Forest's heathlands is reflected by its designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest , as a Special Protection Area for birds, and as a Special Area of Conservation for its heathland habitats. It is part of the European Natura 2000 network as it hosts some of Europe's most threatened species and habitats. Ashdown Forest
2820-504: Is the oldest Cretaceous geological formation that crops out in the Weald. The Ashdown Formation has been exposed by the erosion, over many millions of years, of a geological dome, the Weald-Artois Anticline , a process which has left the dome's oldest layers, the resistant sandstones that form its central east–west axis, as a high forest ridge that includes Ashdown, St. Leonard's, and Worth forests. This forest ridge,
2914-472: The Kingdom Hearts video game series ; in this continuity, the Winnie-the-Pooh book belongs to Merlin and Christopher Robin's role is played out mostly by Sora . He only appears in two episodes of My Friends Tigger and Pooh but in the whole series, he is absent and is replaced by his younger friend Darby, a feisty red-headed girl who is the main protagonist and hosts the series. His appearance
Christopher Robin - Misplaced Pages Continue
3008-432: The Ashdown Forest , Christopher Robin has brown hair. He wears a yellow polo shirt with white collar and trim on his short sleeves, blue shorts, white socks and black Mary Jane shoes (or sometimes red sneakers). On several appropriate occasions, he plays a snare drum . The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh re-imagines him as an American boy living in the suburban house 100 Acre Road whose backyard connects directly to
3102-577: The High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . It is situated 30 miles (48 km) south of London in the county East Sussex , England. Rising to an elevation of 732 feet (223 m) above sea level, its heights provide expansive vistas across the heavily wooded hills of the Weald to the chalk escarpments of the North Downs and South Downs on the horizon. Ashdown Forest originated as
3196-708: The Royal Engineers . He was commissioned in July 1942, and was posted to the Middle East and then to Italy, where he was wounded as a platoon commander the following year. After the war he returned to Cambridge University and completed a degree in English. At 26, he was a very well-educated ex-army officer from a privileged family. He spent a period in London trying to readjust to "civvy street" by finding gainful employment, but his social status worked against him. He explored several career avenues, each one ending in
3290-408: The golden-ringed dragonfly , which flies from mid-June to early September. Of the forest's 34 species of butterfly, the most spectacular, the purple emperor , can be hard to see. Another speciality, the silver-studded blue , is by contrast plentiful, with the main food plants of its caterpillars being gorses and heathers. Deer have been a major feature of Ashdown Forest, at least since its days as
3384-463: The 1820s and depicted by Shepard in the 1920s changed dramatically soon after the end of World War II when the commoners' exploitation of the forest - exercising their rights of common to graze livestock, cut bracken, etc. - declined to very low levels. The result was a regeneration of woodland and the loss of heathland: the proportion of heathland in the forest fell from 90% in 1947 to 60% in 2007. The forest conservators have now committed to maintaining
3478-491: The 400 ha on the forest has been mown twice a year since 2000. Large areas of the highly invasive Rhododendron ponticum have been cleared, initially funded by the Forestry Commission , and now carried on by local volunteers. Birch and other tree saplings are cut down in the winter. The conservators have taken steps to promote livestock grazing on the forest as part of their heathland management policy. Grazing
3572-532: The Ashdown Forest to help tackle a variety of fast-growing botanical species, and thus keep the heathland habitat balanced by preventing scrub encroachment. The Exmoor ponies are not truly domesticated; rather, they are managed by the Ashdown Forest which keeps them enclosed within large areas. Ashdown Forest's landscape in the early 19th century was famously described by William Cobbett : At about three miles (4.8 km) from Grinstead you come to
3666-711: The Atlantic-facing western coastal regions of Britain. Uncommon bryophytes such as the liverwort Nardia compressa and a range of ferns including the mountain fern Oreopteris limbosperma and the hay-scented buckler fern Dryopteris aemula thrive in this “Atlantic” microclimate. The damming of streams, digging for marl, and quarrying have produced several large ponds containing, particularly in former marl pits, localised rafts of broad-leaved pondweed Potamogeton natans , beds of bulrush (reedmace) Typha latifolia and water horsetail Equisetum fluviatile . Woodland covers nearly 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of
