Coleford and Around: Forest of Dean Part 2

A Cave, a History Walk and a Sculpture Trail

Gloucestershire

Forest of Dean

The small town of Coleford (pop 8,500), three miles west of the Speech House, is the administrative centre for the Forest of Dean District. After breakfast we drove into Coleford and then a couple of miles south to the Clearwell Caves.

Clearwell Caves, Coleford

Clearwell Caves are a natural cave system greatly enlarged by mining. The Forest of Dean sits upon a basin of carboniferous shale and sandstone underlain by older carboniferous limestone. In the middle of the forest, coal seams run through the shales and sandstones while the limestone outcrops around the rim of the basin are rich in iron ore.

Coal was mined in the Dean before the Romans arrived while ochre mining is believed to have started 7,000 years ago in the middle stone age, though the earliest tools on display at Clearwell are late stone age, around 4,500 years old. In recent years small scale ochre production has resumed for the art market.

Clearwell Caves Ochre

The section of caves open to the casual visitor are the upper workings….

Abandoned upper workings, Clearwell Caves

…with occasional glimpses into the depths.

A glimpse into th depths, Clearwell Caves

Large scale mining finished in 1945. Owner Ray Wright explored the caves in depth (he was a founding member of the Royal Forest of Dean Caving Club) and opened Clearwell to visitors in 1968. When he died in 2015, his son Jonathan took over. Ray was one of the four Forest of Dean Verderers (see previous post) and for 30 years secretary of the Royal Forest of Dean Freeminers' Association, a post now held by Jonathan.

In the Dean, mining and quarrying have been carried out exclusively by Freeminers for a thousand years. In modern(ish) legal terms, the Forest of Dean (Mines Act) of 1838 says “All male persons born or hereafter to be born and abiding within the Hundred of St Briavels [roughly the same area as the modern Forest of Dean District], of the age of twenty one years and upwards, who shall have worked a year and a day in a coal or iron mine within the said Hundred of St Briavels, shall be deemed and taken to be Free Miners." A Freeminer can register a claim and is then free to work it, although certain royalties must be paid to the Crown. In 2010 Elaine Morman was the first woman to apply to become a Freeminer and it was decided – not without resistance – that the word 'male' in the act should now be interpreted as 'male and female'.

Redundant mini-railway, Clearwell Caves

The King protected the miners in his Royal Forest, and in return miners volunteered to aid him should a besieged castle need undermining. The system has kept mining small scale, despite 18th century attempts by the Crawshay and Prothero families to expand their empires from the industrial valleys of South Wales. Underhand tactics were employed – including the disappearing of Mine Law Court records from the Speech House, but in the end little changed, though the Verderers gained some fine carved oak chairs from the Crawshays (see previous post).

Clearwell is the sole surviving iron mine, but freeminers still operate six small collieries and eight quarries. Once granted the title of ‘freeminer’ it is kept for life, and as no specific record is kept of freeminer’s deaths it is uncertain how many there are, but there are thought to be around 150 living freeminers, some active others not.

In several caverns the ghostly, silent shadows of working miners now long gone were projected onto walls.

Following the old galleries, Clearwell Caves

Home to a large colony of horseshoe bats, the Caves have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and there is an attempt in one area to give humans a better understanding of echo-location (I don’t think we were up to it!) Elsewhere electronic magic revives some of the denizens of the deep who once thrived here; some are scarier than others.

Former resident of the area, Clearwell Caves

The mining years are remembered with some nostalgia, but several displays reminded us that children once laboured in these mines (only in 1843 did it become illegal for under-tens to work below ground) and the weights they were expected to carry up rickety ladders damaged developing bones.

Coleford: A Walk Through History

Returning to Coleford we dropped into the Tourist Information Office and picked up a Coleford ‘Walk Through History’ booklet.

Stop 1, the Whitecliff Ironworks eluded us, Stop 2 was the railway bridge. The highlights of Coleford are not Premier League, if the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids are Manchester City and Liverpool, then Coleford Railway Bridge is, well, Coleford Town Reserves (North Gloucestershire Association, Division Three). The bridge was built in 1883 for the Coleford Branch of the Great Western Railway, which linked to the Severn and Wye Railway, making Coleford a transport hub, of sorts. Both lines were dismantled long ago.

Coleford railway bridge and the Baptist Chrch beyond

Stop 3 is the Baptist Church which can be seen through the railway bridge in the above photo. Nonconformism has always been strong in the Dean and the first Baptist Church was built in 1799. This French Romanesque pastiche dates from 1858 and is an imposing building if a little out of place among the 19th century cottages.

