St Briavels
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St Briavels is a medium sized village and civil parish in the extreme west of Gloucestershire, on the border between England and Wales. It is roughly equidistant from the Welsh market town of Chepstow and county town of Monmouth. The nearest town on the English side is Coleford.
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[edit] History
St. Briavels (pronounced "Brevels"), is a quaint, remote village in the Royal Forest of Dean and an officially appointed Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). At its highest point standing almost 800ft above sea level, commanding magnificent views over the Wye Valley it was once known as 'Ledenia Parva' (Little Lydney) and stands on the edge of a limestone plateau above the valley of the River Wye, just on the English side of the Welsh border and Offa's Dyke Path, above an ancient meander of the river.
The village is sheltered behind the crumbling walls of its 12th century moated Norman castle [1], which was garrisoned by Miles de Gloucester for King Henry I as early as 1130. The castle was later granted to him with the first of Dean in July 1141 when he was made Earl of Hereford.
St Briavel's Castle has been a Norman fortress, a Royal castle & hunting lodge of King John of England and also visited by Henry II, who made St Briavels Castle the administrative and judicial centre for the Forest of Dean. It has also been a prison, a school & a private house, but today it is a long flourishing youth hostel.
Although like so many settlements in these islands, little is known for certain about the origin of St. Briavels, or about the period between the withdrawal of the Roman legions and the coming of the Normans in 1066. It is thought that it takes its name from a much-travelled early Christian missionary, St. Brieve, who must have journeyed far and wide, for the name appears in places as far apart as Gloucestershire, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany.
In these intervening years, King Offa of Mercia, built his famous Offa's Dyke from the mouth of the River Wye near Chepstow to Chester, and the remains of that dyke can still be seen in the nearby Hudnalls wood. What is certain is that a Norman thought it an ideal site for one of the many castles built from Chepstow to Chester to check the intrusion of the warlike Welsh tribesmen from the Welsh Kingdom of Gwent into the more peaceful areas east of the Severn and Wye rivers. At Windward, the highest point in the parish, the land rises to eight hundred feet above sea level; the castle itself is somewhat lower at six hundred feet and nestles into the hillsides, with a commanding view of the Wye Valley between Tintern and Redbrook.
The castle & St Mary's Parish Church, which was built in 1089, must have been the site of a considerable community, for the castle was the home of the Constable of the Forest of Dean, a region stretching northwards and eastwards toward the city of Gloucester. Cut off from the rest of England by the tidal Severn River to the east and the treacherous tidal Wye to the west, the Forest was in many ways more isolated than most other parts of the country. As a result, this area produced a culture, language and way of living peculiarly its own. The Forest is full of ancient customs and traditions.
In 1155 the castle and the Forest of Dean was held by the Crown after the revolt of Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford. It then remained as a crown possession for the rest of the Middle Ages.
The Forest of Dean being unique in its concentration of rich mineral resources, people in the Forest were mostly employed in coal mining and iron, quarrying, and forestry with Verderers. St. Briavels itself was almost entirely pastoral.
During the 17th century the Forest of Dean had the largest concentration of iron furnaces, ironworks and forges in Britain. Between the 16th century and 18th century timber from the Forest was heavily relied upon for the construction of ships - and almost became exhausted, supplying to the demands of Drake, Raleigh & Nelson.
Due to the rich mineral resource in the region, coal mining has always been important in the Forest of Dean. The local miners were also very highly valued for their skills in burrowing under the foundations of fortifications, enabling the buildings to be collapsed and destroyed, making the miners very useful for any military campaign. It is thought King Edward I granted the coal and ore miners of the Forest the now very famous 'Free-Mining' status, after a particularly successful episode undermining the foundations of Berwick Castle at Berwick-on-Tweed on the Scottish border!
To be a Freeminer, an individual has to be "male, born and abiding within the 'Hundred of St Briavels', of the age of 21 and upwards who shall have worked for a year and a day in a coal or iron ore mine or stone quarry within the Hundred". Freeminers have the right to dig for minerals anywhere in the Forest of Dean except beneath churchyards, orchards and gardens. (However, the thriving local population of 'moles' takes care of that!).
The 'Hundred of St Briavels' : During the 11th century to 13th century the shire counties were split into hundred (division)s. Tradition has it that a Hundred (country subdivision) was the area that could supply a hundred fighting men when called upon by the King and that is where the name originates. The largest hundred in the Forest of Dean is the St. Briavels hundred and its boundaries approximate to the Forest boundaries.
