12. September 2025
Coleford & Gloucester
The national Heritage Open Days event is taking place at the moment and this week I found some places locally to go and visit.
I started on Friday with a visit to Coleford, to hear a talk by Forest of Dean historian Owen McLaughlin about Camp 61, a World War 2 Prisoner of War camp near Coleford – and the Marconi monument which once stood there. It was quite interesting – I have never associated the Forest of Dean with Prisoner of War camps but there was more than one in the area!
After that it was a short drive up the road in to Gloucester, a stop for lunch at Deli Greek, before going to the Folk Museum for a talk on the SULA lightship (light vessel) which lives in Gloucester Docks (had a tour of that on Sunday – more to follow in a future blog post).
I enjoyed hearing about the history of lightships, and of the SULA in particular. These days it is not only the owner’s home, but also they have part of it available for staying overnight. I should check that out and try and stay on it, some time in the future!?
The Church on Westgate Street was also open as part of the Heritage Open Days weekend so I went to have a look around that too.
Photos below.
FH.
