01/09/2026
Top 6 myths & legends of the Forest of Dean. 👇
Some of these stories are said to be older than the trees.
💍 A Forest curse may have inspired Lord of the Rings. A Roman named Silvianus lost a ring at Lydney Park. He begged the god Nodens to curse the thief until it came back. The ring later surfaced in a Hampshire field. It now sits at The Vyne in Hampshire. The National Trust reckons the Tolkien link is wishful thinking. We're choosing to believe.
🩸 One stone is said to bleed at midnight... The Staunton Longstone stands around seven feet tall on the verge of the A4136, thought to be Bronze Age. Prick it with a pin at midnight, so the story goes, and it bleeds. There's a red streak down the back of it. Probably iron in the rock. Maybe…
🐗 The Forest had its own monster. Long before wild boar returned, people spoke of the Beast of Dean, otherwise known as the Moose-Pig. Part boar, part myth. Big enough to flatten hedges and topple trees near Parkend…
🌊 Legend says the Severn is named after a drowned girl. In legend, a child called Habren was drowned alongside her mother in the river by a wronged queen known as Gwendolen. Hafren in Welsh. Severn in English. Sabrina in Latin. The goddess of the river.
🪦 One gravestone cannot be read. In Parkend churchyard lies Edmund Vimpany, died 1836. His stone is carved in runes no one has ever cracked. Secret code, or a dead man's joke?
🐱 Dick Whittington was a real local. The pantomime hero was from around here! Four times Lord Mayor of London. His family held the manor of Pauntley, right here in the Forest of Dean district.
Still plenty more where these came from. Had you heard them all before?
