The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county A county is a land area of local government within a country. A county may have cities and towns within its area. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (conte, comte, conde, Graf) of Gloucestershire The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other principal towns include Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester, and Tewkesbury, England. The forest A forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50% of total land area), in many different regions and function as habitats for is a roughly triangular A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ABC plateau bounded by the River Wye The River Wye is the fifth-longest river in the UK and for parts of its length forms part of the border between England and Wales. It is important for nature conservation and recreation to the west and north, the River Severn The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about 354 kilometres (220 mi). It rises at an altitude of 610 metres (2,001 ft) on Plynlimon near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales. It then flows through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, with the county towns of Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Gloucester to the south, and the City of Gloucester Gloucester (pronounced /ˈɡlɒstər/ GLOS-tər) is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately 32 miles (51 km) north-east of Bristol, and 45 miles (72 km) south-southwest of Birmingham to the east.

The area is characterised by over 110 square kilometers (42.5 sq mi) of mixed woodland, one of the surviving ancient woodlands Ancient woodland is a term used in the United Kingdom to refer specifically to woodland dating back to 1600 or before in England and Wales . Before this, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally in England. A large area was reserved for royal hunting before 1066, and remained as the second largest Crown forest in England, the largest being New Forest The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire. Although the name is often used loosely to refer to that part of Gloucestershire between the Severn and Wye, the Forest of Dean proper has covered a much smaller area since mediaeval times. In 1327 it was defined to cover only the royal demesne In the feudal system, demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, that was retained by a lord for his own use - as distinguished from land "alienated" or granted to others (alieni) as freehold tenants and parts of parishes within the hundred of St Briavels,[1] and after 1668 the Forest comprised the royal demesne only. This area is now within the civil parishes of West Dean, Lydbrook, Cinderford Cinderford is a small town in Gloucestershire, England, with a population of 8,116 people . The town lies on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean. The town only came into existence in the 19th century due to the rapid expansion of the local coal mines. There is a visual clue to Cinderford's origins in that the style and layout of the town,, Ruspidge, and Drybrook.[2]

Traditionally the main sources of work in the area have been forestry Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. The main goal of forestry is to create and implement systems that allow forests to continue a sustainable continuation of environmental supplies and services. The challenge of forestry is to create systems that are socially accepted while – including charcoal Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood, sugar, bone char, or other substances in the absence of oxygen . The resulting soft, brittle, lightweight, black, porous production - iron Iron is the most common element in the earth as a whole, and the fourth most common in the Earth's crust. It is produced as a result of stellar fusion in high-mass stars, and it is the heaviest stable element produced by stellar fusion because the fusion of iron is the last nuclear fusion reaction that is exothermic. Iron is the most widely used working and coal mining The goal of coal mining is to economically remove coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s is widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa, a coal mine. Evidence shows that the area was extensively mined for coal from about 8000 BC to 1965 AD.

The area gives its name to the local government district The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there are currently four principal types of district-level subdivision. They are London boroughs, metropolitan districts, non-metropolitan districts, and unitary, Forest of Dean, and a Parliamentary constituency, all of which cover wider areas than the historic Forest. The administrative centre of the local authority is Coleford which is also one of the main towns in the historic Forest area, together with Cinderford Cinderford is a small town in Gloucestershire, England, with a population of 8,116 people . The town lies on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean. The town only came into existence in the 19th century due to the rapid expansion of the local coal mines. There is a visual clue to Cinderford's origins in that the style and layout of the town, and Lydney Lydney is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located on the west bank of the River Severn, close to the Forest of Dean. The town lies on the A48 road, next to the Lydney Park gardens with its Roman temple in honour of Nodens.

