105 - Forest of Dean and Lower Wye : Description

Physical and functional links to other National Character Areas

The northern boundary of the Forest of Dean and Lower Wye National Character Area (NCA) merges into the undulating farmland of the South Herefordshire NCA. To the east, the edge of the central plateau falls away more steeply into the Severn flood plain, the estuary of the Severn, and the Severn and Avon Vales NCA. From clear, unwooded higher ground along this eastern edge, the Cotswold scarp can be seen rising out of the flat vale. The western edge is defined by the abrupt Lower Wye Valley Gorge forming much of the border with Wales in this NCA; however, beyond the river, the Trelleck Plateau of Monmouthshire is of similar character and would be a natural extension of the NCA if the concept were applied in Wales. Views across to the Black Mountains of Wales are possible in places.

The water quality of the River Wye through this NCA is significantly influenced by discharges from the City of Hereford and intensive agricultural land use further upstream in the Herefordshire NCAs. Small watercourses in the NCA drain directly into the Wye and the Severn.

Being surrounded on two of three sides by important rivers, major access to the Dean is restricted to the A4136 and the encircling A40 to the north; the A48 to the south-east, which largely follows the path of the Roman road between Caerwent (Monmouthshire) to the south and Gloucester to the north-east; and the A466 along the Wye Valley. This creates a sense of isolation, with road crossings being available only at Chepstow, St Briavels and Bigsweir across the Wye, or Chepstow and Gloucester across the Severn. Historically, the rivers – and then the railways – were the main trade and communication corridors. The southern tip of the NCA is now well connected with the M4 and other motorway links, while the rest of the Dean is criss-crossed by relatively small roads and narrow lanes, continuing the relative isolation of some of its communities.

Distinct areas

• Forest of Dean (statutory forest)
• Lower Wye Valley

The Forest of Dean and Lower today

Triangular in shape, being bordered to the south and east by the River Severn and Estuary, to the west by the stunning gorges of the River Wye and to the north by the undulating farmland of the South Herefordshire NCA, the Forest of Dean and Lower Wye NCA tapers to a point at Chepstow, where the River Wye meets the Severn. These two large rivers, with their limited crossing points, create a feeling of remoteness which is increased within the enclosed surroundings of the woodland and has resulted in a strong sense of history and cultural identity.

The introversion of the central plateau contrasts with the occasional extensive and impressive views outwards; from Tidenham Chase/Poor’s Allotment, for example, one can glimpse a panoramic view over the wide vale of the Severn to the ridge of the Cotswolds in the far distance. Views to the north, from Yat Rock and Ruardean, look over the lowlands of South Herefordshire to the Shropshire border. Cinderford affords views right across the forest to the distant peaks of Blorenge and Sugarloaf, in the Black Mountains in Wales.

The Wye Valley, along the western and south-western edge of the NCA, provides the most dramatic scenery in the area – nationally recognised through the designation of the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Thickly wooded slopes drop steeply down to the winding river, forming vertical cliffs and gorges of up to 200 m at Symonds Yat. Here the broad river makes a series of meanders through the rocks, and then flows south down through a narrow, twisting and steep-sided valley, the slopes covered with broadleaved, ancient semi-natural woodland. These are some of the most diverse woodlands in Britain, and many have a long history of active traditional management, including extensive historical coppicing to supply charcoal for the blast furnaces of the local iron industry. (Recent abandonment of traditional practices, however, has resulted in a large proportion of the resource being unmanaged for the last 50 to 100 years.) Rare ancient woodland ground flora such as narrow-leaved helleborine, ghost orchid, Tintern spurge and spreading bellflower occur. The River Wye is itself of international importance, and is designated a SAC for species such as native crayfish, otter, salmon, shad and lamprey.

Together, the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean woodlands (statutory forest) form one of the largest remaining areas of broadleaf semi-natural woodland in the country, and support important populations of deadwood invertebrates, woodland butterflies and moths; a wide range of breeding woodland birds; breeding populations of dormouse; woodland plants; and an outstanding bat fauna. Woodland (and the surrounding farmland) forms part of the essential feeding area for internationally significant populations of lesser and greater horseshoe bats. Hedgerows provide flight lines, and old caves or mines and large buildings with suitable roof spaces provide the bats with suitable hibernation and breeding sites respectively.

