Good morning Ron and thank you as always for an excellent video. A trip to my favourite place on earth is always welcome and you certainly managed to capture the forest at one of the most beautiful times of the year and on a glorious sunny day too. As the Forest of Dean is only a stone’s throw from where I live, I go walking there several times a month and never tire of soaking in it’s beauty and rich industrial heritage whatever the time of year or prevailing weather. What intrigues me is that there are so many facets to the forest’s history: the quarrying, and mining industry, the railways, the small settlements, the people and their culture and, of course, the lesser known history of it’s wartime role in ammunition storage et al. Coming back to the video though, the first thing to try and clear up is why there was a large pond at Lightmoor Colliery (now Forest Products Ltd timber yard), and I only found this out a few years ago. Most collieries anywhere continue to have all sorts of chemicals issuing up to the surface even long after closure. A “holding pond” is therefore constructed where the chemicals accumulate and then get broken down by other substances/bacteria in the water (you can tell I’m not a chemist!!), before the “purified” water is released into streams or rivers. I would guess the pond at Lightmoor is a remnant of this process and no longer used for “processing” as I can’t remember seeing any mechanism for controlling the flow into the river system today. Just to comment a little on the railway line you walked (can’t resist it!), this was, as you said, the mineral loop that ran from Tuft’s junction at Whitecroft through to Bilson Green and Cinderford, although the northern end of the Mineral Loop has always been considered to have started/ended at Drybrook Road. Construction of the Loop started in September 1870 and was completed through to Crump Meadow Colliery, the last colliery before Drybrook Road , on 22nd April 1872. It never had a passenger service and was there purely to serve the collieries along its route. Starting from tufts Junction, these collieries (and a couple of other industries) were: Pillowell, New Engine, Patent Fuel Works, Brick Pit, New Fancy, Lightmoor, Woorgreen, Foxes Bridge and Crump Meadow. There is a wealth of information and photos surviving with regard to Lightmoor colliery where you started your journey, but rather than try and precis it I will save that for another opportunity and get back to the point of today’s video. The bomb dump area that you were exploring was known as Acorn Patch; the area today being known as Great Saintlow. The rail connection into Acorn Patch from the Mineral Loop was about ¼ mile beyond the southernmost connection to the loop siding serving Lightmoor Colliery. Some of the colliery buildings were also used during the war for military purposes by the way. The rail connection into Acorn Patch led off the Mineral Loop through a gated crossing in a south westerly direction at 15 miles 3 chains from Lydney via Tuft’s Junction. Here it entered a clearing in the woods where three loop sidings and a large concrete apron enabled direct handling of munitions between railway wagons and road vehicles. This is where you sat on the log to eat your lunch and do the piece to camera. The site handled all of the standard high explosives shells in use at that time, but also mustard gas chemical weapons. Leakages of this chemical on site was a fairly regular occurrence and a decontamination plant was provided to deal with this. The full name of the Acorn patch site was No 28 Ammunition Supply Depot. Construction of the site commenced in October 1940 when 30 soldiers of the 28th ASD (Acquisition Support Division) and some members of the Pioneer Corps arrived at Cinderford to start work. The first American troops arrived at the site in mid-1942 and the site was handed over to the American Army Air Force Service Command in March 1943. Unloading of munitions trains took place at Speech House Road station and the weapons were then transported by road to the site, entering by either of the two roads that you identified leading off of the Spruce Ride. Materials were also brought in and out of the site using the Mineral Loop from the Drybrook Road direction, but not from a southerly direction as Moseley Green tunnel on that section of the Mineral loop had already been requisitioned by the RAF for ammunition storage. Again, there is so much information about the Acorn Patch and it’s operations, that I can’t do it justice in a short(?!) piece like this. I’ll just conclude by saying that the last train from the site ran on 16th June 1953, going out via Drybrook Road and Bilson Junction onto the Forest of Dean branch. The Acorn patch sidings were taken out of use on 23rd May 1954 and removed on the 17th October of that same year. The depot finally closed in 1956. O.k that’s it for today Ron . thanks once again for showcasing the lovely Forest of Dean and I hope it encourages those who don’t live too far away, or are coming this way on holiday, to spend some time there and take in its majesty. I’m always available for guided tours if anyone is interested! Have a great week and best regards to you, Pauline and all of the PW family.