Contents

History

Prehistory

The area was inhabited in Mesolithic The Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age, in which farming appeared. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used until V. Gordon times, and there are also remains of later megalithic A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement monuments, including the Longstone[3] near Staunton and the Broadstone[4] at Wibdon, Stroat. Barrows have also been identified at Tidenham and Blakeney. Bronze Age The Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture used bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Many, though not all, Bronze Age cultures flourished in prehistory field systems have been identified at Welshbury Hill near Littledean, and there are several Iron Age In archaeology, the Iron Age is the prehistoric period in any area during which cutting tools and weapons were mainly made of iron or steel. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles hill forts A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. The fortification usually follows the contours of the hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive, notably those at Symonds Yat and Welshbury. There is also archaeological evidence of early trading by sea, probably through Lydney. Before Roman Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410 times, the area may have been occupied by the British The Britons were the Celtic people living in Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic. They lived throughout Britain south of about the Firth of Forth; after the 5th century Britons also migrated to continental Europe, where they established the settlements Dobunni tribe, although few of their coins have been found in the area and control may have been contested with the neighbouring Silures The Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire in south Wales.[5]

The Romans

The area was occupied by the Romans Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410 around 50 AD. They were attracted by the natural resources of the area, which included iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite , hematite (Fe2O3), goethite (FeO(OH)), limonite (FeO(OH).n(H2O)) or siderite (FeCO3), ochre Hematite, also spelled as hæmatite, is the mineral form of iron oxide (Fe2O3), one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum. Hematite and ilmenite form a complete solid solution at temperatures above 950°C and charcoal Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood, sugar, bone char, or other substances in the absence of oxygen . The resulting soft, brittle, lightweight, black, porous. The coal mining The goal of coal mining is to economically remove coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s is widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa, a coal mine industry was also probably established on a small scale in Roman times.[6] The area was governed from the Roman town of Ariconium at Weston under Penyard near Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye is a small market town with a population of 10,089 (according to the 2001 census) in southeastern Herefordshire, England, located on the River Wye, and on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean. Although the nearest railway station is Ledbury on the Cotswold Line, Gloucester has a much better bus connection with Ross, and is a major, and a road was built from there to a river crossing at Newnham on Severn and port at Lydney. The "Dean Road" still visible at Soudley is believed to be a mediaeval rebuilding of the Roman road The Roman roads were roads built by the Roman empire, intended for quick transport of material from one location to another, for cattle, vehicles, or any similar traffic along the path. They were essential for the growth of the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate news. The Roman road, and would have been an important route for the transport of iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite , hematite (Fe2O3), goethite (FeO(OH)), limonite (FeO(OH).n(H2O)) or siderite (FeCO3) and finished metal products. During Roman times there were important Roman villas A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class. According to Pliny the Elder, there were two kinds of villas: the villa urbana, which was a country seat that could easily be reached from Rome for a night or two, and the villa at Blakeney, Woolaston and elsewhere, and towards the end of the Roman period, around the year 370, a major Roman temple In ancient Roman religion, practitioners often performed their worship at a temple, that is, a structure that housed the image of the deity and an altar. The English word "temple" derives from Latin templum, which was originally not a building, but a sacred area marked out ritually. The word templum later came to mean the building itself complex dedicated to the god Nodens was completed at Lydney Lydney is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located on the west bank of the River Severn, close to the Forest of Dean. The town lies on the A48 road, next to the Lydney Park gardens with its Roman temple in honour of Nodens. The central parts of the woodlands in the Forest are believed to have been protected for hunting since Roman times.[7]

