It has been referred to as ‘the prettiest coalfield in the world for at least a century.’ And anyone visiting Hopewell Colliery will get to see exactly what that’s the case when they embark on a fascinating underground tour.
You’ll strap on a miner’s helmet and walk in the footsteps of hundreds of miners before you on this 45-minute guided investigation of local mine workings in the Forest of Dean.
Going underground in the Forest of Dean
Experienced miners leading the tour will be able to explain precisely how the coal was cultivated and explain the various jobs miners took on underground, going as far back as the 1820s. There’s the old Victorian furnace to examine and the old ‘dram road’ to follow – at which point you’ll find yourself back in the beautiful Forest of Dean woodland.
As well as the tour, Hopewell Colliery boasts a museum, café and gift shop. There’s also a working mine nearby where coal is still extracted from underground.
But it’s in the museum that the tale of freemining unfolds. Here you’ll find out how the local miners managed to acquire for themselves the official title of ‘freeminers,’ giving them unique rights to what they mined underground.’ It stretches way back to the 13th and 14th centuries when the freeminers in the region helped the king recapture Berwick upon Tweed from the Scots. Later, in 1838, parliament passed the Dean Forest (Mines) Act.
It’s official – local miners are ‘freed’ by parliament
It stated @coleford_town: “All male persons born or hereafter to be born and abiding within the said Hundred of St Briavels, 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.”
In order to qualify for the privilege, miners had to be born in and live within the Hundred of St Briavels, be aged over 21 and ‘have worked for a year and a day in a [local] mine.’
History of mining in the Forest of Dean
Mining in the area goes back thousands of years to Roman times when the ground offered iron and coal. Even then, the local miners managed to retain independent rights. It’s thought this was because they supplied the Romans with produce. Later generations minded for ochre and stone in addition to coal and iron.
Access and entrance to Hopewell Colliery
The Colliery is located on the B4226 Coleford to Cinderford road. Sat-Nav users are warned – the postcode is for Speech House, which sits to the east of the Colliery. You can also call Hopewell for directions, tel: 01594 810706. The good news is that there’s plenty of free space to park once you get there.
The last guided tour of the day is at 3 pm. The prices are £10 (adults) and £8 (kids aged four to 16). You can also buy a family ticket for £31 (two adults/two kids) or £38 (with three kids).