Great video Ron, Very interesting, thanks for making and sharing your adventures

I look forward to the new Parkinson's walks calender featuring a different railway sleeper each month! Maybe we could have "Pandrol clips I have known" one month. "101 uses for old broad gauge track". On another month. But joking apart , I liked your close-ups of things like the old mile post, and details of the straining posts.. great video! Not silly at all, Ron!

Good morning Ron. Gosh another I've not seen. Interesting because I was only talking to my 97 year old mum about her two brothers who were both on bombers Philip ( Mid upper Halifax) and Peter (DFM, Flight engineer Lancaster) Jenkinson. Peter was killed in 1945 with his entire crew, Philip was shot down over Bavaria in 43 and spent 9 days on the run before being captured and imprisoned . We were reading his account....He was 19. I love the way you capture those spring days and love the birdsong. Stay safe Pete

Hello Ron - greetings from Poland. ,What a fascinating video. Beautifully photographed with an excellent commentary too The Forest of Dean is certainly a beautiful place. From what you said, a lot different place in WW2. I have memories of stories told by my grandfather about American soldiers being stationed in Mile End and Cinderford but this is first time I've ever heard of the biggest bomb dump in the UK being in the Forest during war time. I think the Forest contains the largest amount of railway fence posts ever. I've never seen so many.

What an awesome idea: A Parkinson's Walks Calendar! - A clump of young stinging nettles to form part of the illustration for April. 'Seriously though; that's not a bad idea, and you could make some pocket money in profit from the enterprise. The book's still not been published yet; but where there's life there's hope. I was led to believe by one source that I'd get a decision on publication on 11th March. - That didn't happen. - 'Time to query more literary agents methinks. I do hope they extend the Dean Forest Railway to Cinderford one day. They had planned to do that by 2022 IIRC, but Covid got in the way.

Morning Ron, did you see that carp at 2 minutes 40? Huge! The thing was a zepplin!

Good morning Ron. I know you didn't find what you were searching for, but I'll settle for the beautiful trees and the blossom. Such a wonderful place with so much history attached to it. The problem is that things change in 70 or 80 years. Trees spring up and grow tall from where there was once open spaces. The important thing was that you found your car at the end. (Or are you still there, trying to interpret that rather vague map)? We won't know until next week. I have to smile at the wooden fence posts! In my area they are concrete, even on the earliest railways.Take care.

Hi Ron, definitely a walk well spent...brilliant, and a nice long video too! "Railway sleeper fencepost calendar"? Yes! I'm sure you'd get orders from all your subscribers. After that, we can get geared up for PW tee-shirts, hats, coffee mugs. I'm glad you persevered and found that stone wall, and I really like the way you used tree canopies as a unit of measurement, very useful, if not metric. Thanks for a great day out Ron, much appreciated. Have a good week. James

Hi Ron. Even if there are no hard standings evident .. This information might be useful for a future search .. It's highly likely that any site where munitions where stored would be broken up by embankments, So that in the event of an explosion the blast would be deflected upwards ( limiting the damage at ground level ) The area used would likely be very extensive ( unless leveled after decommissioning) Would certainly show up on a lidar map 😊 Regards John ( in Cheltenham)

Thank you Ron - a lovely day for your walk and explore in the wonderful Forest of Dean. This was quite the adventure. You certainly had a great late spring day. I have been thinking of doing something on the naval ordnance site at Slimbridge ( it was linked to the ordnance factory at Moreton Vallance) which once had a huge railway network but I don't think anything of it remains at all - I can't find any old photos - just the rails lines on old maps. I really enjoyed this - hope you have a good week. Take care, Paul

Greetings from across the pond! Jeremy here from the USA! I am a huge WW2 buff and fellow Parkie. I just discovered this channel and look forward to seeing more of your content.✌

