| Crowe Hill |
| What seems to be a jumbled pile of houses lying east
of Ringwood on the edge of the New Forest and border of Dorset is in
fact Crowe Hill, with its methodist chapel that date well over 150 years
and it two tiny farm shops, and the Elm Tree Inn once a thatched
farmhouse the village shop is housed in the local garage and it was here
on 11th March 1999 that the UK's first conviction for a fur farmer, (in
this case the company the owns a mink farm) had been convicted for
cruelty and followed the conviction for cruelty of a man employed to
kill mink at mink factory farms at Childe Okeford in Dorset and also at
Crowe Hill. The offences were al committed at Crowe Hill mink farm near
Ringwood. The area has a peaceful sleepy feel to it and a small stream gurgles along beside the road, but don't be misled this area was once a well know haunt for smugglers, as the sea is never far from the New Forest. What is known as The Smugglers Road criss crosses the heathland via sunken roads which were believed to have been constructed by the smugglers so that they could move their contraband without fear of being seen, and they went via Crow Hill Top and Knaves Ash, and at Verely Hill where Lovely Warne used to wear her red cloak as a warning that the revenue were about!
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