St Briavels Castle is located on a spur dominating a position above the River Wye, on the western edge of the Forest of Dean.

[5] It originally had a small round tower protecting the south-east corner and probably a gateway in the south wall alongside the keep.

[8] A set of medieval domestic buildings still stand along the north-west side of the bailey, however, including a hall, solar and chapel, originally providing accommodation for the castle constable and the King.

[11] The gatehouse of St Briavels Castle is described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "magnificent... a very fine example of the royal masons' work of the period.

[1] The area was acquired by William FitzOsbern, the first Earl of Hereford in 1067, who built a number of castles across the region, including Chepstow, Monmouth, Clifford and Wigmore.

[20] One alternative view, however, sees St Briavels as intended to protect the Severn estuary to the south, along with the royal castles of Bristol and Gloucester.

[19] Fitz John was killed early in the fighting, but Miles declared in favour of Matilda and took control of the castle in his own right.

[22] The Forest of Dean could be used for hunting, but was more important to the king as a major metalworking centre, thanks to the plentiful supply of trees for making charcoal and the iron deposits in the limestone stone of the region.

[19] The quantities being produced were substantial – in 1172, for example, Henry II received 100 axes, 1,000 picks, 2,000 shovels and 60,000 nails from St Briavel Castle.

[24] King John enjoyed regular hunting in the Forest each November, and used St Briavels Castle as his base for such trips.

[29] The courts held at St Briavels Castle imposed a relatively large number of fines, or amercements, for both illegal wood-cutting and the poaching of venison during the period.

[31] After King John's death, however, St Briavels Castle became the primary centre for English quarrel manufacture.

[32] Crossbows were primarily built at the Tower of London, but St Briavels Castle, with the local forest to provide raw materials, became the national centre for quarrel manufacture.

[37] Now a centre for arms manufacture, the castle was made more secure, with a new defensive ditch, freshly repaired walls and a new chapel.

[25] The castle was garrisoned with royal troops during the uprising of Richard Marshal against Henry III in 1233–4, suggesting it had considerable military value at this time.

[42] In 1300, the old wooden chapel was rebuilt in stone and in 1310, an extension to the castle wall was constructed at a cost of £40; called 'the Peel', this followed the line of the old motte and gave additional protection to the keep.

[43] St Briavels Castle remained an important location in the reign of Edward II, as the Welsh Marches were a key region in the wars between the king, his favourites and various noble factions during the period.

[46] Violence began to break out across the region in response to the Despenser's harsh rule, and Sapy's deputy was attacked in July 1325 on his way back from St Briavels Castle to London; his eyes were torn out, his arms and legs broken and all his records and money stolen.

St Briavels Castle passed back and forth between the senior nobility on either side, but without playing a major part in the conflict itself.

[54] By the time of the English Civil War, St Briavels Castle was held by Philip Herbert, the 4th earl and a friend of the king's.

[54] With the Restoration and the return of Charles II to power in 1660, the castle was removed from the Earls of Pembroke and given instead to Henry, Lord Herbert of Raglan for life.

[58] The castle was now principally a prison and a court, still operating under the authority of the constable and the Forest Law originally established in 1217.

[59] The remaining buildings inside the bailey were converted into a courtroom and jury room, with the west side of the gatehouse being used as a jail for detaining prisoners.

Howard found the prison "greatly out of repair", with the two inmates locked in a single room without exercise for the best of a year, with no fresh water, financial support or firewood.

[60] Graffiti on the stone walls of the castle jail includes the mournful inscription by a prisoner of the period "For I have been here a great space; And I am weary of the place.

[62] After the intervention of the military, the rioters were dispersed and order restored, but a range of complaints were levied about the enforcement of the local laws on miners and metal-workers.

[64] An act of Parliament followed, establishing a number of commissioners who investigated local practices and recent events at the Castle.

It emerged that out of the 402 cases brought before the court at St Briavels' Castle, 397 of them were for extremely small sums of debt of £5 or less (£373 in 2009 prices), increasingly unacceptable in Victorian eyes.

It leads to a hole going down to the bottom of the building, which is always inaccessible for cleaning, but which until six years ago had a drain from it to the moat; the air draws up from it into the passage and the room.