Other peculiarities to the area include the ancient right for 'sheep badgers' to let their flocks roam freely and pigs were also allowed to forage freely in the Forest. Firewood was also allowed to be gathered from the local Hudnalls wood. [See the associated 'St Briavels Bread and Cheese Dole' below].
[edit] Today
There are still a number of traditional Forester families living & working in the area keeping the ancient traditions & rights alive. Freemining, free roaming sheep garzed on common land - drivers beware! - and grazing of pigs in the Forest, are rights and responsibilities extended to the people of St. Briavels that are still exercised today, although more so elsewhere in the Forest of Dean.
St. Briavels is also famous for another age old tradition called the 'St Briavels Bread and Cheese Dole' which is said to date back to the time of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford (then lord of the Forest of Dean) in the 12th century. Each year on Whit Sunday bread & cheese is thrown from the wall of the castle to local 'Dole Claimers' dressed in medieval costume. 'Dole claimers' could be anyone who paid a penny to the incumbent Earl of Hereford entitling them to gather firewood from the nearby Hudnalls wood. Some believe in the power of these edible morsels and preserve them for good luck (miners originally used them as charms to protect against accidents underground). Today some people choose to place them in matchboxes and rest them under their pillow to inspire dreams of the future!
[edit] Amenities
The village and the common land of St. Briavels is an official designated 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' is relatively unchanged. The village has a pub and a traditional Inn where you can get food & accommodation. There is also an art gallery called Mariana-Art [2], a very good junior school, a couple of churches and a doctor's surgery.
Village lifetoday is centred around the school, church & the Assembly Rooms, which has a hall with a stage for entertainment & special events for the local close knit community. It also has a snooker room and a reading room for hire. Today the Rooms hold a very popular and well established monthly Local Produce & Suppliers Market, a local farmers' market offering a fine selection of organic vegetables, rare breed pedigree pork, award winning local cheeses, cider, wine, honey & a range of delicacies otherwise usual to London's specialists, Fortnum & Mason.
The St. Briavels Assembly Rooms are also used by the community for classes, playgroups and various events and are therefore essential to the community that they are kept open and in good order for many years to come. A recent grant from DEFRA of £94,000 is currently being spent on updating the Rooms for increased usage.
St. Briavels is also home to many talented artists, sculptors, writers & arts & crafts people, so various exhibitions can usually be found throughout the year and are also held in the Assembly Rooms. For more information you can visit www.st-briavels.com
[edit] Village character
The general character of the village is typified by a mid 19th century core, complemented to the east by a large number of houses built during the 1970s [3]. To the west, Cinder Hill drops off sharply into the valley, which has now been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Although many residents now no longer work in the area the village retains a relatively vibrant community, centred around the village school and the assembly rooms. There is an annual Summer Fete (also known as 'The Carnival') which attracts large crowds.
There is also a Gothic Congregational church in the village of the 1870s.
[edit] Carnival
Although actually more of a traditional English village Fête, the annual event is locally known as St. Briavels Carnival and is usually held in the second Saturday in June, on the recreation ground, run by the 'carnival committee' - a sub-committee of the playing fields committee. The carnival is organised and run by volunteers. The carnival starts around 2pm where each carnival float (parade) gathers and fancy dress contestants congregate around the village green. An impartial judge is selected by the committee, and is usually someone from outside or new to the village. Previous judges have included the current Reverend (the year when he was new to the village.) There used to be around four floats however that number has recently risen to five due to the participation of Key Stage 2 at the local school. Floats include: St. Briavels School, St. Briavels Infants, St. Briavels Juniors, St. Briavels Playgroup, Carnival Queen Float. The floats then process through the village, finally parking at the bottom of the recreation ground. The carnival then begins.
[edit] Surrounding parish
Upper Meend and Lower Meend are locales situated on the west of the village on the slope leading down to the valley floor where the River Wye runs. Nearby hamlets and settlements include St. Briavels Common (which has not been common land since the Enclosure Acts but retains its name), Cold Harbour (a name derived from a corruption of the French, "cul d'arbre", meaning "forested hill"), Mork, the Hudnalls, and Triangle, which lies towards Brockweir. The villages of Llandogo, Penallt and Whitebrook lie on the Welsh side of the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire. At the base of the valley, Bigsweir is the site of one of the world's first iron bridges, the Bigsweir Bridge across the Wye.
[edit] A true 'Forester'
To be classed as a true forester, a resident natural of the Forest of Dean, with the benefits that bestows, you must have been born within the ancient administrative area of the Hundred of St Briavels.
[edit] References
Remfry, P.M., Saint Briavels Castle, 1066 to 1331 (ISBN 1-899376-05-4)
