Severn & Wye Railway Forest of Dean, Volume 4, by Ian Pope & Paul Karau

Published by Wild Swan in 2009, 171 pages (pagination continues from previous volumes). Hardback with Dust Jacket - c.22cm by 27.5cm (A7K)

From the inside front fly leaf: The casual visitor to the Forest of Dean will no doubt find it a pleasant, though unassuming, area in which to escape the pressures of everyday life, the absence of splendour in the land­ scape being more than compensated for by the tranquillity to be found in its lush and gentle greenwood.

The more observant traveller may, however, perceive places where the rough scars of man's work interrupt the natural contours of the land, and pathways whose alignment and earth­ works betray their former purpose.

In fact the Forest was once a rather different place to that promoted today by the Wyedean Tourist Board. Its dense, leafy canopy concealed a rich mineral wealth which was known and exploited as far back as Roman times, reaching a peak around the turn of the century.

Ambitious traders, anxious to convey their hard-won products to the markets of the outside world promoted and built a network of tramroads and, later, railways which were to play a vital role in the area's rise to industrial prominence. Contents in the book include:

The Mineral Loop
Along the Route
Crump Meadow Colliery
Foxes Bridge
Woorgreen Colliery
Lightmoor Colliery
Acorn Patch
New Fancy Colliery
Brick Pit
Patent Fuel Works
Pillowell Colliery
Park Iron Ore & Coal Sidings
New Norchard (Pillowell Drift)
Signalling and Train Working on the Mineral Loop

The condition of the book is generally very good. The dust jacket has one or two very minor scuffs, and a small area of bumping and creasing in the top left hand corner, but the spine is intact and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.