Forest of Dean

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Forest of Dean

(Royal) Forest of Dean is a historic wooded area with an extension of approximately 120 km² on a mountain range in the county of Gloucestershire in the west of England .

It is located in the triangle between the towns of Gloucester , Monmouth and Chepstow north of the River Severn and east of the River Wye . On its edge are the two small towns of Coleford in the west and Cinderford in the east. The forest can look back on a long history. Settlement could already be proven for prehistoric times, as well as under the Roman occupation of Britain (ruins in Lydney Park ). Under the Anglo-Saxons, the area became a royal hunting ground, which it remained for centuries. The forest also supplied (oak) wood for English shipbuilding and charcoal. Today it consists mainly of mixed deciduous forests with oaks and especially maples and also serves as a leisure and recreation area. In addition, there were and are coal, iron, marble and ocher deposits. The coal was and is still due to old privileges of so-called independent free miners in part (Free Miners) mined. The Clearwell Caves museum mine is a reminder of iron ore and ocher mining . A steam-powered museum train runs from Lydney through the southern part of the landscape area, which has been specially protected as a National Forest Park since 1938 . The north-eastern part is no longer connected with the heart forest and is framed by Cinderford, Flaxley Abbey , Badminton and Mitcheldean .

In 2007, scenes for the series Primeval - Return of the Primeval Monsters were filmed in this forest . In the 7th volume of Harry Potter ( Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ) important actions take place here, e.g. B. the discovery of the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

Web links

Commons : Forest of Dean  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 47 ′ 21 ″  N , 2 ° 32 ′ 36 ″  W.