3760-867: The Cretaceous period as a result of the Alpine orogeny . Ashdown Forest is itself situated on a local dome, the Crowborough Anticline. Much of the iron ore that provided the raw material for the iron industry of Ashdown Forest was obtained from the Wadhurst Clay , which is sandwiched between the Ashdown Sands and Tunbridge Wells Sands (the latter encircles Ashdown Forest forming an extensive district of hilly, wooded countryside). Outcrops of Wadhurst Clay , which occurs as both nodules and in tabular masses, are distributed discontinuously in
3854-547: The HLS scheme. A flock of Hebridean sheep, ultimately 300 in number, was guided by a shepherd and an assistant to graze unenclosed areas of the forest heathland. Among the advantages of this approach were that no fencing was required and grazing could be targeted on the most overgrown areas; among the disadvantages were its high labour intensity, high costs and low impact. The conservators have now begun using temporary electric fencing, which can be moved around to isolate different parts of
Christopher Robin - Misplaced Pages Continue
3948-598: The Hundred Acre Wood. His mother also appears in the series and Robin is apparently their surname in that continuity. Some of these elements were reused for The Book of Pooh , but the animals are once again characters in Christopher Robin's storybook. His hollow tree house does not appear from both series. Christopher Robin has appeared on House of Mouse with his friends, but he is the only main Winnie-the-Pooh character that does not appear in
4042-579: The SSSI, Hindleap Warren, Broadstone Warren and Old Lodge, which covers 76 hectares (0.3 sq mi). The SPA covers 3,207 hectares (12.4 sq mi) while the SAC covers 2,729 hectares (10.5 sq mi). Ashdown Forest is the largest public access space in south east England, and the largest area of open, uncultivated countryside. A 2008 visitor survey estimated that at least 1.35 million visits are made each year. The most common reason given for visiting
4136-479: The Winnie-the-Pooh stories is essentially man-made: in the absence of human intervention, heathlands such as Ashdown's are quickly taken over by scrub and trees. Ashdown's heathlands date back to medieval times, and quite possibly earlier. Two elements were important in shaping this landscape: the local population of commoners, who exploited the forest's resources over many centuries; and the iron industry of
4230-519: The Year of the Tree. Important populations of heath and woodland birds are found on the forest, notably Dartford warbler Sylvia undata (the forest has all-year resident populations of this, Britain's scarcest heathland bird species, which has seen a resurgence since the early 1990s) and European nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus . Because of this, it has been designated as a Special Protection Area and it
4324-572: The cartoons, he is only a supporting character, sometimes only appearing in a few scenes or episodes; in Pooh's Heffalump Movie , he only appears during the credits. His personality is virtually the same as in the books, but he attends day school instead of boarding school . Christopher Robin's bedroom, but not Christopher Robin himself, appears in live-action opening sequences. In the world within his storybooks, his house appears just as it does in E. H. Shepard 's illustrations. An English boy living in
4418-434: The character as a child. In this film adaptation, the now adult Christopher is director of efficiency at a luggage company, and Pooh ultimately helps him to devise a plan to significantly decrease the company's expenditures. In the 2023 horror film, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey , Christopher Robin was played by Nikolai Leon with Frederick Dallaway as young Christopher Robin. Like the 2018 Disney film , Christopher Robin
4512-544: The condition, including the Clare Milne Trust. She died in 2012, at the age of 56, of a heart abnormality. Milne is portrayed by Will Tilston and Alex Lawther in Goodbye Christopher Robin , a 2017 film which was "inspired by" his relationship with his father. Ashdown Forest Ashdown Forest is an ancient area of open heathland occupying the highest sandy ridge-top of
4606-447: The conservators, treat the forest as synonymous and co-terminous with this residual common land; this can lead to confusion: according to one authority " when people speak of Ashdown Forest, they may mean either a whole district of heaths and woodland that includes many private estates to which there is no public access, or they may be talking of the [common land] where the public are free to roam ". Most of today's common land lies within
4700-422: The family would spend weekends, Easter, and summer holidays there. As Milne described it, "So there we were in 1925 with a cottage, a little bit of garden, a lot of jungle, two fields, a river, and then all the green, hilly countryside beyond, meadows and woods, waiting to be explored." The place became the inspiration for fiction, with Milne stating, "Gill's Lap that inspired Galleon's Lap, the group of pine trees on