The medieval period

St. Briavels Castle

The history of the area is obscure for several centuries after the end of the Roman period during the so called Dark Ages The Dark Ages is a term referring to the perceived period of cultural and economic decline and disruption that took place in Western Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire. The word is derived from Latin saeculum obscurum , a phrase first recorded in 1602. The label employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the ", though at different times it may have been part of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwent Gwent was, between about the 6th and 11th centuries, one of the kingdoms or principalities of mediæval Wales, traditionally lying between the rivers Wye and Usk in what later became known as the Welsh Marches and of Ergyng, and the Beachley and Lancaut peninsulas east of the Lower Wye remained in Welsh control at least until the 8th century.[5] Around 790 the Saxon Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066. The Benedictine monk, Bede, identified them as the descendants of three Germanic tribes: king Offa of Mercia Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. He was the son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, a brother of King Penda of Mercia, who had ruled over a century before. Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald, defeating Beornred, another claimant to the throne. In the built his Dyke Offa's Dyke is a massive linear earthwork, roughly following some of the current border between England and Wales. In places, it is up to 65 feet (20 m) wide (including its flanking ditch) and 8 feet (2.5 m) high. In the 8th century it formed some kind of delineation between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys. It has been high above the Wye, to mark the boundary with the Welsh Bretons, Cornish, Manx, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, Irish. The Forest of Dean then came under the control of the diocese In some forms of Christianity, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop. It is also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area /episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bishop, and bishopric to the post of being bishop. The of Hereford Hereford (pronounced /ˈhɛrɨfɚd/ ) is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately 16 miles (26 km) east of the border with Wales, 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Worcester, and 23 miles (37 km) northwest of Gloucester. With a population of 50,400 people, it is the largest. Throughout the next few centuries Vikings The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse (Scandinavian) explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, and settled in wide areas of Europe and the North Atlantic islands from the late eighth to the mid-eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga conducted raids up the Severn, but by the 11th century the kingdom of Wessex The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons (Old English: Westseaxna rīce) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest of 1016, from 1020 to 1 had established civil government in the area.[2] The core of the forest A forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50% of total land area), in many different regions and function as habitats for was used by the late Anglo Saxon Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066. The Benedictine monk, Bede, identified them as the descendants of three Germanic tribes: kings, and after 1066 the Normans The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock. Their identity emerged initially in the first half of the tenth century, and gradually evolved over succeeding centuries. The name &, as their personal hunting ground. The area was kept stocked with deer and wild boar, but also became important for its timber, charcoal, iron ore and limestone. The name of the area originates at this time, probably derived from the dene, or valley, near Mitcheldean, with areas known as Dene Magna (large) and Dene Parva (small). The manor of Dean was the Forest's administrative centre in the late 11th century.

The Hundred of St. Briavels was established in the 12th century, at the same time as many of the Norman laws concerning the Forest of Dean were put in place. St. Briavels Castle became the Forest's administrative and judicial centre. Verderers were appointed to act for the king and protect his royal rights, and local people were given some common rights. Flaxley Abbey was also built and given certain rights and privileges. In 1296, miners from the Hundred of St Briavels were used by King Edward I at the siege of Berwick-on-Tweed in the Scottish Wars of Independence to undermine the town's defences and regain it from the Scots. As a result, the king granted free mining rights within the forest to them and their descendants; the rights continue to the present day. Miners at that time were mainly involved in iron mining. Although the presence of coal deposits in the district was well known and limited amounts of it had been recovered in Roman times, it was not practicable to use it for iron making with the methods of smelting then in use. However, later the freeminer rights were used mainly for coal mining.[2] The activities of the miners were regulated by the Court of Mine Law.[6]

The 16th - 18th centuries

Speech House

The forest later went on to be used exclusively as a royal hunting ground by the Tudor Kings, and subsequently a source of food for the Royal Court. Its rich deposits of iron ore led to its becoming a major source of iron. Timber from the forest was particularly fine and was regarded as the best source for building ships.

The Speech House, between Coleford and Cinderford, was originally built in 1682 to host the Court of Mine Law and "Court of the Speech", a sort of parliament for the Verderers and Free Miners managing the forest, game, and mineral resources of the area.[8] The Gaveller and in latter times his Deputy were responsible for leasing gales - areas allocated for mining - on behalf of the Crown.[6] The Speech House has been used as an inn and hotel since the 19th century.

During the 18th century, squatters began to establish roughly-built hamlets around the fringes of the Crown forest demesne. By about 1800, these new settlements had become well established at places such as Berry Hill and Parkend.

The Dean Forest Riots

In 1808 Parliament passed the Dean Forest (Timber) Act in response to a severe shortage of naval timber. The act included the provision to enclose 11,000 acres (4,452 ha) and responsibility for its execution fell to a young, newly appointed, deputy surveyor named Edward Machen. He established his office at Whitemead Park, in Parkend, and in 1814 he enclosed and replanted Nagshead, the main woodland of Parkend. By 1816 all 11,000 acres (4,452 ha) had been enclosed.

Ordinary Foresters were already poverty stricken, and now their plight had grown worse. They were denied access to the enclosed areas and so were unable to hunt in them or remove timber. In particular, they lost their ancient grazing and mining rights. Unrest was growing and the Committee of Freeminers called the Foresters to action in an attempt to retake possession of the enclosures. Warren James emerged as a populist leader. He and Machen knew each other well, as both were regular churchgoers at Parkend. On Sunday 5 June 1831, the two held a public meeting outside the church gates in Parkend. It was a final attempt to resolve the matter peaceably, but they could agree on nothing. Three days later the two men met again.

