In the heart of the New Forest and just a mile outside of Lyndhurst is Minstead, its cottages following each another down the slope they were built on,  till they reach the picturesque little church that stands on a hill of its own, guarded by a big yew at its gate.

It has been described as being cottage like with gabled windows that peer from its roof watching everything that goes on around it, there is also an odd little cupola, a small wooden spire and a golden weather vane and one of its bells has been ringing for over 600 years and another for over 400.

The church is entered through a 12th century doorway heavy which seems to have its original handle hanging nearby. Inside the church can be found a three-decker plain 17thc century pulpit and there are two odd pews that are entered via a small doorway in the 17th century porch, they are like small rooms and one, the squires pew, has a fireplace and both are comfortably furnished with chairs. The oak pews in the nave still have adze marks that are 300 years old and the double-tiered galleries, which are rare, are so low that you has to bend your head to pass.

The font which stands in an unusual place beneath the pulpit, and  is from Norman times. Most fonts are at the west end of a church near the entrance, and this one has a story to tell having been dug up in a garden, and is strangely carved with the Baptism, the Holy Lamb, a lion that has two bodies and two eagles and a tree. During the 17th century the church authorities agreed to allow fonts to be moved to the front of those churches where it was difficult for the congregation to see and hear the baptism service. With few exceptions, Minstead being one, fonts have been moved back to the west end.

John Compton was rector here for 56 years of the 19th century and there is a hatchment o the walls of the Earl of Erroll who lies in the chancel and whose death is also an oddity. As it is said that the squire sat by the bedside to stop his creditors taking the body and then took it first to his manor house and then had it taken to the family vault to await  burial.

On the west side of the churchyard is the grave of Thomas Maynard, who died in 1807 at the age of 27. He was a member of the Band of Musicians of the South Hants Yeomanry and his headstone has a carving of the old musical instrument known as a serpent, an essential part of church bands in those days.

On the north side is the grave of Thomas White, whose epitaph reads:

A faithful friend. A father dear.
A — husband lies buried here.
In love he lived. In love he died.
His life we craved, but God denied.

The missing word is probably 'faithful'. White's widow suspected her husband's infidelity and deciding that the truth must prevail had the word removed.

The man who was buried at the far south end of the churchyard should have written about that under the title: 'The Case of the Missing Word'. He was Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, who lived at Bignell House in Minstead. He died in Sussex in 1930 but was reburied here. His gravestone reads:

STEEL TRUE
BLADE STRAIGHT
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
KNIGHT
PATRIOT, PHYSICIAN & MAN OF LETTERS

Minstead featured in his book The White Company.

The inn sign at the Trusty Servant

One of the souths most famous Inn signs can be found at the Trusty Servant, which is just down from the church, a copy of this is in Winchester College and depicts a man with a pig's snout, the ears of an ass, and the feet of a stag.

Near the inn is the old Minstead Technical College of 1897, now known as Crofton Cottages.

Malwood Castle, once an army camp rises on a mound above the village. Here can be found Malwood Lodge that was one owned by Sir William Harcourt who was a bluff and large figure of a man during the political days of Gladstone and Disraeli. He was Chancellor of the  Exchequer and it was him, in one of his budgets, that introduced Death Duties which had a striking effect on the countryside by leading to the transformation of large estates.

The Rufus Stone, Minstead,
 Marking the spot where King William Rufus 
was shot by an arrow fired by 
Sir Walter Tyrell while hunting in the forest

On the opposite side of the A31 trunk road (first right turn after the M27) you will find the famous Rufus Stone, which marks the spot where William Rufus was killed by Sir Walter Tyrell while hunting in the forest. The stone also conveys the name of Purcas (Purkess/Purkiss) the charcoal burner who carried the body of the king to Winchester.
This is a well established name in the area and many family graves can be found in Minstead churchyard. En route to the Cathedral Purcas stopped to rest at nearby Copythorne and a portion of land was granted to him as reward, this land was called Bartley Regis. Visitors to the Rufus Stone memorial will see the name of Purcas (Purkiss,Purkess) inscribed at the base.

A route through the forest that passes several little-known sights (and one or two well-known ones) starts on the road from Emery Down to Bolderwood. Beyond Millyford Bridge on the left is the Portuguese Fireplace, a relic of the camp that was
occupied by a Portuguese Army unit in the First World War, now a popular picnic spot.

At the Deer Sanctuary at Bolderwood deer can be seen at feeding time, but at other times you are just as likely to see them in the dark shadows of the forest as here. Deer have lived in the New Forest since it became a hunting park. An Act of 1851 ordered the removal of all deer in the forest, but a few hundred survived.

The Radnor Stone which is  near the Deer Sanctuary commemorates the Earl of Radnor and shows engravings of birds, insects and plants of the New Forest.

The Bolderwood Ornamental Drive leads south to the well- known Knightwood Oak an example of a pollarded oak nearly 400 years old and one of the largest trees in the forest. It is in The Monarch's Grove (should not the sign read The Monarchs' Grove?) where 18 oak trees have been planted to commemorate all the recorded visits to the New Forest by reigning monarchs from William I to Edward VII. There is a 19th outside the grove, known as the Queen's Oak/ planted by the Queen in 1979 to mark the 9th centenary of the founding of the New Forest.

Near the Queen's Oak there is an example of 'inosculation', where the branches of two adjoining trees unite. It is quite common for this to happen with trees of the same species, but this is a most unusual case, with an oak and a beech uniting.

Lastly the Eagle Oak in Knightwood Enclosure, which is right in the forest and may take some finding, is said to be the spot where the last white eagle was shot in 1810.

At Barrow Moor car park on the Ornamental Drive you are really in the heart of the New Forest, for this is the furthest you can get from any point of the forest boundary, and appropriately enough it is one of the most beautiful spots.

THE HISTORY OF ALL SAINTS CHURCH

IMAGES OF MINSTEAD

A Saints Church Minstead		The gallery at All Saints church
Interior of All Saints		The village seat
Grave of Arthur Conan Doyle		Details of Arthur Conan Doyles grave
A Minstead Cottage		The Trusty Servant public house