The Forest of Dean is steeped in history, from ancient megalithic sites through to the industrial revolution and the coal mining of the 20th Century.  Through these pages you can step back in time and work forwards to see how the modern day Forest of Dean developed.

Foresters Rights

Click here for details on the Foresters Rights

Iron & Coaling Mining

Visit an old iron mine and go underground - Clearwell Caves

Iron & Steel Making

The Dark Hill foundry site is where the age of IRON ended and the STEEL age began
The invention of the process for making steel is generally attributed to Bessemer. However Keith Lloyd Webb of the Forest of Dean History Society has provided this fascinating artice describing how steel was first made in the Forest of Dean.
Marefold and the Furnace - by Keith Lloyd Webb

Charcoal Burning

Click here for more details on Charcoal Burning

Museums in the Forest of Dean

Dean Heritage Centre Museum, Soudley

The Shambles, Newent

The Organ Museum, Drybrook

The Dean Forest Railway, Lydney

The Great Western Railway Museum, Coleford

Wartime Memories

The Lydney Evacuees 1939

The Forest of Dean In Victorian Times

The Shambles Museum, Newent

The Dean Heritage Centre, Soudley

Who Killed the Bears? - The horrendous story of the two bears killed, and four Frenchmen attacked at Ruardean

History of Pilotage and shipping in the Severn Estuary - Gloucester Harbour Trustees