Mornin' Ron, You can very definately count this a success and its a great opportunity to launch your merchandise store ..... the world will be your oyster ...... I can see a chain of "Ron's Cheese and Pickle Sandwich" stalls being set up all over the West Country but one step at a time, the calender sounds a fantastic idea, it really does! You really couldnt go wrong on this walk the views were just perfect everywhere you looked. The tree hanging on to that fence post or at 10:24 you were towered over by two fence posts and in between there was a magnificent tree. Enjoyed the close ups of the milepost and its patina of time with the sectional view of the screw and that forged iron needle post too. You reminded me of a bomb story from a long time ago. We had to evacuate the factory where I worked after an anonomous call was received from someone claiming to have planted a bomb there, this happened a few times before the culprit was apprehended. The police would come make an inspection and then we would all go back. It always made us chuckle, the poor police trying to work out if there was a bomb there or not, I mean, it was a factory making bombs ...... well torpedos, they go bang too!! Its really hard to imagine what it must have been like when these bomb dumps, mines, quarries and railways were in their heyday it seems so quiet and idylic today. Easter starts for us today so next week is holiday for us. We shall be visiting Toledo for a couple of days. Not sure what the weather has in store for us. At the moment we have half the Sahara en the sky and 29° forecast for today then on Monday, Tuesday a high of 10° and snow! Have a great weekend!!

What a lovely walk, Ron! And some interesting finds, too, many of which will soon disappear for sure. The sometimes poetic language was a bonus: the strainer post which had been "embraced" by a tree was worthy of Wordsworth or one of those other fellows who used to be so popular. No doubt that photo and caption will be one of the pages in your calendar when it's published!

Greetings Ron, You could have reassured Pauline by telling her you were packing a small hammer to ensure any munitions were properly defused. That should remove any of her misgivings. It sure is nice seeing all the green! Very Pleasant!

Hi Ron.. What a lovely walk in the sun..! BOMB DUMP.. What's that I hear "ticking" Ron..! Lovely video glad to see you back in one piece, all that tramping about in the woods looking for a bomb dump is enough to give a man a short fuse.. 😅

Good morning Ron. Another fascinating adventure. I remember reading about US tanks and jeeps being buried in Savernake Forest near Marlborough, though I’m not sure if that is fact or fiction. Perhaps your knowledgeable viewers can enlighten.

The Forest conceals its wartime secrets, but reveals all it's springtime splendour. I hope you will return before too long to explore more of this endlessly fascinating treescape - perhaps in the Autumn. Some wonderful images, Thank you.

Hi Ron. You may get numerous copies of toady's offering as i'm having difficulty uploading again. Fingers crossed!!

Good Morning, Ron. Another epic forest adventure. I find these walks absolutely fascinating. There is so much industrial archaeology to be found. Those double strutted posts are interesting. I used to employ them on long straight runs, the idea being for extra stability of the posts when straining multiple line wires. They were used more when high tensile line wires were in use. You could get a lot more tension on the high tensile stuff, but the posts needed to be well strutted. Ah! The good old days. Still raining☔️Take care. Ron.

Lovely walk

Hi Ron - I was thinking only Yesterday that you hadn’t been down the Forest for a while and Here you Are - Love All the Blossoms and Bluebells - Lovely Vid, Many Thanks 🙏🏻

Very interesting video Ron thank you very much. I liked your wife’s comment! Just wondering if you were checked when you got home. I think we went for a bike ride from the Dilke hospital once but had absolutely no idea what we were passing. I wonder what it was like living near there and all this going on during WW2. You couldn’t ask any questions so I suppose it was ignored maybe. I presume it was well guarded. Also last night someone left a note on Facebook to say Cam goods shed was being shown renovated on Clarke’s restoration programme on Channel 4 and it was well worth watching. Now someone needs to get down to Usk and restore that one. Think it was Usk. Waiting or the next episode. Kind regards.

Hi Ron, I enjoyed that walk and the beautiful sights, oh by the way, i was a heavy equipment fitter, that pipe that you found was a piece of heavy hydraulic hose, love those railway fence posts, great video, Thank's

Hi Ron, when was this filmed? Looks like summer time. Thanks

Is that somewhere off Spruce Ride then? I'll have to go exploring myself

I am in central Norfolk your spring far more advanced than ours.

There was no hard standing storage it was placed on concrete lintels to keep the damp out over 86,000 tons of ordnance stored here

I don’t know where you got your information from but ???? There were over 3,000 shelters for storage the depot was 32 square miles. The place where you were sat down was a railway siding where the ammunition came in. The depot was British the U.S. didn’t arrive until 1943 the depot was there in 1939. You need to talk to someone who knows the layout they laid 14 miles of tarmac I gave up after 20 minutes jeeezzzz

World War Eleven? So soon?