This time James, leading a group of over 100 foresters, proceeded to demolish the enclosure at Park Hill, between Parkend and Bream. Machen, and about 50 unarmed Crown Officers, were powerless to intervene. He returned to Parkend and sent for troops. On the Friday, a party of 50 soldiers arrived from Monmouth, but by now the number of Foresters had grown to around 2000 and the soldiers returned to their barracks. On Sunday a squadron of heavily armed soldiers arrived from Doncaster and the day after, another 180 infantrymen arrived from Plymouth.

The Foresters’ resistance soon crumbled and most of those arrested elected to voluntarily rebuild the enclosures, rather than be charged with rioting. James was sentenced to death, but this was later commuted to transportation. He was sent to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in October 1831, only to be pardoned five years later. He never returned home, nor it seems, did he ever contact his friends or relations. During his final years he suffered much illness caused by his time in imprisonment, and he died in 1841 aged just 49.[9]

Ironically, by the time Machen's trees were large enough, naval ships were no longer being built of wood and many of the oaks he planted still grow at Nagshead.

Industrial development in the 19th and early 20th centuries

Robert Forester Mushet (1811-1891), steel industry pioneer

The coal industry expanded early in the 19th century, when some of the earliest tramroads in the UK were built here to help transport the coal to local ports. Industry in the area was transformed with the growth of mining and the production of iron and steel. In 1819 David Mushet built a foundry at Darkhill, where he experimented with iron and steel making. In 1845, his youngest son, Robert Forester Mushet, took over management of the site. He continued his father's experiments at Darkhill, and later a few hundred yards away at the Forest Steel Works; carrying out over ten thousand experiments in just ten years.

One his greatest achievements was to perfect the Bessemer process by developing a method to improve the quality of steel it produced by adding precise amounts of carbon and manganese, in the form of spiegeleisen. Sadly, whilst others made fortunes from his discovery, Robert failed to capitalise on his successes and by 1866 he was destitute and in ill health. In that year Mary Mushet, Robert’s 16 year-old daughter, travelled to London alone, to confront Henry Bessemer at his offices, arguing that his success was based on the results of her father’s work. Bessemer, whose process was not economically viable without Mushet's method for improving quality, decided to pay him an annual pension of £300, a very considerable sum, which he paid for well over twenty years, possibly with a view to keeping the Mushets from legal action. The remains of Darkhill are now preserved as an Industrial Archaeological Site of International Importance and are open to the public.[10]

Cinderford was laid out as a planned town in the mid 19th century, but the characteristic form of settlement remained the sprawling hamlets of haphazardly placed cottages. Characteristics shared with other British coalfields, such as a devotion to sport, the central role of miners' clubs, and the formation of brass bands, also helped to create a distinct community identity.[2]

In the later 19th century and the early 20th the Forest was a complex industrial region, including deep coal mines and iron mines, iron and tinplate works, foundries, quarries and stone-dressing works, wood distillation works producing chemicals, a network of railways, and numerous minor tramroads. The tradition of independence in the area resulted in a great number of smaller and therefore not necessarily economically successful mines. In 1904 the Gaveller oversaw a period of amalgamation of mines, which allowed deeper bigger mines to be sunk. During the early 20th century, annual output from the coalfield rarely fell below 1 million tons.[6]

Changes since the mid-20th century

The importance of mining to the area is shown by the fact that as late as 1945 half of the male working population of the area worked in the coal industry. However after the Second World War increased pumping costs and other factors made the coalfield less economic. The last commercial iron mine in the district closed in 1946 and this was followed in 1965 by the closure of the last large colliery, Northern United.[6][11] There are still a number of small private mines in operation, worked by freeminers, with Hopewell colliery now open to the public.

With the decline of the mines, the area has undergone a period of significant change, ameliorated to some extent by a shift to high technology, with companies establishing themselves in the area, attracted by grants and a willing workforce.

Many of the mines have now disappeared into the forest and today the area is characterised by picturesque scenery punctuated by remnants of the industrial age and small industrial towns. There remain a number of industrial areas but the focus in recent years has been to capitalise on the exceptional scenery and to create more jobs from tourist attractions and the leisure opportunities afforded by the forest. Significant numbers of residents also now work outside the area, commuting to the nearby cities of Gloucester, Bristol and Cardiff.

