The Forest of Dean is home to a unique band of men.

Known as freeminers, men born and bred within the Hundred of St Briavels can descend beneath the forest in search of natural mineral resources. Mining has long been associated with the Forest of Dean, and it’s the only place in the UK that freeminers can quarry and dig for coal, minerals and stone by right.

Edward 1 (1272-1307) granted the miners their free status. The King was indebted to skilled forest miners who burrowed under the foundations of Berwick Castle, helping him to sack Berwick upon Tweed. He rewarded the miners by granting them the right to mine in the forest. Thanks to their ancestors’ skills, Forest of Dean men have been mining under the oak trees for 700 years.

The birthright is available to any man born and living within the Hundred, effectively anywhere in the Forest of Dean. He has to be aged 21 or over and must have worked a year and a day in a coal or iron mine, or stone quarry. Freeminers apply to the forest Gaveller, who represents the Crown, to request a gale – somewhere the freeminer thinks there is iron, coal or stone.

The unique miners have a knack of knowing where to open a gale, according to Jonathon Wright, who has been a freeminer since 1981, “People have a belonging with the area, and they understand the geology beneath their feet. You grow up with (freemining), it runs right through you”.

Freeminers also have access to maps, which show existing mines, all the gales (the areas you are allowed to work), and other records at the Gaveller’s office. The Gaveller collects royalties from the freeminer, to pass on to the Crown.

Once the freeminer has been granted his gale, he can begin mining. Usually he opens a drift mine, which is a tunnel excavated into a hillside. The only condition is that he must begin within five years and work at least one day each subsequent year. Some men operate as lone miners, working the smallest seams, or in twos or threes. In the past, larger gales contained teams of over a dozen men, extracting hundreds of tonnes of coal a week.

Although freemining gained its charter in the 13th century, mining under the forest dates back even further. It’s possible to look beyond mediaeval times back to the Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods. Some seams and caves have been worked on and off possibly for over 4000 years, according to freeminers working their gales today.

Jonathon recalls a discovery whilst working his mine at Clearwell Caves, “A while back I found some stone age hammers that were identified as early Bronze Age or late Neolithic. The stones could have been used four thousand years ago. To be able to go down and see pick axe marks in the iron ore, that you know could have been there since mediaeval times and being in amongst workings that were abandoned hundreds of years ago, it’s a nice feeling to think of the continuity.”

There are less than fifty men still mining today, and their numbers are slowly dwindling. The recent closure of the last maternity hospital within the Hundred means that babies born at home will soon be the only ones who can request a gale once they are of age. The ancient practice is under threat, and pessimists might say the Forest of Dean is on the brink of seeing freemining disappear completely.

However, there is evidence that there is hope for the future. Although the commercial market yields low selling prices, other markets provide a lifeline. Coal from the gales still supplies local homes, and naturally occurring red, yellow, purple and brown ochre sells well to the art industry. Decorators and restorers also provide valued extra customers. The desire to preserve this micro industry is strong thanks to vital niche markets and local customers

As for the freeminers, there is something constant about these men who are at home in tiny shafts. They withstand claustrophobic conditions using hand held pneumatic picks to win out the coal and ore. Resilience, ingenuity and pride have seen the freemining industry endure through centuries of changing fortunes.

And whilst there is a will to extract minerals and men determined enough to continue back breaking work, mining will carry on. Whether it remains free or not - time will tell.