Sling is a village in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. The village is located between

Clearwell Clearwell (anciently "Clower-Wall" etc.) is a village and former ancient manor in the Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England. A recent survey indicated that the population of Clearwell is approximately 350. There are mines locally that ...

and

Bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including ''Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), ''Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', ''Blicca'', '' Brama'', ''Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', ''Lepo ...

. It is just south of the village of

Milkwall Milkwall is a village in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. It lies between the village of Sling to the south, and the town of Coleford to the north. Milkwall, strictly speaking, lies South of Station Rd in the parish of West Dean ...

History

The hamlet of Sling derives its name from a local

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

mine.Forest of Dean: Settlement
Victoria County History In 1838 G. E. Jackson, a Birmingham ironmaster, sank "Old Sling" ore mine below old workings at Clearwell Meend. It was one of the larger iron ore mines in the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...

, and in the mid-1860s it employed nearly 100 people. The mine had closed by 1921.Forest of Dean: Industry
Victoria County History A factory for repairing boilers, F. E. Watkins Limited, was founded at Sling in 1942, and was still operating in the late 1960s when it also made machine tools and employed around 150 people. The factory used to announce shift starts and ends using a World War 2 air raid siren until the late 1970s. In the 18th and 19th century there were just a few scattered cottages in the area. Two of the cottages, in the fork of a road to

Parkend Parkend is a village, located at the foot of the Cannop Valley, in the Royal Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England, and has a history dating back to the early 17th century. During the 19th century it was a busy industrial village with se ...

, were later occupied by a

beerhouse A beerhouse was a type of public house created in the United Kingdom by the 1830 Beerhouse Act, legally defined as a place "where beer is sold to be consumed ''on'' the premises". They were also known as 'small' or 'Tom and Jerry' shops Existing pu ...

called the Miners' Arms. Another building nearby adopted that name by the late 1870s and remains an inn today.Forest of Dean: Social life
Victoria County History Several more cottages were built before the 1920s when the growth of Sling began around the crossroads formed by routes from

St Briavels St Briavels (pronounced ''Brevels'', once known as 'Ledenia Parva' (Little Lydney)), is a medium-sized village and civil parish in the Royal Forest of Dean in west Gloucestershire, England; close to the England-Wales border, and south of Colefo ...

and from

to Coleford. A memorial hall built at Sling around 1921 was superseded by a new Miners' Welfare institute in 1931. It later became a social club.

References

External links

photos of Sling and surrounding area on geograph
Villages in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub