Enclosures from below? The politics of squatting and encroachment in the post‐Restoration New Forest.

Abstract: Notwithstanding recent interest in the politics of housing, squatting in the formative contexts of post‐Restoration rural England remains little understood and studied. Drawing upon a diverse archive of central government papers and those of the local officers of the New Forest – the largest Crown forest in England and Wales – this article argues that the resort to squatting was a function of the uneven contours of forest governance. Moreover, while squatting led to the formation of new communities, it was neither exclusively a plebeian act nor, against official discourses, necessarily an abuse of the assets of the forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]