General Chat

Lovely area the Forest.

lol
ann, a locum who works with us, works in pharmacy in coleford, near forest of dean, he says of the folklore too,

many happy holidays spent in forest of dean,
considering its full of trees im not too bad there

I have aded this to a thread on Tips but it may interest people on here who don't go on tips board.
This is part of the folk lore of the Forest but has of course an element of truth in it.

For those with ancestors from the Forest of Dean a folk tale from the area which may or may not be true!!!

The bear facts?
The two Russian bears came to the Forest in 1889 with four Frenchmen.
It is believed that they had been displayed in Cinderford, and that the animals and their keepers were en route to nearby Ruardean and an angry mob gave chase.
Popular myth at the time had it that foreign bear-keepers fed their animals on the flesh of children. Perhaps inspired by this, a rumour had spread that the animal had killed a child and mauled a woman in the village.



The residents launched a vicious attack, slaughtering the innocent animals and brutally beating two of the Frenchmen.
Individuals from Ruardean witnessed the violence, and came to the rescue. They sheltered and nursed the injured itinerants.
The assailants were later fined heavily for their parts in this unfounded attack, but during legal proceedings they were erroneously described as residents of Ruardean.
The mocking refrain, "Who killed the bears?" taunts the people of the village to this day, and visitors are best advised not to mention the sorry episode.
Bear bones
...people still get asked 'Who killed the bears?'

Alan Capps
As for the bears, rumour has it that the local constabulary, unsure of what to do with the deceased beasts, buried them in the garden of the police station.
"I've dug around a few places, but it's an area of two acres, so this is an ongoing project," said current owner Alan Capps.
The exact whereabouts of the bears' bones is obscured by a lack of historical records and conflicting word-of-mouth stories.
"Even what's written down, it's not 100% certain.
"The incident happened at the bottom of Drybrook so it's possible that they took the bears to Drybrook police station," said Mr Capps, although he intends to continue excavating his garden.
"I've lived in the Forest 20 years," and people still get asked 'Who killed the bears?', but it's all tongue in cheek. Mind you, I wouldn't want to say it in the pub on a Saturday night."