"Fresh" Forest of Dean.

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:
>
>  
> > Geoff:
> > You  need to remember that this "Forest" uses the word in the 
> alternative 
> > sense of a royal hunting ground and is not a densely wooded area but 
> has 
> > quite a lot of open country as well. 
> 
> Potioncat:
> Tell us more. What does Forest of Dean conjure in the mind of a Brit? 
> Is it a place of legends? Does it have a particular reputation or fame? 
> Is it really not a deep forest?
> 
> I read a book not long ago that took place in and near the Forest of 
> Dean. Mention was made of abandoned mines, and of pools of water formed 
> from old quarries. No one showed up to place or remove an old sword, 
> though, and there were no deer, silvery or otherwise.

Geoff:
As I said, it is one of the old "Forests" so named because they were royal 
hunting areas which are often more heathland and open grassland than 
woodland, especially land which can support deer.

The ones which spring most readily to mind for me are the New Forest, 
which lies just north-west of Southampton, famous because William II 
the second Norman king was killed by an arrow when hunting here; this 
is commemorated by the Rufus Stone, Sherwood Forest, in the East 
Midlands near Nottingham, noted for Robin Hood; Ashdown Forest in 
Sussex north of Brighton and famed for Winnie-the-Pooh. Exmoor 
Forest, a few miles west of where I live. The Forest of Bowland on the 
borders of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

The Forest of Dean is a quite sparsely populated area, unusually for 
English areas lying on the West (Welsh) side of the River Severn between 
Gloucester on to the east and the Welsh toen of Monmouth on its west. 
It has seen mining and quarrying in the past and includes beauty 
spots like Symonds Yat within its bounds. Then there are Royal Forests 
on the edge of London such as Epping and Waltham in the North-east. 
But, if you investigate, you will find that tere was a list as long as your 
arm of places so designated.

If you want to go further, try looking up "Royal Forest" in Wikipedia....