Outlaw · Avon Tyrrell / Sopley · Hidden
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He paid his fine to the Crown, year after year, for one horseshoe.
Private, don't visit
The estate is a private outdoor centre; the river crossing area is not a marked public site. Check before you go.
A fugitive knight, a midnight smithy, and a crossing still named after him.
Walter Tirel, blamed for the death of William Rufus, is said to have fled south-west across the New Forest to the River Avon. John Wise's 1863 history of the New Forest records that a smithy near the Avon stood on the site of the forge where, the legend says, Tirel's horse was shod. For that reason the smithy paid a yearly fine to the Crown, and the water where the fugitive crossed was still called Tyrrel's Ford. The nearby estate is named Avon Tyrrell. The popular detail that the horse was shod backwards to fool pursuers is NOT in the fetched source.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.