The statutory forest at the centre of the NCA contains a mixture of semi-natural woodland, native broadleaf and conifer plantation. Ancient hollies and oaks at Speech House, in the heart of the forest, are designated for the rare lichens they support. Stands of old beech plantation are underlain with fantastic spring displays of bluebells. Ground flora characteristic of ancient woodland, such as wood anemone and herb Paris, can be found. Ancient hedgerows, important for many species, connect the woodlands to the more open countryside. A number of sizeable manmade ponds are scattered through the forest. For example, Cannop Pond, created in 1826 as reservoir for Parkend Ironworks, is a particularly popular picnic site, while Soudley Ponds, also created in the 19th century to provide water for local industry, are now designated as an SSSI for their native crayfish, freshwater invertebrates and outstanding dragonfly assemblage.

An abundance of features of historic and cultural significance are evident throughout the NCA, including prehistoric settlements and field systems, Roman sites, Norman castles and the 8th-century Offa’s Dyke, which marks a former border between England and Wales. Relics of the nationally significant industrial past (for example iron ore and coal extraction, and paper milling) are evident in old cave systems, known locally as scowles, from which iron ore was extracted (probably from the Iron Age onwards), tips, quarry faces, disused railway lines and old mills, many of which have been subsumed by the woodland canopy. Old lime kilns are dotted around on the limestone areas. Stunning views of the remains of Tintern Abbey can be captured from the Devil’s Pulpit on the Offa’s Dyke trail, high above the Wye.

Scattered sprawling settlements are found in a ring around the edge of the forest on the central plateau. Developed to support the iron workings and past industries of the area, many of the buildings in these settlements are constructed of local warm-coloured sandstone, grey limestone, brick or pebbledash, with grey slate or pantiled roofs. Parkend and Brierley are the only substantial settlements wholly within the woodland. The forest wastes (areas of open, unfenced, grazing land within the statutory forest) are less well grazed now, although some retain characteristic species of lowland dry acid grassland. Sheep graze openly throughout the forest, and are often seen along roadsides, but there are many fewer than there were prior to the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak, and scrubbing up of many of these open areas is apparent.

To the south and west, the forested plateau opens out to a high, undulating agricultural landscape of both arable and pasture. Fields are medium-sized, and boundaries are of hedges, with only a few hedgerow trees, and discrete coniferous plantations. In places along the edge of the plateau, networks of sunken lanes, with steep banks and trees towering above, contrast markedly with the more open landscape of this part of the plateau.

A scarp slope of sandstone, incised by small river valleys, defines and contains the plateau from the expansive estuarine landscape of the Severn in the southeast. Pasture and woodland occur on the steep slopes, with pockets of remnant heathland, and the richer colours of the Old Red Sandstone are evident in local buildings.

South of Ross-on-Wye are a group of abrupt steep-sided hills, including Penyard Park and Howle Hill, which separate small valleys. The hillsides are covered with dark conifers, which contrast in colours and textures with the arable land within the small valleys. Much of this stretch is less overtly affected by past industrial activity, and is quiet and largely unspoilt. Views out to the west, to the Welsh hills, are particularly noticeable. Further east towards Mitcheldean, and south towards Ruardean, this area merges into a small-scale but dramatic landscape of alternating wooded ridges and farmed valleys, with strong field boundaries and intimate valley views contained by woodland.

In the far south, around St Briavels and Hewelsfield Commons, narrow lanes wind their way between tiny fields, bounded by distinctive local drystone walls or dense hedgerows with hedgerow trees. This area supports notable amounts of species-rich neutral grassland and priority lowland meadow. Lowland calcareous grassland tends to be found in a ring around the central plateaux overlaying the Carboniferous Limestone. The influence of the underlying geology, historic land uses and industry is reflected in the mosaic of heathland, and acid, calcareous and neutral grassland which can be found in places. Only fragments of the oncewidespread heathlands of the Dean plateau survive today, many having been lost to agricultural improvement and afforestation. Remnants of heath supporting bilberry, ling and cross-leaved heath are still found within parts of the forested areas of the Forest of Dean and Tidenham Chase.

Smallholdings retaining traditional orchards – or, in some cases, just a few remnant trees – are found across the agricultural areas of this NCA, although they are more concentrated on the fringe of the NCA to the north, around Cinderford (Flaxley and Blaisdon), and in the east (around Blakeney and Woolaston), where they form a continuation of the larger resource in the adjacent South Herefordshire NCA and Severn and Avon Vales NCA.

