In Search of the New Forest Coven - Hardcoverby Philip Heselton (Author) In 1954 a book was published which claimed that witches were not just some historical oddity but that the author, retired civil servant, Gerald Gardner, had been initiated into a witch coven in the New Forest, Hampshire, England in 1939. Many dismissed his claims, but Philip Heselton, who has been investigating the story for over 20 years, is convinced that what Gardner wrote about the witch coven was essentially true. He