Foresters

If born within the hundred of St Briavels, an ancient administrative area covering most of what is now considered the Forest of Dean, one is classed as a true Forester. This classification bestows a unique right for males who are over 21 and have worked in a mine for a year and a day—they can register[12] to be a freeminer[13]. These ancient rights that were put on the statute books in the Dean Forest (Mines) Act 1838, the only public act to affect private individuals[citation needed].Residents of the hundred who are over 18 can also graze sheep in the Forest in accordance with an agreement between the Forestry Commission and the Commoners Association.

Ecology

The forest is composed of both deciduous and evergreen trees. Predominant is oak, both pedunculate and sessile. Beech is also common, and sweet chestnut has grown here for many centuries. The forest is also home to Foxgloves and other wild flowers. Conifers include some Weymouth Pine dating from 1781, Norway spruce, douglas fir and larch. The deer are predominantly fallow deer and these have been present in the forest since the second world war currently numbering around 300 (there were no deer in the Dean from about 1855 when they were removed in accordance with an Act of Parliament. A number of the fallow deer in the central area of the forest are melanistic. More recently a few roe deer and muntjac deer have arrived, spreading in from the East but in much smaller numbers.

The Forest is also home to wild boar; the exact number is currently unknown but exceeds a hundred. The boar were illegally re-introduced to the Forest in 2006. A population in the Ross-on-Wye area on the northern edge of the forest escaped from a wild boar farm around 1999 and are believed to be of pure Eastern European origin; in a second introduction, a domestic herd was dumped near Staunton in 2004, but these were not pure bred wild boar —attempts to locate the source of the illegal dumps have been unsuccessful. The boar can now be found in many parts of the Forest.

Locally there are mixed feelings about the presence of boar.[14] Problems have included the ploughing up of gardens and picnic areas, attacking dogs and panicking horses, road traffic accidents, and ripping open of rubbish bags. The local authority undertook a public consultation and have recommended to the Verderers that control to a lower level is necessary - this is currently being considered. Under its international obligations the UK government is obliged to consider the reintroduction of species made extinct through the activities of man, the wild boar included.[citation needed]

The Dean is also well known for its Western birds; Pied flycatchers, Redstarts, Wood warblers and Hawfinches can be regularly seen at RSPB Nagshead. The mixed forest also supports Britain's best concentration[citation needed] of Goshawks and a viewing site at New Fancy is manned during February and March. Peregrine Falcons can be easily seen nesting from the viewpoint at Symonds Yat rock. Mandarin ducks, which nest up in the trees, and Reed warblers can be seen at Cannop Ponds and Cannop Brook, running from the ponds through Parkend, is famed for its Dippers.

Butterflies of note are the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Wood White and the White Admiral or Limenitis camilla. Gorsty Knoll is famed for its glow-worms and Woorgreen's lake for its dragonflies.

Famous inhabitants

Towns and villages

The list below includes towns and villages within or adjoining the historic Forest; it does not include settlements which are located outside that area but which are within the larger District Council area.

Places of interest

In the media

References

  1. ^ Map showing boundary of the Hundred of St Briavels
  2. ^ a b c d British History:Forest of Dean
  3. ^ Longstone
  4. ^ Broadstone
  5. ^ a b Miranda Aldhouse-Green and Ray Howell (eds.), Gwent In Prehistory and Early History: The Gwent County History Vol.1, 2004, ISBN 0-7083-1826-6
  6. ^ a b c d e Mining and the Forest of Dean
  7. ^ Bryan Walters, The Archaeology and History of Ancient Dean and the Wye Valley, 1992, ISBN 0-946328-42-0
  8. ^ Nicholls, Henry George (1858). The Forest of Dean: An Historical and Descriptive Account. J. Murray; digital version by Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=y4IvAAAAMAAJ.
  9. ^ http://www.forest-of-dean.net/ebooks/gutenberg/24505/24505-h.htm
  10. ^ Book; 'Man of Iron - Man of Steel', Ralph Anstis
  11. ^ Friends of the Forest
  12. ^ No Person a Free Miner who is not registered
  13. ^ Who shall be deemed Free Miners
  14. ^ Wild Boar in Britain: Public and Wild Boar Confrontations

External links

Coordinates: 51°47′21″N 2°32′36″W / 51.7891°N 2.5432°W

Categories: Forest of Dean

 

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