With the decline of local industry, tourism increasingly provides a significant economic resource to the area, and recreation sites and facilities are provided. The statutory forest is open access land, and increasing numbers of cycle trails for all abilities are available, together with walking routes such as the Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail, Gloucestershire Way and bridleways.

Access to the Wye for watersports is permitted only in places, however a public right of navigation exists all the way to Hay-on-Wye. The dramatic setting of the forest and of the scowles at Puzzlewood near Coleford, has been used as a backdrop for film and television, and have provided inspiration to local writers such as J K Rowling and Dennis Potter. Access to the area is limited by the few crossing points across the Wye and Severn rivers. The main routes are via the A48 between Chepstow and Gloucester, or the A40 between Ross-on-Wye and Gloucester. There is only one railway station within the area, at Lydney.

The landscape through time

The nature of the underlying rock has had a direct impact on the landscape through the geomorphological processes brought to bear on it, the resulting land uses and exploitation of its minerals. The Forest of Dean is formed from a bowlshaped fold (syncline) with its long axis oriented north-south. This structure is further complicated by a number of subsidiary north-south folds and faults, but generally the youngest rocks of the Coal Measures (mainly Pennant Sandstones), interspersed with coal seams, crop out on the central plateau. Surrounding and beneath the Coal Measures is the older Carboniferous Limestone which, as part of the central plateau, extends south and west around Bream and St Briavels. Devonian Old Red Sandstone lies beyond the limestone. In the north, the sandstones of the Lower Devonian occur in ridges running north to south from Littledean down through Blakeney and Lydney. The extraordinary course of the River Wye, meandering through gorges cut into the Carboniferous Limestone, is thought to have arisen when a larger river, in its mature form, meandered across a flood plain of soft sediments and then cut down through successive layers of rock as land levels rose. The underlying geology, together with the land use, has influenced the mix of woodland types, heathland, and acid, calcareous and neutral grassland found in the area.

From the Iron Age onwards, the deposits of coal and iron ore from within the dolomitic limestones of the Forest of Dean have been an important economic resource. During Roman domination, the deposits of iron ore and the abundant local supplies of charcoal were exploited to produce iron. In the areas of the ‘Crease’ Carboniferous Limestone are the extensive old cave systems from which the iron ore was extracted. These survive as pits, hollows and deep irregular crevices (scowles). A higher proportion of prehistoric and Roman earthwork features may survive in this NCA than in more intensively cultivated areas, although forestry and industrial activity may have caused some damage to archaeological remains. Evidence remains of prehistoric field systems, settlements and burial mounds, and former industrial sites, settlements and villas of the Roman period.

In the 8th century, King Offa consolidated the kingdom of Mercia and defended it against the Welsh tribes, building the dyke that runs north-south through the west of the area. The Normans continued this line of defence, building castles at Goodrich, Monmouth and Chepstow, continuing the exploitation of the iron. In 1292, St Briavels Castle was built as a Royal Armoury, housing a crossbow bolt factory which exploited local iron. In the 12th century, the Cistercians established abbeys at Tintern, Flaxley and Abbey Dore.

However, the main influence on the majority of the area was the creation of a Royal Forest by the Saxon kings. After 1066, the Forest was taken over and expanded by the Norman kings, who continued to use it as a royal hunting reserve, setting out a Forest Law to control use and exploitation. This established the basis of the current land use pattern, with woodland cover retained in the central areas, and settlements restricted to the margins. The Verderers’ Court (consisting of four Verderers) was established to oversee the Forest Law of the Royal Forest in the early 13th century to protect the deer and their habitat, and dealt with offences including the taking of venison, the illegal removal of wood, and encroachment through unauthorised enclosures and buildings. It also oversaw the right of estover (collection of firewood). The Verderers continue to this day, still considering issues relating to the statutory forest and the deer.

Unique to the Forest of Dean, freemining rights were granted by royal charter by Edward I in 1296 and consolidated in law in the 1836 Freemining Act, granting that any man born in the Hundred of St Briavels who had worked a mine within the Hundred for a year and a day was entitled to his own gale (mineral area to be worked).

