Lookout Tower, New Forest

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Noads are separate groups of trees just up the road near Dibden Purlieu where mum and dad lived for most of their lives. At one point a huge beech tree in the centre of the 3rd Noads was felled and this watch tower was erected, presumably to keep an eye open for Forest fires. I remember a school friend and I ventured out in the middle of the night once to scale the surrounding fence and climb the tower. At the top it swayed slightly in the wind. We saw a light moving below and …

read more..

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Noads are separate groups of trees just up the road near Dibden Purlieu where mum and dad lived for most of their lives. At one point a huge beech tree in the centre of the 3rd Noads was felled and this watch tower was erected, presumably to keep an eye open for Forest fires. I remember a school friend and I ventured out in the middle of the night once to scale the surrounding fence and climb the tower. At the top it swayed slightly in the wind. We saw a light moving below and we panicked and rushed back across the moor to home! The tower was only there for a few years and probably had already been dismantled by the time Dad painted this picture. It captures the feeling of that part of the Forest but it is not topographically accurate.

See also The Noads (1982), Spring in the Noads (1983), The Noads, New Forest (1989), Green Summer, New Forest (1982).