So far, so underwhelming, but looking closer we found something to wonder at. Why does a stone lion stand on a small plinth on this otherwise workaday railway bridge?

Lion on the railway bridge, Coleford

Climbing Bowen Hill, we found the parish church of St John the Evangelist (or John the Baptist according to the Town Guide). Built in 1880 to replace a previous 19th century church in Market Square, it is currently closed to visitors and in danger of demolition.

St John the Evangelist, Coleford

The Market Square and the Civil War Battle of Coleford

Continuing to the end of the road and turning towards the market square we encountered the remains of its predecessor. An octagonal church built in 1820, it had become too small for the growing town, and was demolished and replaced by St John’s – though they left the clock tower. A church without a tower is unremarkable, a church tower without a church is maybe unique. It looks odd.

Market Square, Coleford

The next stop on the tour was the Old White Hart Inn, which can be seen on the right above, and full face below. Built in the 17th century, it is one of the oldest surviving buildings around the Market Square – and looks in dire need of some help.

Old White Hart, Coleford

I was beginning to feel sorry for Coleford, so I was pleased to see the Angel Inn, also on the Market Square, looked cared for and welcoming. Coleford’s premier coaching inn has occupied this site since the start of the 17th century, though the current building is only 200 years old.

The Angel Inn, Coleford

Across the end of the street is the handsome Bank House, built around 1768 and now housing the office of the Deputy Gaveller of the Royal Forest. Part of the ancient governance of the Forest, the Deputy Gaveller registers freeminers and collects royalties for the Crown. The once even more important role of Gaveller has been taken over by the Forestry Commission, who also have their local offices in Bank House.

Bank House, Coleford

The Kings Head on the corner may be over 300 years old, but it is another building in desperate need of attention. The scaffold suggests help is on its way, and not before time. Legend has it that during the Battle of Coleford (1643) a Roundhead soldier in the King’s Head shot and killed a Royalist officer in the Market Square, near where the tower now stands. Hitting a target at 120m with a 17th century musket required either great skill, immense good luck (or bad lack, depending on point of view) or never happened.

The King's Head, Coleford

A plaque near the clock tower placed by the Sealed Knot re-enactment group commemorates the Battle of Coleford, a minor Civil War engagement.

Battle of Coleford memorial plaque, Coleford Market Square

Early in 1643 Welsh Royalists raised an army of some 2,000 and under the command of Colonel John Lawley (or Lawdly) set off to support the king at Gloucester. Their way was blocked by the strongly Parliamentarian Forest of Dean and on approaching Coleford (which then had a population of around 500) they encountered barricades in the streets.

Troops on both sides were largely inexperienced and casualties were few, but the foresters among the defenders were good shots and Lawley and his two most experienced officers were killed. Eventually the Royalists superior numbers prevailed and the defenders melted into the forest.

Continuing their march, the army was destroyed a month later at the Battle of Highnam.

It was lunchtime and in The Baguette Shop on the Market Square we found two women cheerfully constructing sandwiches to order at a very reasonable price.

The Mushets, Father and Son

Refreshed by a sandwich and a pot of tea we reached the entrance to the Co-op which is marked by a wrought iron gate and a mural by Tom Cousins honouring the Mushets, father and son. David Mushet was a metallurgist and something of an obsessive, which spoilt his relationships with business partners and family. Born in Scotland in 1772 he arrived in Coleford in 1808 as manager of the Whitecliff ironworks – the one we had been unable to find at the start of this walk. He greatly improved the production methods and quality of Forest of Dean iron and steel, work continued by his son Robert after his death in 1847. Between them they were largely responsable for Coleford’s rapid growth and prosperity in the 19th century.

Tom Cousin's Mushet mural, Coleford

A little further up the High Street is the Drill Hall built in 1906 for training militia volunteers. In 1909 Colour Sergeant Richard Reeves started giving magic lantern shows and in 1910 he and a business partner converted the building into the Electric Cinema, and a cinema it has been, albeit with a name change, ever since.

Studio cinema, operating in Coleford since 1910

The last stop on our walk was the relatively modest house of the Mushets, now a hotel.