Industry rapidly expanded in the 16th century, and as exploitation of the coal and iron ore continued into the 17th and 18th centuries, settlements further concentrated around the edge of the statutory forest on the limestone where the iron ore deposits occurred. Most of the Wye Valley woodlands were managed as coppice to provide charcoal for the important iron industries of the area, as well as bark, which was exported for tanning. At the peak of iron production in the 17th century, large quantities of pig iron were shipped up the Severn to supply forges in the West Midlands. The Forest’s ironworks increasingly smelted iron ore from outside the area, though – particularly from north-western England – and some industries, such as wire-making, relied heavily on imported iron, which was more suitable for their needs than that produced locally.

The iron industry declined towards the end of the 19th century, as coke replaced charcoal for smelting. The Dean coal not being good for this process, iron processing moved nearer to better coalfields in South Wales and the Midlands. Coal, however, continued to be worked by freeminers throughout this period, typically on a small scale, by simply opening up a shallow tunnel or adit. Thus a profusion of small pits arose, worked by one man or one family, who settled in the Forest, built a dwelling and cleared a patch of land for their own needs. Improvements in technology led to deeper pits during the latter part of the 19th century, but this expansion was short-lived due to the scattered nature and poor quality of the coal, and the last pit closed in 1965. The commons and the Forest were, and still are, used extensively for unrestricted sheep grazing.

Much of the encroachment by squatters onto areas of former forest common occurred during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some of these settlements, such as Cinderford and Berry Hill, with their terraces of miners’ houses, have more of the feel of a Welsh mining village about them. Away from the woodland, the dispersed settlements of St Briavels and Hewelsfield Commons are of particular note: with their complex field pattern and widely scattered dwellings, they are linked by a network of tiny lanes. This land was also enclosed by squatters towards the end of the 18th century, each enclosing with banks, hedges or walls a small irregular field. These fields now support market gardening, livestock rearing and horse grazing, often on a part-time basis. Some, still traditionally managed, support important, species-rich grasslands. Elsewhere on the plateau south of Coleford, on better-draining soils, arable has been and is the main land use, and the fields are medium-sized and bounded by trimmed hedges.

The valuable timber resource was felled indiscriminately until 1668, when the Dean Forest (Reafforestation) Act resulted in the enclosure of 11,000 acres to exclude grazing animals and regenerate the dwindling woodland cover. Sessile oak and beech were favoured for planting. There was continued conflict between forestry interests, the miners and the commoners, with further afforestation Acts passed in the early 19th century. Timber was used for charcoal, fuel, building and pit props. Oak was particularly valuable for ship building, which was carried out on the Severn and Wye. Conflicts of interest only diminished when freeholds were granted in 1838.

Stone quarrying from the Dean has occurred for many centuries and continues to this day, with large limestone quarries being linked to the construction industry. Sandstones were quarried – and in some cases mined (for example Blakeney Hill and Viney Hill stone mines) – for building, and Pennant Sandstones, in particular, supplied millstones. Limestone was quarried and burnt in small kilns to produce lime for soil improvement. The conjunction of all these resources led to associated industries – including tin plate, machine engineering, brick making, wire works and tanning – locating themselves in the Forest. Larger settlements, such as Cinderford, Coleford, Parkend and Mitcheldean, comprised mines, various industries, housing and commons against the backdrop of the extensive woodlands.

Extensive areas of oak were planted in the late 19th century (mainly by the Navy, for future shipbuilding), and the first forestry school in the country was set up in 1904. In 1924 the Forestry Commission took over the management of the forest areas and a further spate of replanting followed. All of the publicly owned woodlands in the NCA were included in the National Forest Park designation of 1938. During the 20th century, planting was mostly of conifers to the better-drained ridgetops.

Early tourism in the Wye Valley started with the development of the Picturesque Movement and interest in the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries: Tintern Abbey and Symonds Yat were a major focus for this movement in Britain. Recognition of the Wye Valley as an AONB occurred with the designation of the area in 1971, and tourism continues to make a significant contribution to the economy of the area.

More recently, the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease saw the complete removal of sheep from the forest. The reduced numbers that have been returned has impacted on the grazing levels and maintenance of the forest wastes, which are tending to scrub over. Additionally, wild boar have been illegally released and the impact of these is continuing to be assessed. Pressure on woodland regeneration from deer grazing continues to be a problem, particularly in the Wye Valley. The increased accessibility of the forest due to modern lifestyles has led to additional pressures from recreation, but has also provided an important economic input to the area. Pressure from development is restricted to the larger settlements.