St Briavels

St Briavels Castle is a moated Norman castle at St Briavels in the English county of Gloucestershire. The castle is noted for its huge Edwardian gatehouse that guards the entrance. St Briavels Castle was originally built between 1075 and 1129 as a royal administrative centre for the Forest of Dean. During the 13th century the castle became first a favourite hunting lodge of King John, and then the primary centre in England for the manufacture of arrows for use with the longbow, the predominant missile weapon of the English in the later medieval period, and quarrels, large numbers of which were required for crossbows in medieval warfare. The castle was transferred many times between royal favourites in the 14th and 15th centuries and slowly declined in appearance and importance. St Briavels Castle became used primarily as a court and as a notorious debtors' prison, conditions being documented by the prison reformer John Howard in 1775. Following local riots and a parliamentary investigation in the 1830s, reforms in the 19th century brought an end to the castle's use as a prison. Extensive renovation at the turn of the 20th century allowed St Briavels Castle to be taken over as a Youth Hostel in 1948. It remains in this role today, owned by English Heritage and open to the public. The castle is classed as a Grade I listed building and as a Scheduled Monument.

Slade Brook (grid reference SO564055) is a 3.63-hectare (9.0-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 2003.

Stow Green Castle, also known as Castle Tump, was a castle near the village of St Briavels in Gloucestershire, England. The castle is believed to have been built after the Norman Conquest. The castle was a small circular ring-motte fortification, once measuring 35 yards across, now only 25 yards, with a high motte, or mound, in the middle and a protective ditch around it. The entrance to the castle was on the south side of the fortification. The castle would have defended the Stowe valley, and was probably a precursor to the later St Briavels Castle in the same area.

Hewelsfield and Brockweir is a civil parish in Forest of Dean District, Gloucestershire. The parish was called Hewelsfield until 1994. It contains two distinct villages, Hewelsfield and Brockweir, with scattered settlement on Hewelsfield common.

The Hewelsfield Motte is a roughly circular mound, in Hewelsfield, Gloucestershire, England. It is thought to be a castle motte dating from the period 1175-1200. The site is also known as Hewelsfield Castle Tump. The motte is a scheduled monument, first listed on 3 April 2012, List Entry Number 1407096.

Hewelsfield is a village in Hewelsfield and Brockweir civil parish, in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England. The village is located 6 miles south of Coleford and 5 miles north-east of Chepstow, close to the Wye valley and partly within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Bigsweir Woods (grid reference SO546060) is a 48.16-hectare (119.0-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1984. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS) (including Wyeseal and Slip Woods).The site is within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is part owned by the Woodland Trust.Wye Valley Woodlands/ Coetiroedd Dyffryn Gwy are recognised as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the EU Habitats Directive.

Bigsweir Bridge is an 1827 road bridge crossing the River Wye, straddling the boundary between the parish of St. Briavels, Gloucestershire, England, and Llandogo, Monmouthshire, Wales.

Clearwell Castle in Clearwell, the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, is a Gothic Revival house constructed from 1727. Built by Thomas Wyndham to the designs of Roger Morris, it is the earliest Georgian Gothic Revival castle in England predating better-known examples such as Strawberry Hill House by over twenty years. A home of the Wyndham family for some 150 years, the first half of the twentieth century saw a disastrous fire, and subsequent asset-stripping, which brought the castle close to ruination. Slowly restored from 1954, in the 1970s the castle housed a recording studio used by, among other major bands, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Queen and Sweet. Now operating as a wedding venue, the castle is a Grade II* listed building.

St Briavels Station was a station along the Wye Valley Railway. It was built in 1876 during the construction of the line on the Monmouthshire side of the River Wye at Bigsweir, and was intended to serve the nearby villages of St Briavels, across the river in the Forest of Dean, and Llandogo, which is further down the Wye Valley. It was closed on 5 January 1959 when the line was closed to passenger services.

Clearwell (anciently "Clower-Wall" etc.) is a village and former ancient manor in the Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England. A recent survey indicated that the population of Clearwell is approximately 350.There are mines locally that date back over 7,000 years to the mining of ochre and are known as Clearwell Caves. Later, the Romans mined iron at Clearwell Meend. Iron production expanded in medieval times and peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, leaving a legacy of fine stone built buildings. Clearwell Castle, a 'mock' castle of Gothic architecture built in 1728, is located in Clearwell.

East Wood (grid reference SO561001) (west site) and (grid reference SO563001) (east site) is a 0.82-hectare (2.0-acre) nature reserve in Gloucestershire, England. The west site is 0.45-hectare (1.1-acre). The east site is 0.37-hectare (0.91-acre). It is part of a larger area of woodland called East Wood, which is adjacent to Oakhill Wood (to the north west) and Woolaston Wood (east). The site was leased from the Forestry Commission in 1986 and is managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).