About the Parish of Littledean

The Parish of Littledean is located on the north-eastern edge of the Royal Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. It is often referred to as 'The Gateway to the Forest' because of its location. It is surrounded by the parishes of Westbury-on-Severn, Newnham, Ruspidge and Soudley, Cinderford, Mitchledean, Longhope and Blaisdon. Click here to see a map of the Parish.

The Parish lies at the heads of valleys which drain to north, northeast and south. It takes in surrounding hillsides rising to over 240 metres. Much of the Parish is underlain by Red Sandstone. Outcrops of limestone and ore were quarried and mined in the Middle Ages. Historically agriculture was predominantly pastoral.

Littledean was included within the ancient boundaries of the Forest of Dean, but much of the woodland has since been cleared. The Parish stood at the center of a network of tracks, some used by the Romans, that linked Gloucester to the Forest of Dean. It was also once a center of iron working and metal trades. Locally produced iron helped build a thriving nail making trade in Littledean prior to the Industrial Revolution.