Good morning Ron and thank you as always for an excellent video. A trip to my favourite place on earth is always welcome and you certainly managed to capture the forest at one of the most beautiful times of the year and on a glorious sunny day too. As the Forest of Dean is only a stone’s throw from where I live, I go walking there several times a month and never tire of soaking in it’s beauty and rich industrial heritage whatever the time of year or prevailing weather. What intrigues me is that there are so many facets to the forest’s history: the quarrying, and mining industry, the railways, the small settlements, the people and their culture and, of course, the lesser known history of it’s wartime role in ammunition storage et al. Coming back to the video though, the first thing to try and clear up is why there was a large pond at Lightmoor Colliery (now Forest Products Ltd timber yard), and I only found this out a few years ago. Most collieries anywhere continue to have all sorts of chemicals issuing up to the surface even long after closure. A “holding pond” is therefore constructed where the chemicals accumulate and then get broken down by other substances/bacteria in the water (you can tell I’m not a chemist!!), before the “purified” water is released into streams or rivers. I would guess the pond at Lightmoor is a remnant of this process and no longer used for “processing” as I can’t remember seeing any mechanism for controlling the flow into the river system today. Just to comment a little on the railway line you walked (can’t resist it!), this was, as you said, the mineral loop that ran from Tuft’s junction at Whitecroft through to Bilson Green and Cinderford, although the northern end of the Mineral Loop has always been considered to have started/ended at Drybrook Road. Construction of the Loop started in September 1870 and was completed through to Crump Meadow Colliery, the last colliery before Drybrook Road , on 22nd April 1872. It never had a passenger service and was there purely to serve the collieries along its route. Starting from tufts Junction, these collieries (and a couple of other industries) were: Pillowell, New Engine, Patent Fuel Works, Brick Pit, New Fancy, Lightmoor, Woorgreen, Foxes Bridge and Crump Meadow. There is a wealth of information and photos surviving with regard to Lightmoor colliery where you started your journey, but rather than try and precis it I will save that for another opportunity and get back to the point of today’s video. The bomb dump area that you were exploring was known as Acorn Patch; the area today being known as Great Saintlow. The rail connection into Acorn Patch from the Mineral Loop was about ¼ mile beyond the southernmost connection to the loop siding serving Lightmoor Colliery. Some of the colliery buildings were also used during the war for military purposes by the way. The rail connection into Acorn Patch led off the Mineral Loop through a gated crossing in a south westerly direction at 15 miles 3 chains from Lydney via Tuft’s Junction. Here it entered a clearing in the woods where three loop sidings and a large concrete apron enabled direct handling of munitions between railway wagons and road vehicles. This is where you sat on the log to eat your lunch and do the piece to camera. The site handled all of the standard high explosives shells in use at that time, but also mustard gas chemical weapons. Leakages of this chemical on site was a fairly regular occurrence and a decontamination plant was provided to deal with this. The full name of the Acorn patch site was No 28 Ammunition Supply Depot. Construction of the site commenced in October 1940 when 30 soldiers of the 28th ASD (Acquisition Support Division) and some members of the Pioneer Corps arrived at Cinderford to start work. The first American troops arrived at the site in mid-1942 and the site was handed over to the American Army Air Force Service Command in March 1943. Unloading of munitions trains took place at Speech House Road station and the weapons were then transported by road to the site, entering by either of the two roads that you identified leading off of the Spruce Ride. Materials were also brought in and out of the site using the Mineral Loop from the Drybrook Road direction, but not from a southerly direction as Moseley Green tunnel on that section of the Mineral loop had already been requisitioned by the RAF for ammunition storage. Again, there is so much information about the Acorn Patch and it’s operations, that I can’t do it justice in a short(?!) piece like this. I’ll just conclude by saying that the last train from the site ran on 16th June 1953, going out via Drybrook Road and Bilson Junction onto the Forest of Dean branch. The Acorn patch sidings were taken out of use on 23rd May 1954 and removed on the 17th October of that same year. The depot finally closed in 1956. O.k that’s it for today Ron . thanks once again for showcasing the lovely Forest of Dean and I hope it encourages those who don’t live too far away, or are coming this way on holiday, to spend some time there and take in its majesty. I’m always available for guided tours if anyone is interested! Have a great week and best regards to you, Pauline and all of the PW family.

