Free Mines Coal Faces

Today’s Forest of Dean Coal Freemining Community.
Photography by Nick Hodgson FRPS.

Discover the world of the freeminers through powerful photography by Nick Hodgson, on display in our café and entrance ramp area (The Hub).

The exhibition tells the story of some of the mines still working today in the Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire), by a small freemining community mining coal for sale mainly to the local population. They are very proud of their heritage and long link back to when free mining rights were granted by Edward III.

The photographs document both the landscapes of one of Britain’s oldest forests and the personalities and work of this unique community. The images were taken from 2019-22, and a book of these and other photographs is available in the museum bookshop.

Nick Hodgson is a documentary landscape photographer and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS). He made this project because his maternal great-grandfather was a freeminer.