"Woodmen" of the Forest (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, 16:15 (4135 days ago) @ pojames

Hi,
yes I think anyone calling themselves a Woodmen on a Census etc were employed by the Crown hence yes Crown Woodman, they weren't "merely" woodfellers but actively managed the forests and knew the whole forestry management task, perhaps in a career heirarchy a little like the gardener's thread of last week. And yes the house went with the job as a search of this forum will show, very convenient for the workplace, I recall as a child visiting a Lodge perhaps near Speech House ?, which was surrounded by woods for acres, peaceful & beautiful (in summer anyhow!). However some of the Lodges were apparently barely huts, or at least some of the lesser ones had fallen into disrepair in more recent times judging by some accounts such as the photo you posted. The British History site link I posted earlier has the best description about them, see
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=35549

Of course some of the Lodges were rather grand, I think those being the major more-established ones which were allocated to the senior Crown Keepers such as Worcester, Latimer etc. Rather like the stationmaster's house compared to platelayer's huts in railway parlance perhaps.

Last Christmas I drove along the Collafield ridge above Cinderford where we used to cycle into the woods for the day. Latimer Lodge is still there and looks very "des-res" if appearances are anything to go by, altho many more newer houses nearby. In later years c1915 and after it became a guest house as the photo below verifies, my net searches show it's now been split into at least eight flats to give you an indication of it's fair size.
My son has always pined for a dog so over the years we've spent a lot of time petting other people's !. While explaining how some pups appear to have extra large heads & feet I told him abt how alsations are great examples of this having seen a litter of pups as a child while en-route to Collafield woods; how nice it was to just find this prior post on the subject !!.
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=1548

I THINK I read somewhere altho' traditionally attractive to look at some of them were built to a strict formula, not quite pre-fabs but certainly tailor-made for the job.

http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/fod_variety_1/pages/page_11.html
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/fod_variety_2/pages/page_71.html

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Re the video, sorry you cannot see them, I do realise we're "lucky" living here near London in that respect, parts of the Forest still suffer poor connectivity including a Doctor's Surgery nr Westbury having to close because of it, ridiculous !
This article gives a fair impression of what some feel about the boar, and yes they are tasty ! It may take a while to load so please be patient.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/05/hundreds-wild-boar-cull-forest-of-dean

Re photos and history of the Dean, here's another excellent website, it can be a little awkward to navigate but patient browsing will be rewarded with a huge variety of information and photos, strongly recommended.
http://way-mark.co.uk/foresthaven/nature/naturdee.htm#
http://way-mark.co.uk/foresthaven/forestry/histor01.htm#