The History of Gypsies in the New Forest - Part 4

At the beginning of the Second World War the seven compounds were reduced down to five and the Gypsy Travellers were once again collected up and moved into these compounds. The families assumed that after the war they would be able to return to their pre-war circumstances but this was not to be.

In 1947 these five compounds were visited by the New Forest Committee who reported that the families were living in appalling conditions they also suggested that the Gypsy Travellers would be a problem to the surrounding population. At this time the total population of the five compounds was 411 but a few were apparently were not of Gypsy Traveller origin but unfortunate  individuals who had been displaced due to the war such as a Hindu girl whose home had been bombed in Southampton.

Shortly after this report was carried out The Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural Council started a policy of resettlement, moving the families from the compounds into Council accommodation and the New Forest District Council soon did the same. The Gypsy Traveller families had no choice but to move into this settled housing, for some it offered a better standard of living, but for the elderly it was very hard to adapt to living in a house after years of a wandering existence.

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