Not A BRHG Event
This year we are marking WARREN JAMES DAY, with poems, songs, short stories, and performances that explore the people and events – real and imagined – of the 1831 ‘Dean Forest Riots’ (uprising!), its aftermath and ongoing legacy. Parkend Working Men’s Club, Lion Row, Parkend, GL154JZ. FREE event. 2-5pm Warren James is a Forest folk hero who led a rebellion against the authorities in 1831 to pull down enclosures stopping people getting access to the forest – a key part of their livelihood. For […]
As part of her collection of historically-based narratives which provoke questions about society today, Heather Jane will present a story set in her homeland of Gloucestershire. 'The Dispossessed' is a tale weaving poaching, 18th century criminality, and dispossession of people from the land in Berkeley and the Forest of Dean; followed by historical facts and discussion pondering the modern-day fall out of enclosures.
In the Forest of Dean towards the end of the nineteenth century the ‘Blakeney Outrages’ of the 1890s led to Walter Virgo and the “Blakeney Gang” being accused of acts of poisoning, maiming, stealing, poaching, midnight raids, dynamiting, arson and murder. However, their story cannot be understood without placing their actions in the historical context of the struggle for the customary right to common which in the past involved the use of direct action and political violence. A consideration of […]
