Year 8 in the Forest

Dean Heritage museum and Hopewell Colliery Museum were the sites for Saturday’s activity with the Year 8 Common Entrance pupils. The Forest of Dean was a major industrial site in the 18th and 19th centuries – wood was cut down to “cook” to make charcoal, which was in turn used as the heating agent to make iron. The Forest being rich in timber and iron ore had all the requirements for industry, and it was only once they discovered how to make iron from coke (cooked coal) that the trees could re-grow.
One group of Year 8 concentrated on the industrial sites before looking at a Forester’s cottage to see how people lived at this time. No electricity, everything dependent on coal, hot water heated on the range or in a copper in the washhouse. The weight of the cast iron pots is impressive, but no one fancied the job of emptying the chamber pots or having to wash in an open bath in front of the fire. How things have changed. The other group walked down the drift mine entrance at Hopewell Colliery. One section is still an activity colliery, but we were taken to disused seams. The owner Robin told the group that he was working 2000 feet below where they were on the previous day. He distrusts the gas detecting equipment and prefers to still work by candle light, believing that it gives you more warning of a build up of gas. Some of the taller members of the group were beginning to find the height of the seam difficult to manage, and few would fancy this as a full time profession. The two-site visit is a very effective and practical way of preparing the pupils for their history exams – they will certainly have a better idea of the conditions that people lived and worked in during the industrial revolution.

Click here to see some pictures