Good morning Ron and thank you as always for an excellent video. A trip to my favourite place on earth is always welcome and you certainly managed to capture the forest at one of the most beautiful times of the year and on a glorious sunny day too. As the Forest of Dean is only a stone’s throw from where I live, I go walking there several times a month and never tire of soaking in it’s beauty and rich industrial heritage whatever the time of year or prevailing weather. What intrigues me is that there are so many facets to the forest’s history: the quarrying, and mining industry, the railways, the small settlements, the people and their culture and, of course, the lesser known history of it’s wartime role in ammunition storage et al. Coming back to the video though, the first thing to try and clear up is why there was a large pond at Lightmoor Colliery (now Forest Products Ltd timber yard), and I only found this out a few years ago. Most collieries anywhere continue to have all sorts of chemicals issuing up to the surface even long after closure. A “holding pond” is therefore constructed where the chemicals accumulate and then get broken down by other substances/bacteria in the water (you can tell I’m not a chemist!!), before the “purified” water is released into streams or rivers. I would guess the pond at Lightmoor is a remnant of this process and no longer used for “processing” as I can’t remember seeing any mechanism for controlling the flow into the river system today. Just to comment a little on the railway line you walked (can’t resist it!), this was, as you said, the mineral loop that ran from Tuft’s junction at Whitecroft through to Bilson Green and Cinderford, although the northern end of the Mineral Loop has always been considered to have started/ended at Drybrook Road. Construction of the Loop started in September 1870 and was completed through to Crump Meadow Colliery, the last colliery before Drybrook Road , on 22nd April 1872. It never had a passenger service and was there purely to serve the collieries along its route. Starting from tufts Junction, these collieries (and a couple of other industries) were: Pillowell, New Engine, Patent Fuel Works, Brick Pit, New Fancy, Lightmoor, Woorgreen, Foxes Bridge and Crump Meadow. There is a wealth of information and photos surviving with regard to Lightmoor colliery where you started your journey, but rather than try and precis it I will save that for another opportunity and get back to the point of today’s video. The bomb dump area that you were exploring was known as Acorn Patch; the area today being known as Great Saintlow. The rail connection into Acorn Patch from the Mineral Loop was about ¼ mile beyond the southernmost connection to the loop siding serving Lightmoor Colliery. Some of the colliery buildings were also used during the war for military purposes by the way. The rail connection into Acorn Patch led off the Mineral Loop through a gated crossing in a south westerly direction at 15 miles 3 chains from Lydney via Tuft’s Junction. Here it entered a clearing in the woods where three loop sidings and a large concrete apron enabled direct handling of munitions between railway wagons and road vehicles. This is where you sat on the log to eat your lunch and do the piece to camera. The site handled all of the standard high explosives shells in use at that time, but also mustard gas chemical weapons. Leakages of this chemical on site was a fairly regular occurrence and a decontamination plant was provided to deal with this. The full name of the Acorn patch site was No 28 Ammunition Supply Depot. Construction of the site commenced in October 1940 when 30 soldiers of the 28th ASD (Acquisition Support Division) and some members of the Pioneer Corps arrived at Cinderford to start work. The first American troops arrived at the site in mid-1942 and the site was handed over to the American Army Air Force Service Command in March 1943. Unloading of munitions trains took place at Speech House Road station and the weapons were then transported by road to the site, entering by either of the two roads that you identified leading off of the Spruce Ride. Materials were also brought in and out of the site using the Mineral Loop from the Drybrook Road direction, but not from a southerly direction as Moseley Green tunnel on that section of the Mineral loop had already been requisitioned by the RAF for ammunition storage. Again, there is so much information about the Acorn Patch and it’s operations, that I can’t do it justice in a short(?!) piece like this. I’ll just conclude by saying that the last train from the site ran on 16th June 1953, going out via Drybrook Road and Bilson Junction onto the Forest of Dean branch. The Acorn patch sidings were taken out of use on 23rd May 1954 and removed on the 17th October of that same year. The depot finally closed in 1956. O.k that’s it for today Ron . thanks once again for showcasing the lovely Forest of Dean and I hope it encourages those who don’t live too far away, or are coming this way on holiday, to spend some time there and take in its majesty. I’m always available for guided tours if anyone is interested! Have a great week and best regards to you, Pauline and all of the PW family.