St Briavels (pronounced Brevels, once known as 'Ledenia Parva' (Little Lydney)),[2] 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 5 miles (8 km) south of Coleford.

Coal mining, iron ore extraction, stone quarrying and forestry with Verderers have all been important primary sources of income in the Forest of Dean.

It is said that, after a particularly successful job undermining the foundations of Berwick Castle at Berwick-on-Tweed, King Edward I granted 'Free-Mining' status to all Forest of Dean coal and ore miners.

[9] This authority gave Freeminers the right to dig for minerals anywhere in the Forest of Dean except beneath churchyards, orchards and gardens.

To be a Freeminer, an individual has to be "born and abiding within the 'Hundred of St Briavels', of the age of 21 and upwards who shall have worked for a year and a day in a coal or iron ore mine or stone quarry within the Hundred".

In the late middle ages and early modern period open cast stone mining was prevalent in the woods to the west of the village.

[10] Many millstones used in the mills and cider presses of the time were quarried in the Hudnalls and rolled down the hillside to be transported away by barges on the River Wye.

Today the Pavilions hold a very popular and well established monthly 'Local Produce and Suppliers Market', a local farmers' market offering a fine selection of organic vegetables, rare breed pedigree pork, award-winning local cheeses, cider, wine, honey and a range of delicacies.

The general character of the village is typified by a mid 19th century core, complemented to the east by a large number of houses built during the 1970s.

The St Briavels Bread and Cheese Dole tradition is said to date back to the time of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford (then lord of the Forest of Dean) in the 12th century.

Each year on Whit Sunday bread and cheese is thrown from the wall of the castle to local 'Dole Claimers' dressed in medieval costume.

[15] 'Dole claimers' could be anyone who paid a penny to the incumbent Earl of Hereford entitling them to gather firewood from the nearby Hudnalls wood.

Some believe in the power of these edible morsels and preserve them for good luck (miners originally used them as charms to protect against accidents underground).