Dean Heritage Centre

The Dean Heritage Centre stands in the Soudley valley, within the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. It preserves the social and industrial history of the Forest and its people through a museum, a restored waterwheel, a forester’s cottage, art workshops and woodland trails. The site includes a millpond fed by a stream from Morgan’s Pool, home to mallard and mandarin ducks. Picnic tables, barbecue hearths and an adventure playground offer places to rest, while the Heritage Kitchen serves home-made food. The museum’s five galleries trace the Forest’s history from early fossils to the present. Artefacts include an 1830s colliery beam engine, Thomas Sopwith’s 1838 geological model and a collection of longcase clocks from the 18th and 19th centuries. The centre began in 1983 after the Dean Heritage Museum Trust bought Camp Mill in 1979 to save local heritage. A major refurbishment completed in 2003 was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Visitors walk a forestry trail through ancient oak and beech woods to Bradley Hill for views across the valley. A reconstructed forester’s cottage shows Victorian and Edwardian life, with a sitting room, kitchen and period furnishings. Outside stands a wash-house with a copper and mangle, and a garden planted with traditional vegetables. The site also features a charcoal burners’ camp where twice-yearly burns demonstrate traditional methods. Nearby, Harvey’s Folly recreates a freemine entrance, recalling the Forest’s mining rights dating back to Edward II.