Mining Regions in England

The Forest of Dean Coalfield is the only one to be situated wholly within one of the royal forests. It occupies a densely wooded upland area between the Wye Valley and the River Severn. Since the Middle Ages the Free Miners of the Forest have been granted rights by the crown to mine coal in the Forest. The areas which the Free Miners were allowed to mine are known as the Gales. During the 1950s there were six deep Gales being worked in the coalfield alongside six collieries owned by the National Coal Board(NCB). By the 1990s the Free Miners were alone in mining the coalfield as the last NCB colliery closed in 1965.