James Thomas; planning first visit to the Forest of Dean. (Parish Records)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, October 01, 2017, 16:20 (2603 days ago) @ Debbielakin

When I'm in the forest where's the best place to find out about the history. Any suggestions of places I could visit would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Debbie,
welcome back, it's great that you're finally visiting the Forest after all your research, I hope it goes well. The general question of what places to visit in the FoD has been asked many times and as Slowhands once said on this forum, ask 100 people and you may get 100 suggestions, it all depends on your tastes and hopes. The area is very tourist-minded these days, especially for the active open-air types what with cycling becoming trendy again, so I suggest these prior threads may help you as they cover all aspects of the area. From a local history viewpoint the obvious choice is the Dean Heritage Centre, you'll find links to that and many other attractions within these thread.
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=33227
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=44809
Maybe less relevant as you're from the UK, but also
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=36291

Cinderford's public library has a dedicated local history section if you need to do more reference work, plus they also have extensive leaflets etc for tourism attractions.
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/starting-your-research/starting-to-research-...

If your looking to spend time at Churches and churchyards this thread maybe helpful, if not please ask more specific questions and we'll try to help further.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=41337

Hope this helps, Jeff.