Forest of Dean.—Page 142.
The history of the Forest of Dean is much too interesting and important to be compressed within the limits of a note; the very derivation of its name having alone afforded materials for very lengthened discussion. Many suppose that it was so called in consequence of the Danes having taken up their residence there; and Giraldus Cambrensis appears to have inclined to this opinion, at least if we may judge from the name by which he designates it, Danubiæ Sylva, which is similar to that used by Asser Menevensis, in speaking of Denmark.[1] It argues, however, greatly against this etymology, that Dean was a common name in forests among the Celts, both of Britain and Gaal. Besides Ardennes iu France, and Arden in Warwickshire, many forest towns still bear the appellation, as Dean in Rockingham Forest, Dean in the New Forest, dtc. From this circumstance, it has occurred to me that the name was very probably derived from the Welsh or Celtic word din, which signifies "a fortified mount, or fort" For Sharon Turner informs us, on the authority of Cæsar, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus, that the Britons "cleared a space in the wood, on which they built their huts and folded their cattle; and they fenced the avenues by ditches and barriers of trees. Such a collection of houses formed one of their towns—Ang.-Sax. B. I. c v. Din is the root of Dinas, the Welsh word in actual use for a city.
The Rev. T. Price, in his History of Wales, gives it as his opinion, that the Forest of Dean was the original Feryllwg, or land betwixt the Wye and the Severn, which at one time formed a part of one of the five divisions of Wales. The name of Feryllwg, corrupted into Ferleg and Ferreg, he supposes to have been given to this district from the iron-works with which it abounded, the word Feryll signifying "a worker in metal." It appears also to have been considered as one of the three Gwents, and to have borne the appellation of "Gwent Coch yn y Dena," or the Red Gwent in the Deans, for which epithet it is most likely indebted to the colour of its ferruginous soil
In the time of Giraldus Cambrensis, this district " amply supplied Gloucester with iron and venison." The renowned Spanish Armada was strictly charged to destroy its noble oaks, which were then considered of the highest importance to our naval pre-eminence. I will not here enter into detail upon the mining history of the Forest of Dean, as I shall probably have occasion again to allude to- ↑ Asser MenevenslB speaks of a great fleet of Pagans coming to Britain, "de Danubio"—Annates de rebas gcstis Æilfredi.
