Chestnuts Lodge (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, February 05, 2012, 13:38 (4481 days ago) @ Jefff

I was right (for once!) Janey,
Think your Cerificate was fro a Forester's child.
I hope you can understand my logic, I'm from Cinderford so know the road thro Littledean, around Popes Hill towards Westbury. Imagine you're just leaving Littledean approaching Popes Hill, with the Jail to your left.
IF you could drive straightup the hill to your front, rather than swinging right, then you're driving up Chestnut Hill with Popes Hill "proper" to your right.

At the very summit in the centre of the wood was Chestnuts Lodge, it's clearly marked on the 1923 map but not on the 1953 or later maps. From above its located midway between Greenway to the left (towards Cinderford) and Chestnuts Farm & old quarries on Popes Hill to the right.

For more info on the Lodges, the official home for the King's Foresters, see

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23266&strquery=chestnuts+inclosure

The very last paras say:

"Sites commanding wide views were chosen for the lodges, so that the keepers could watch for fires, timber stealing, or other damage to the plantations. Worcester Lodge is on high ground on the west side of the Cannop valley, Danby Lodge at the summit of a high ridge on the west side of the Blackpool brook valley, and Herbert Lodge faces into the Forest from the south side of Ruardean hill. Latimer Lodge, where a new lodge built on a different but nearby site between 1731 and 1735 replaced the original, stands high on Littledean hill at the north-east rim of the Forest. York Lodge, on a hillside west of Parkend village, is rather less prominently sited. Worcester Lodge is dated 1675, though it was repaired after 1688 when, with the Speech House and York Lodge, it was badly damaged by the rioters. The late 17th-century stone range, similar to a medium-sized farmhouse of the period, has external stacks at each end and a moulded stone doorway in the centre of the eastfront. In the 19th century low additions were made at each end, and in 1911 a twingabled extension, incorporating an existing single-storeyed back kitchen, was made on the west. Danby Lodge, probably built on a plan similar to Worcester Lodge, was remodelled and extended in the 19th century, York Lodge was rebuilt in the 19th century and a new room added at its north end in 1914, and Herbert Lodge was rebuilt or remodelled in the 19th century and again much altered in the late 20th. At Latimer Lodge the building of the early 1730s is a long, symmetrical range with a hipped roof and dormered attics; it was refitted internally in 1906 and later in the 20th century, and the house was converted as four flats c. 1990. The keepers' inclosures of pasture land adjoining the six lodges were largely intact in 1994, that at Worcester Lodge still in Forestry Commission ownership and used as a holiday campsite.
In the early 19th century, when the royal demesne of the Forest was replanted, 24 small lodges were established to house woodmen to guard and maintain the new inclosures. For Shutcastle Inclosure, near Ellwood, a cottage on an old encroachment was bought, and the lodge for Oakenhill Inclosure, near Yorkley, was apparently a cottage that had housed a watchman appointed by the Forest administration c. 1780. The other lodges were new buildings put up between 1806 and 1815, often, like those at Lea Bailey, Serridge, Barnhill, Staple Edge, and Chestnuts, at high and isolated sites in the middle of the inclosures. The small two-storeyed cottages, built of local stone, were identified by an inscription on a window lintel, recording the name, date, and acreage of the inclosure and, usually, the name of the Crown's surveyor general of woods, Lord Glenbervie. The staff of woodmen employed in the Forest was reduced during the 19th century, and by 1897 nine of the cottages were no longer occupied for their original purpose, some being let to forestry workers. During the 20th century several of the cottages were demolished or abandoned to decay, while others, mainly those at the more accessible sites, were sold by the Forestry Commission in the 1960s and early 1970s."

From: 'Forest of Dean: Settlement', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 300-325. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23266&strquery=chestnuts+in...

(NB this site is "the" definitive history and always worth searching).

Some recent photos of these woods are shown
http://www.greenbottom.org/Walks/Chestnuts/index.html

The pink arrow on the Streetmap points to where the Lodge was. I suspect if it remained at all this site would have photos of it; good to see a cat getting some exercise rather than just sitting in front of the fire ;-)