4794-475: The family, he was referred to as "Billy Moon", a combination of his nickname and his childhood mispronunciation of Milne. From 1929 onwards, he would simply be referred to as Christopher, and he later stated that it was "the only name I feel to be really mine." On his first birthday on 21 August 1921, Milne received an Alpha Farnell teddy bear , which he later named Edward. Eeyore was a Christmas present in 1921 and Piglet arrived undated. Edward, along with
SECTION 50
#17327650031784888-454: The forest alongside the many deer that were kept for aristocratic sport and the provision of venison . Note that forest does not have the modern meaning of "heavily wooded". Medieval hunting forests like Ashdown consisted of a mixture of heath, woodland and other habitats in which a variety of game could flourish, and where deer in particular could find both open pasture for browsing and woodland thickets for protective cover. Ashdown Forest
4982-466: The forest assumed its present-day shape when just over half its then 13,991 acres (5,662 ha) was assigned for private enclosure and improvement, while the remainder, about 6,400 acres (2,600 ha), was set aside as common land. Much of the latter was distributed in a rather fragmentary way around the periphery of the forest close to existing settlements and smallholdings ( see map ). Many present-day references to Ashdown Forest, including those made by
5076-484: The forest has grown sharply in the last three decades, in-common with deer herds elsewhere in England, and they now number in their thousands. Also present are roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus ), the only native deer still roaming the forest, and two recently-introduced Asian species, the "barking deer", or muntjac ( Muntiacus muntjak ), and the sika ( Cervus nippon ). Many deer are involved in collisions with motor vehicles on local roads, especially as they move around
5170-461: The forest to feed at dawn and dusk, and many are killed. In 2009, forest rangers dealt with 244 deer casualties, compared with 266 the year before; however, this is likely to be a significantly low estimate, as the rangers cannot deal with all the accidents that occur. The forest conservators have identified a need to reduce the deer population and have begun working with neighbouring private landowners on measures to cull them. Exmoor ponies graze on
5264-427: The forest's 1,500 ha of heathland, to be created in the south and west chases to allow commoners to graze their livestock in safety. The enclosure of the common lands of the forest with fencing to enable grazing was and remains somewhat controversial with some members of the public. Exploring alternatives to enclosure, the conservators undertook a close-shepherded grazing pilot project from 2007 to 2010 with funding from
5358-467: The forest, 40% of its area Most of the woodland on the common land of the forest is young and contains few older trees; there is little ancient woodland , defined as woodland that has been continuously wooded since 1600. Almost all the latter that exists within the medieval forest pale is found on land that was set aside in the 1693 division of the forest for private ownership and exploitation. Some wooded ghylls however do contain older trees and there are
5452-555: The forest, which flourished in the 16th century. The commoners played an important role in maintaining the forest as a predominantly heathland area by exercising their rights of common to exploit its resources in a variety of ways: by grazing livestock such as pigs and cattle, which suppressed the growth of trees and scrub; by cutting trees for firewood and for other uses; by cutting dead bracken, fern and heather for use as bedding for their livestock in winter; by periodically burning areas of heathland to maintain pasture; and so on. At times,
5546-515: The habitats and species of Sussex. The areas covered by the statutory designations are not identical to and are generally larger than the area of forest administered by the conservators. The SSSI covers 3,144 hectares (12.1 sq mi), mainly because, in addition to the forest land covered by the conservators, it also includes the Ministry of Defence's Pippingford Park Dry Training Area, accounting for 11% (346 hectares (1.3 sq mi)) of
5640-508: The heathland, to enable the flock to graze without requiring close supervision by a shepherd. Ashdown Forest is an area of European ecological importance. It is designated by the UK government as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Nature Conservation Review site. It lies within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . An area of 103 hectares
5734-621: The high Greensand Ridge escarpment that rises prominently to the north, and, on the horizon, the chalk escarpments of the North Downs and South Downs (see diagram, right). The Ashdown Formation is the lowest (oldest) layer of the Hastings Beds , which comprise (in sequence) the Ashdown Formation , Wadhurst Clay Formation , and Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation , and which are now thought to be predominantly fluvial flood-plain deposits. The Hastings Beds in turn represent
