Reference.com

Forest of Dean

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is a roughly triangular area bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east. It is characterised by over 110 km² of mixed forest, one of the surviving ancient woodlands in England, with areas of associated woodland stretching across the border into Wales. It gives its name to the local government district, Forest of Dean.

Traditionally the main source of work in the area was coal mining and evidence shows the area was extensively mined from about 8000BC to 1965 A.D.

The main town and administrative centre for the forest is Coleford. Cinderford, Lydney and Newent are the other town centres. The area has many large villages too and is a very beautiful piece of England. The region has a unique character, with a very broad and colourful local accent and dialect.

History

The forest is steeped in history and this goes back thousands of years, with the Forest being home to a number of Iron Age forts. The area was settled by the Romans, who were attracted by the natural resources of the area, which included iron ore, ochre and charcoal.

The name derives from the valley near Mitcheldean, with areas known as Dene Magna (large) and Dene Parva (small).

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 at this time. Timber from the forest was particularly fine and was regarded as the best source for building ships, and it is possible that this timber was used to build the Mary Rose and Admiral Lord Nelson's ship, the HMS Victory. Later still, the exploitation of coal deposits led to a strong development of coal mining in the area, with commercial mining continuing until 1965.

Interestingly, Edward I granted the powers that allowed those born in the Forest to mine coal freely. There were, and are still, a number of small private mines in operation, and Freeminers, with Hopewell colliery now open to the public. With the decline of the mines, the area itself suffered a decline, but this was ameliorated to some extent when a number of high technology industries established themselves in the area, attracted by grants and a willing workforce.

The area is still mainly an industrial area but the decline in factories have now pushed the area to create more jobs from increasing tourism attractions.

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 to be a freeminer. Residents of the hundred who are over 18 can also graze sheep in the Forest. 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.

Nature

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 centuries. 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 13th century currently numbering around 400. A number of the fallow in the central area of the forest are melanistic. More recently roe deer and muntjac deer have arrived spreading in from the East but they are in much smaller numbers. Regrettably, the red squirrels are long gone, and the grey squirrels are abundant and cause much damage.

The Forest is also home to numerous wild boar; the exact number is currently unknown but possibly a hundred. The boar were illegally re-introduced to the Forest in 2005. 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, a second introduction was when 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. They have also been spotted on both sides of the River Wye, including the around the village of Trellech and as far down the Wye Valley as Tintern. While in the future some control may be necessary, the return of the boar is welcomed by many as a valuable addition to the national wildlife. Indeed, 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. Furthermore there is increasing evidence that wild boar enhance biodiversity by breaking up ground vegetation and have an important role in clearing bracken.

The Dean is well known for its western birds, in particular the pied flycatcher, redstart and woodwarbler. Hawfinch are regularly seen. The mixed forest supports what is probably Britain's best concentration of goshawk; a viewing site at New Fancy is manned during February and March when the soaring birds are best seen. The Peregrine Falcon can be easily seen nesting from the viewpoint at Symonds Yat rock. The ponds in the Forest are good for mandarin duck which nest up in the trees. Butterflies of note are small pearl bordered fritillary, wood white, white admiral. Gorsty knoll is famed for its glow-worms and Woorgreens lake for its dragonflies.

Famous natives

Dick Whittington also known as Richard Whittington, who later became Lord Mayor of the City of London, was born in Pauntley, now part of the Forest of Dean district. The writer Dennis Potter was born near Coleford and frequently used the region as a setting in his work, most notably in The Singing Detective, Blue Remembered Hills and Karaoke/Cold Lazarus; the local accent and dialect can be heard at some length in the BBC productions of these shows. The BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 DJ Jimmy Young is one of Cinderford's most famous sons, as are the early Britpop band EMF. J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, lived on the southern edge of the Forest at Tutshill from 1974 to 1983 and used the forest as a setting in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Settlements

Places of interest

In the media

  • Heavy metal band Black Sabbath rented Clearwell Castle, located in the Forest of Dean, to write and record their fifth album, Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath in 1974. The band rehearsed in the castle dungeon for inspiration.
  • In 1998 the area was on national news as it was going through a bad heroin epidemic and several young people fatally overdosed within a short period of time.
  • Many TV and film projects have been filmed at Clearwell Caves, including the 2005 Christmas special of Doctor Who.
  • In 2006, Coleford's St. John's Street was featured in a newspaper/magazine advert for the new Renault Clio.
  • Scenes from the 2007 film Outlaw were filmed in Coleford.
  • The first episode of the television series Primeval featured and were filmed in the Forest of Dean.
  • The novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows contains a passage that is set in the Forest of Dean.

Road Safety Charity "Time and Place"

Forest of Dean charity "Time and Place" was set up by a group of driving instructors in the Forest of Dean and is backed by local MP Mark Harper. The charity was created in response to the deaths of 19 young drivers in 2005 on the Forest roads. Time and Place is campaigning to reduce this to zero in Gloucestershire and the Forest Of Dean by improving all aspects of driving standards and by having the best driver education facility in the country. To achieve this the charity aims to provide a Driving Centre in the Forest benefiting all road users, young, old, cyclists, pedestrians and drivers.

References

External links



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 21:55:25 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation