Forest of Dean

( Royal) Forest of Dean is a historic forest with an area of ​​approximately 120 km ² on a mountain group in the county of Gloucestershire in the west of England.

It is located in the triangle between the cities of Gloucester, Monmouth and Chepstow north of the River Severn and east of the River Wye. The two small towns Coleford are located on its edge in the West and in the East Cinderford. The forest can look back on a long history. A settlement could be proven to prehistoric times, as well as under the Roman occupation of Britain ( ruins in Lydney Park ). Among the Anglo-Saxons, the area was a royal hunting ground, which it remained for centuries. The forest also supplied (Oak ) Wood for the British shipbuilding and charcoal. Today, it consists mainly of broad-leaved mixed forest stands with oaks and especially maple and also serves as a leisure and recreation area. In addition, there have been coal, iron, marble and ocher deposits. The coal has been and is today partly degraded even on the basis of ancient privileges of the so-called self-employed free miners ( Miners Free ). On the iron ore and ocher mining today still remembers the museum mine Clearwell Caves. Through the southern part of since 1938 as a national forest park specially protected landscape area leads from Lydney from a steam-operated heritage railway. The northeastern part is no longer contiguous with the core forest and is surrounded by Cinderford, Flaxley Abbey, badminton and Mitcheldean.

In 2007 scenes for the series Primeval were in this forest - Return of the prehistoric monsters rotated. In the 7th volume of Harry Potter ( Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ) here play out important actions from, for example, the discovery of the sword of Godric Gryffindor.