SECTION 60
#17327650031785828-456: The iron mills, and the forest digged for Irne [iron] by which man and beast be in jeopardy". This ravaging of the forest's woodlands was later mitigated by the adoption of coppice management for the provision of sustainable supplies of charcoal. The impact of the industry on the forest, although significant, was however ultimately short-lived, as it died out in the 17th century. The open heathland landscape of Ashdown Forest described by Cobbett in
5922-530: The land for which they have statutory responsibility, the area of Ashdown Forest is 2,472 hectares (9.5 sq mi). The underlying geology of Ashdown Forest is mostly sandstone, predominantly the Lower Cretaceous Ashdown Formation . This forms a layer varying from 500 to 700 feet (150 to 210 m) thick, consists of fine-grained, silty interbedded sandstones and siltstones with subordinate amounts of shale and mudstone. It
6016-409: The large boundary defined by its medieval pale. There are however a number of villages situated on the edge of the forest adjacent to the pale or close to it. These include Nutley , Fairwarp, Danehill and Maresfield to the south and Forest Row and Hartfield to the north. The town of Crowborough abuts the forest on its eastern side while the town of East Grinstead lies 3 miles (4.8 km) to
6110-545: The late 15th and 16th centuries, following the introduction of the blast furnace in the 1490s, which led to a huge demand for charcoal. For example, large-scale tree cutting took place in the south of the forest to feed the iron works of the cannon maker Ralph Hogge . The loss of trees caused such concern for the Crown that as early as 1520 it was lamented that "much of the King's woods were cut down and coled [turned into charcoal] for
6204-433: The medieval pale, although one tract, near Chelwood Beacon , acquired quite recently by the forest conservators, extends outside. The conservators have acquired other tracts in recent years as suitable opportunities have arisen, for example at Chelwood Vachery , as part of a policy to extend the amount of land that they regulate and protect within the pale. According to the definition used by the conservators, which relates to
6298-473: The monarchy and nobility for hunting into Tudor times, including notably Henry VIII , who had a hunting lodge at Bolebroke Castle , Hartfield and who courted Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle . Ashdown Forest has a rich archaeological heritage. It contains much evidence of prehistoric human activity, with the earliest evidence of human occupation dating back to 50,000 years ago. There are important Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Romano-British remains. The forest
6392-657: The more important when set against the large-scale loss of English lowland heathland over the last 200 years; within the county of East Sussex , heathland has shrunk by 50% over the last 200 years, and most of what remains is in Ashdown Forest. Ashdown Forest is noted for its heathland plants and flowers, such as the marsh gentian , but it also provides other distinctive or unusual plant habitats. The extensive areas of dry heath are dominated by ling ( Calluna vulgaris ), bell heather ( Erica cinerea ) and dwarf gorse ( Ulex minor ). Important lichen communities include Pycnothelia papillaria . Common bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum )
6486-512: The most prominent part of the High Weald , is surrounded by successive concentric bands of younger sandstones and clays, and finally chalk. These form hills or vales depending on their relative resistance to erosion. Consequently, what the viewer sees when looking north or south across the Weald from the heights of Ashdown Forest is a series of successively younger geological formations. These include heavily wooded lowlands formed on Weald Clay ,
6580-596: The north-west. Ashdown Forest does not seem to have existed as a distinct entity before the Norman Conquest of 1066, nor is it mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The area that was to become known as Ashdown Forest was merely an unidentified part of the Forest of Pevensel, a Norman creation within the Rape of Pevensey that had been carved out of a much larger area of woodland, the Weald , which itself
6674-426: The numbers of livestock being grazed on the forest was very large: at the end of the 13th century the commoners were turning out 2,000-3,000 cattle, alongside the 1,000-2,000 deer that were also present, while according to a 1293 record the forest was being grazed by more than 2,700 swine. A second important factor was the heavy depletion of the forest's woodlands by the local iron industry, which grew very rapidly in
6768-541: The oldest part of the series of Cretaceous geological formations that make up the Weald-Artois Anticline, comprising (in sequence, from oldest to youngest) the Hastings Beds , Weald Clay , Lower Greensand , Gault , Upper Greensand, and Chalk. The anticline, which stretches from South East England into northern France, and is breached by the English Channel , was created soon after the end of
