Reading the Forest

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Reading the Forest

Discovering and sharing the Forest of Dean's literary landscape - books, stories and authors

04/09/2026

You can now see a list of all the remarkable things in the Forest of Dean Writers Collection. Poems, prose, plays, children's stories: published and unpublished; first drafts to publisher's proofs; drawings, sketches, illustrations and paintings; correspondence, and photos. There's personal items too from Humphrey Phelps' pipe to Catherine Drew's lace cap! Some of the items are periodically on display, but you can view any of them - just get in touch with DHC to book an appointment. To see the lists just go to deanheritagecentre.org and click on "Collections".

02/09/2026

360yrs ago today a small fire at a bakery in Pudding lane London quickly spread becoming what we know as 'The Great Fire of London'. Over the next 4 days the centre of the old city was destroyed, including its grand medieval cathedral St Pauls. 'The Ashes of London' six-book novel series (soon to be 7!) by best selling based author opens on the penultimate day of the fire as St Paul's itself burns. The rest of the book and those that follow deal with the long aftermath of the fire as backdrop to a series of murder mysteries. Set in Restoration England, London in particular and the rest of the country are also dealing with the legacy of the Civil War/s, the regicide, and the recent Puritan regime of Oliver Cromwell. The protagonists James Marwood and Catherine Lovett each have their own secrets connected to that time, gradually reveled over the series. A tour de force of historical fiction writing the series features some of the significant real-life characters of Restoration England and plenty of great historical detail. Most of all though the books are thrilling and totally engrossing as Marwood and Cat navigate the intricacies of post-Fire London politics, law and society - and the complexities of their developing relationship to each other.

12/08/2026

The Forest's long literary heritage is alive and flourishing still, and this coming weekend offers a great opportunity to meet some of our current writers at the .

Over 30 authors, local and near-local and offering books for all ages and in multiple genres, will be in the big marquee from 11 am to 3 pm on Sunday 16 August at Bream Social Club. Every child attending gets a brand new free book, which is brilliant, plus there are activities for kids, craft stalls, and a tea tent.

The Bream Book Fair, now in its fifth year, raises money for a local charity, Packed with Love, which provides essentials (and some non-essentials) for children who find themselves in emergency care, so all in all, it's a great cause.

02/08/2026

A poet, a composer and a politician had a shared affinity for the mining community in the aftermath of the 1926 lockout. Rutland Boughton was a gifted composer who founded the original Glastonbury Festival. They ran with enormous success from 1914 until 1926 when they ended following Boughton, sympathising with the miner’s lockout in 1926, insisted on staging his very popular Nativity opera Bethlehem (1915) in London, with Jesus born in a miner's cottage and Herod as a top-hatted capitalist, flanked by soldiers and police. From 1927 until his death in 1960, Boughton lived at Kilcot, near Newent in where he completed the last two operas of his Arthurian cycle. In 1926, FW Harvey moved to Pillowell in the Forest of Dean where he saw first hand the hardship endured by the mining community. Many were old soldiers with whom he shared a lasting bond. He thereafter lived among them, represented them in court and was known as the poor man’s solicitor. That year he published Pillowell Woods a collection of poems touching on his new community and landscape. Harvey became friends with Boughton visiting him at Kilcot. Rutland Boughton and Morgan Philips Price were acquaintances linked through regional cultural and political circles in Gloucestershire alongside F. W. Harvey, sharing mutual involvement in promoting local arts and community interests.

27/07/2026

We are still rediscovering forgotten Forest authors and poets! Katherine Reskelly nee Waylen (1843 - 1893) came to Littledean in 1883 to join her husband who had recently been appointed pastor to the Congregational Chapel. Katherine was born in Devizes. On arriving in Littledean she was soon active in the community setting up a branch of the International Bible Reading Association, joining the Ebenezer lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars, and teaching Sunday School classes – experience of the latter inspiring her idea for the Forest of Dean and District Sunday-school Union of which she became honorary secretary. Katherine was fluent in French and German and spoke some Italian. As a young woman she accompanied relatives to Germany where she lived for several years at Cleve then a fashionable spa town. Katherine was also a prolific writer of poems, just under a hundred of them published posthumously in 1894, the earliest of which dates from 1864. Most of them arguably hold little interest for readers today being typically pious Victorian religious tracts, however several demonstrate Katherine’s keen eye and appreciation for nature and stand up well today. And, just one of the poems in the book suggests Katherine may well have had a lighter side to her personality as demonstrated in this lovely short poem attached. [Chapel photo, credit Pauleen Eccles] Littledean Village

21/07/2026

Humphrey Phelps (1927- 2016) was a prolific writer and farmer who spent his adult life at Boseley Court, near Flaxley. He wrote many books grounded in the Forest of Dean and was also famous for his work to preserve Red Poll cattle. He had a close relationship with Gerald William Bullett (1893 – 1958) and collected all his works. Bullet was a national literary figure who has been largely forgotten and neglected. He was known as a novelist, essayist, short story writer, critic, poet and publisher. Bullet served in the RAF in the First World War and worked at the BBC during the Second World War. He was staunchly anti-fascist, supporting the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. His connection to the Forest and Humphrey Phelps came through Claude Bullett, his brother. Claude came to the Forest around 1918 and was a dairy farmer at Waldron Farm close to Boseley Court until his death in 1969. Gerald was a frequent visitor to his brother’s farm. He was a contributor to the Butterfly Book of Quotations to refurbish Bilson Mission in 1933.

13/07/2026

Poetry Festival next Saturday 18th at Jolter Press, the Mews in Mitcheldean.
Starts at 3pm.
This festival has been going a number of years now, and the organisers would love you to come along for an enjoyable few hours of poetry in performance, good company and refreshments - great c***r / w**e / soft drinks / tea / coffee.
Admission is free!!

[Writer image: Kristin Hardwick, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons]

27/05/2026

Local multi-talented ceramicist, landscape designer, and poet Jane Spray has a new collection of poetry 'Cave Whale' just published. Join her for its launch this weekend

06/05/2026

Marking the official publication on 7th May of 'Vorest' - the debut collection of Forest of Dean poet Hear Rose reading and discussing her work for the Reading the Forest Podcast 'Poetry Now' series. Recorded before a live audience Listen on Apple Podcasts or here on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KW157WEAEdmO1gI5VuhYo?si=GXCSWoTXSMyp4f00wA5F4w

23/04/2026

Great to see our mural featuring in a story of Cinderford town centre regeneration.
Pics: courtesy of Carmelo Garcia

Address

Reading The Forest C/o, Dean Heritage Centre, Camp Mill
Lower Soudley
GL142UB

Website

http://www.readingtheforest.co.uk/

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