TWO Forest of Dean writers have achieved top places in the annual county-wide search for the best published article on local history during 2015.

Forest Local History Society treasurer Cecile Hunt and long-time member Ben Lennon were among the 10 historians selected by the judges for the Bryan Jerrard Award.

Mr Lennon’s work on the distribution of meends in the Forest was placed second when the results were announced at the Gloucestershire Local History Society’s Local History Day held at Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham, on Saturday.

His work and that of Mrs Hunt, who researched workhouses in the Forest, had been published in the Forest Society’s annual journal, The New Regard.

Judges considered the amount and quality of original research and the contribution the articles made to Gloucestershire history.

Mrs Hunt, a former chairman of the society, has meticulously researched and identified workhouses which were once part of the scene in Forest towns and villages and regularly gives talks on the subject.

She said: “It’s a fascinating aspect of social history. Everyone knows about them but there is a tendency to overlook exactly how they functioned and the role they played in society.”

The award is named after Bryan Jerrard who served as chairman of the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council’s Local History Committee - now replaced by the GLHA - between 1978 and 1998.

Previous Forest winners were Eric Nicholls and Roger Deeks who researched and published the story of a Forest soldier and the memorial gates at St Stephen’s Church, Cinderford.