6862-524: The only actors to use an American accent for the character. All others use received pronunciation . Christopher Robin Milne Christopher Robin Milne (21 August 1920 – 20 April 1996) was an English author and bookseller and the only child of author A. A. Milne . As a child, he was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father's Winnie-the-Pooh stories and in two books of poems . Christopher Robin Milne
6956-428: The other children. Milne later described the poem " Vespers " – about the toddler Christopher Robin saying his evening prayers – as "the one [work] that has brought me over the years more toe-curling, fist-clenching, lip-biting embarrassment than any other." Milne earned a mathematics scholarship at Stowe School , where he was relentlessly bullied, and wrote: "It seemed to me almost that my father had got to where he
7050-677: The other side of the main road that became the Six Pine Trees, the bridge over the river at Posingford that became Pooh-sticks Bridge," and a nearby "ancient walnut tree" became Pooh's House. His toys, Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, plus two invented characters, Owl and Rabbit , came to life through Milne and his mother, to the point where his father could write stories about them. Kanga , Roo , and Tigger were later presents from his parents. Of this time, Milne states, "I loved my Nanny, I loved Cotchford. I also quite liked being Christopher Robin and being famous." When his nanny departed when he
7144-437: The poems, Buckingham Palace , was first recorded by Ann Stephens in July 1941. Petula Clark released a recording of it in 1953 to coincide with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II . In David Benedictus 's 2009 authorized sequel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood , Christopher Robin was at school, but during the summer break he returns to the forest for a visit with a lot of knowledge to share. Though slightly older, he
7238-551: The proportion of heathland at 60% and to returning it to 'favourable' condition. Their efforts are being funded under a ten-year Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement with Natural England ; signed in August 2006, it is the largest such scheme in South East England. The conservators have taken various steps to prevent natural regeneration of woodland. Regular mowing of bracken is carried out: an area of 266 ha out of
7332-491: The red deer had disappeared completely from the forest while fallow deer numbers had sharply declined. The depletion of the woodlands (which provided deer with cover), the deterioration of the forest pale (which allowed them to escape) and the depredations of poachers were all factors in their decline. Fallow deer returned in the 20th century, probably escapees from the Sackville estate, Buckhurst Park . The population roaming
7426-429: The shadow of my father and of Christopher Robin, and to my surprise and pleasure I found myself standing beside them in the sunshine able to look them both in the eye". Following her husband's death, Daphne Milne had little further contact with her son, did not see him during the last 15 years of her life and refused to see him on her deathbed. A few months after his father's death in 1956, Milne's daughter Clare
7520-513: The things that currently interested him. He disliked the idea of Winnie-the-Pooh being commercialised. Milne, who lived with myasthenia gravis for some years, died in his sleep on 20 April 1996 in Totnes , Devon , at a hospital , aged 75. Following his death, he was described by one newspaper as a "dedicated atheist". Milne had one child, a daughter named Clare, who had cerebral palsy . In adult life, she led several charitable campaigns for
7614-439: The use of his name. Christopher Milne wrote in one of a series of autobiographical works: "It seemed to me almost that my father had got where he was by climbing on my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and left me nothing but empty fame," One of the poems, " Vespers " – which describes young Christopher Robin saying his evening prayers – was said by Christopher Milne as "the one work that has brought me over
7708-449: The wet areas are found several species of sphagnum moss together with bog asphodel ( Narthecium ossifragum ), common cotton-grass ( Eriophorum angustifolium ) and specialities such as marsh gentian ( Gentiana pneumonanthe ), ivy-leaved bell flower ( Wahlenbergia hederacea ), white-beaked sedge ( Rhynchospora alba ) and marsh club moss ( Lycopodiella inundata ). The marsh gentian, noted for its bright blue trumpet-like flowers, has
7802-414: The woodlands can also be found wood anemone ( Anemone nemorosa ) and common wood sorrel ( Oxalis acetosella ). Forest streams, often lined by alder trees such as Alnus glutinosa , and grey sallow Salix cinerea , birch and oak, cut through the soft sandstone forming steep-sided valleys (ghylls) that are sheltered from winter frosts and remain humid in summer, creating conditions more familiar in
