History

There is a lot of interesting information on the web including an amazing document ‘The Forest of Dean Mapping Project’ published in 2006 from English Heritage, which gives a detailed history of all aspects of the Forest of Dean which the following extracts have been taken:

The Royal Forest of Dean, also titled the ‘Queen of all the Forests’was reserved for royal hunting before 1066 and is one of largest Crown forests in Englandcovering 27,000 acres and is home to 20 million trees. It is bordered by the River Severn on the east and the River Wye on the west and its complex geology gives rise to a wide variety of spectacular landscapes and scenery. The trees have been used to build ships for the English Navy since before the Spanish Armada. In 1802 Lord Nelson visited the Forest looking for ship building timber and his concern about how little mature oak was left led to a massive acorn planting effort. They say thirty million acorns were planted (I expect they counted by weight!). Some of the trees in the areas you will run in date from those plantings.

For an excellent display of Forest of Dean history from rocks to hunting and from ship building to mining and industry (including aworking beam engine), visit The Dean Heritage Centre at Soudley, GL14 2UB. See

Verderers.King Canute (1016-1035) probably introduced the Forest Laws and officials called Verderers, who protect the trees, deer and boar. The Verderers Court (one of the oldest courts of law in England) still meets at Speech House Hotel every 4 months. Persons found guilty of stealing deer can be hung on the gibbet outside the Hotel. Fortunately the gibbet is long gone and the Verderers main role now is to liaise on behalf of the Crown, between the local community and the Forestry Commission. You can still see the courtroom and its giant fireplace in the Hotel.

Speech House Hotel.The building you see today has a long history from as early as1338 when the Verderers Court was held in the then Kensley House. Later the Court was sometimes held on Speeches Day and became known as the speech court. Today’s building was erected 1676 on the site of the old speech court, permission having been approved by King Charles the Second but not before local opposition to a first site location. Trees were felled for its construction (saving the ones needed for the Navy) and stones from the old buildings were reused. Recycling and planning permissions’ difficulties are nothing new!

Speech House was seriously damaged in 1688 during riots when some locals were protesting against the enclosures being created in the forest. There were major additions to the main building in 1883. The Hotel is now a luxurious 37 bedroomed hotel, serving a host of visitors throughout the year. See

Freeminers.Dating back to medieval times ‘freeminers’ are foresters who have earned the right to mine personal plots called ‘gales’. In the 1800s David Mushet and his Freeminer son Robert Forester Mushet inColeford pioneered techniques in iron and steel production. For more information about ‘freeminers’ visit the amazing Clearwell Caves, just south of Coleford and 15 mins drive from Speech House Hotel,

Very early times.The Longstone, Buckstone, Toad's Mouth and Broadstone near Staunton, Coleford are Standing Stones that date back to the Bronze and Iron Ages.

On the Doward near Symonds Yat, there are signs of early settlement in the Wye Valley, as evidenced by the remains of the iron agehillfort at Little Doward, and King Arthur's Cave on the slopes of the Wye.You can do walks connecting these places – great fun but mind the mud. Look on:

and and

A 1,200 year old, linear earthwork known as Offa’s Dyke roughly follows the England/Wales border. Thought to have been built due to a border dispute, its origins however are shrouded in mystery. The Offa's Dyke Path was opened in 1971 and links Sedbury Cliffs to Prestatyn, a total of 177 miles of spectacular landscape. For walks on sections of the path overlooking the beautiful Wye valley see