The home of David and later Robert Mushet, Coleford

But the days of iron, coal and the Mushets have gone and with them Coleford’s prosperity. Four or five of the buildings on the town’s official ‘Walk through History’ are redundant, threatened with demolition or in poor repair and that speaks volumes. There is an industrial estate south of the town where SPP Pumps Ltd, Britain's leading pump manufacturer, employs 300 people, but the largest employer is the Japanese conglomerate Suntory, whose factory produces all the country’s Ribena and Lucozade - brands whose heyday was during my childhood in the 1950s.

There is plenty to see around the Forest of Dean and Coleford is trying to reinvent itself as a tourist centre but there is a way to go yet. On the positive side, we liked the cheerful panache of The Baguette Shop, we liked the hanging baskets round the Market Square and the private displays elsewhere, and we liked the way that twice on our wanderings we were stopped by locals just to chat and give us extra information. Coleford is a town whose heart is in the right place, so there must be hope.

Coleford looking floral and cheerful

The Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail

Heading back towards Speech House we stopped at the Beechenhurst Visitor Centre for a walk in the woods and a look at the sculptures. Visitors have been somewhat dismissive of the sculptures on Trip Advisor, but as reviewers are rarely qualified art critics we approached it with open minds.

The Forest of Dean

The paths were well maintained and gently graded, which suited our footwear, but the sculptures were not easy to find. We were intentionally short-cutting the full 4½ mile trail so perhaps we were missing them.

Further into the Forest of Dean

But then we found one…

We've found a sculpture, Forest of Dean

…. then another….

And this must be another sculpture

And then they came thick and fast. Neither of us have arty qualifications either, but we were also unimpressed. If you cannot tell a work of art from a pile of stuff left over from earlier activity, is it a work of art? That sounds like an A level essay I have no intention of writing.

This was labelled as a sculpture, but is it just a pile of stones?

Then, in defiance of the benign local weather forecast, it started to rain. We sheltered as best we could from the downpour, then completed what had been a very pleasant walk despite the uninspiring artworks and dampness.

Attempting to shelter from the rain, Forest of Dean

Wild boar were hunted to extinction in this country in the 18th century but in recent decades boars have re-established themselves in the wild after accidental (or deliberate) releases from farms. The Forest of Dean boar population (around 1,500) is the largest in England, so we were disappointed not to see one - they are not dangerous, unless you do something stupid. We did, though, see the damage they cause rooting in the undergrowth.

A Fine Dinner at the Speech House Hotel

To celebrate Lynne’s birthday we had a reservation at the Speech House fine dining restaurant, which can be the Verderers Room, where we had breakfast, or the smaller Carolean depending on number of bookings.

Calling yourself a ‘fine dining’ restaurant is a hostage to fortune, particularly if you lack a cluster of AA Rosettes or a Michelin star to back it up. Head chef Gareth Jenkins has been at the Speech House less than a year and bagged the hotel’s first ever AA Rosette in August, so there are clearly ambitions here.

We skipped starters, it is the only way we have a hope of managing a dessert these days - getting older is a bugger. Lynne chose hake with onions, chive oil, baby potatoes and cream. She dislikes her fish ‘messed about’ but her definition of ‘messed about’ seems strangely variable. I would have expected the creamy sauce to be ‘messing about’ but apparently it was not; the hake was perfect, the sauce fine and the chive oil set it off nicely. She was pleased with her choice.

Lynne and her hake, Speech House Hotel

I went for chicken and mash – which hardly sounds like a fine dining dish, nor something I might normally select, but….the chicken was good quality and perfectly cooked, the mashed potato was extraordinarily smooth yet retained enough texture not to be a purée and had been gently smoked. Overdone, smoking takes over the whole dish, underdone and it might as well have never happened, but here the balance was spot on. The leeks were good, the pea purée had an intensified pea flavour, the sauce was glossy and deep and the match sticks of green apple supplied just the right acidity. It was a clever and satisfying plate of food from humble ingredients.

A rather superior chicken and mash

The wine list was less brilliant but a bottle of Rioja Blanco went down well and we did manage dessert, chocolate ganache and a banana confection. [update: the autumn menu now (Nov 19) on the Speech House website is a little more ambitious. They are going in the right direction, I would quite like to return.]

Forest of Dean
Part 1: Into the Dean, Goodrich and The Speech House
> Part 2: Coleford and Around
Part 3: Puzzlewood and The Kymin

Other 1 AA Rosette meal9
The Speech House, Forest of Dean Gloucestershire (2019)
The Hotel du Vin, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (2019)
The Hotel du Vin, Stratford-upon-Avon. Warwickshire (2022)
The Dukes Head, Kings Lynn, Norfolk (2022)