7896-447: The years more toe-curling, fist-clenching, lip-biting embarrassment than any other." Christopher Robin appears in Milne's poems and in the two books: Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). In the books he is a young boy and one of Winnie-the-Pooh 's best friends. His other friends are Eeyore , Kanga and Roo , Rabbit , Piglet , Owl , and Tigger . In the second book, there are hints that Christopher Robin
7990-471: Was Anne Darlington, also an only child, who, as Milne described it, was for his parents "the Rosemary that I wasn't." Darlington had a toy monkey, Jumbo, as dear to her as Pooh was to Milne. Several poems by Milne's father, and several illustrations by E. H. Shepard , feature Darlington and Milne, notably "Buttercup Days", in which their relative hair colours (brown and golden blond) and their mutual affection
8084-592: Was a part of the prehistoric forest cover of the British landmass, the British wildwood . The first recorded reference to Ashdown Forest by name is in the period 1100–1130, when Henry I confirmed the right of monks to use a road across the forest of "Essessdone", a right which the monks claimed to have held since the Conquest. "Ashdown Forest" consists of words from two different languages. The first word, Ashdown ,
8178-551: Was born and diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy . Milne gave the original stuffed animals that inspired the Pooh characters to the books' editor, who in turn donated them to the New York Public Library ; Marjorie Taylor recounts in her book Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them how many were disappointed at this, and Milne had to explain that he preferred to concentrate on
8272-549: Was born at 11 Mallord Street , Chelsea, London (renumbered as 13 Mallord Street in 1924), on 21 August 1920, to author Alan Alexander Milne and Daphne ( née de Sélincourt) Milne. Milne speculated that he was an only child because "he had been a long time coming." From an early age, Milne was cared for by his nanny Olive "Nou" Rand Brockwell, until May 1930, when he entered boarding school . Milne called her Nou , and stated "Apart from her fortnight's holiday every September, we had not been out of each other's sight for more than
8366-482: Was by climbing upon my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and had left me with the empty fame of being his son." He went up to Trinity College, Cambridge , in 1939. When World War II started, Milne left his studies and tried to join the British Army , but failed the medical examination. His father used his influence to allow Milne to join as a sapper in the 2nd Training Battalion of
8460-562: Was closed by its most recent owners in September 2011. Milne occasionally visited his father when the elder Milne became ill. After his father died, Milne never returned to Cotchford Farm. His mother eventually sold the farm and moved back to London after disposing of his father's personal possessions. Milne, who did not want any part of his father's royalties , decided to write a book about his childhood. As Milne describes it, that book, The Enchanted Places , "combined to lift me from under
8554-412: Was legally set aside by the crown for hunting and protected its sovereign right to all wild animals, commoners were still able to exercise—within strict limits—many of their traditional or customary rights, for example, to pasture their swine in the woods or collect wind-blown branches and trees. Thus, in the 13th century, the commoners of Ashdown were recorded as grazing large numbers of swine and cattle on
8648-480: Was nine, Milne's relationship with his father grew. As he put it, "For nearly ten years I had clung to Nanny. For nearly ten more years I was to cling to him, adoring him as I had adored Nanny, so that he too became almost a part of me ..." When Milne eventually wrote his memoirs, he dedicated them to Olive Rand Brockwell: "Alice to millions, but Nou to me". At age six, Milne and Darlington attended Miss Walters' school. On 15 January 1929, Milne started at Gibbs,
8742-596: Was the centre of a nationally important iron industry on two occasions, during the Roman occupation of Britain and in the Tudor period when, in 1496, England's first blast furnace was built at Newbridge, near Coleman's Hatch, marking the beginning of Britain's modern iron and steel industry. In 1693, more than half the forest was taken into private hands, with the remainder set aside as common land. The latter today covers 9.5 square miles (25 km ; 6,100 acres; 2,500 ha) and
8836-539: Was updated for the 2011 film . In the Doc McStuffins crossover special "Into the Hundred Acre Wood!", Christopher Robin visits Doc's toy hospital searching for Pooh, who has been admitted as a patient. Christopher Robin and Doc bond through their shared ability to talk to toys. The character is voiced by Oliver Bell . Ewan McGregor played a grown-up version of the character in the 2018 Disney live-action film Christopher Robin , while Orton O'Brien portrays
#177822