Freeminer is an ancient title given to coal or iron miners in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, who have earned the right to mine personal plots, known as gales.

Deep coal and iron reserves could not be mined without substantial investment and the Crown became determined to introduce the free market into the Forest.

The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 specifically exempted the Forest of Dean, due to its unique form of ownership and history, allowing Freemining privileges to continue intact.

The ancient administrative district, known as the "Hundred of St Briavels", is generally considered to be the whole of the statutory Forest of Dean and each parish adjoining it.

[7] There are probably still around 150 Freeminers alive today, only one of which is female, although only a handful of collieries are still operating,[3] due to the demanding nature and relatively high costs of small-scale extraction; the closure of maternity hospital facilities at the Dilke Hospital - so that it has become unusual to be born within the "Hundred of St Briavels" - and attempts by the UK government to exact commercial coal mining licence charges under the 1994 Coal Act adds further difficulties.