The shout "Stand and deliver!" will be heard next Sunday when a gang of highwaymen are threatening to descend on the Forest.

Gloucestershire's answer to Dick Turpin, John Putley, disguises himself in his day job as Learning and Outreach Officer at Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester's Alvin Street hideaway. Evenings and weekends he leads his team of footpads on raids around the county.

"The 'golden age of highway robbery' was from about 1700 to 1830," John tells the Review. "Although highwaymen happily robbed both rich and poor, they tended to work on the busier roads, especially those leading to the capital or larger regional cities.

"I suspect that at some time highwaymen would have operated on the Monmouth-Hereford road, the Gloucester-Monmouth road, the Gloucester-Ross road and also the Gloucester-Chepstow road. Because none have been recorded their activity was probably only sporadic. 

"There did not seem to be as many highwayman operating around the Forest as there were elsewhere in the county, such as the Cotswolds or Stroud. Though in Littledean Gaol's records that we hold here there are two records of Foresters convicted for the crime of highway robbery: 

•1864  William Walford, age 19, of Lydbrook, labourer: Highway robbery: three days in Littledean Gaol

•1876 Samuel Virgo, age 21, of Blakeney, collier of Loiterpin: Highway robbery: 5 days in Littledean Gaol.

"These were not highwaymen as we would think of them today, especially in view of the light sentences, but I've have not had the chance to see if their cases are recorded in the local newspapers.

"I suspect that the main reasons for the lack of highwaymen in Dean was that there were fewer people travelling the highways mostly because the area was not a popular 'through' route and that the Foresters themselves didn't tend to travel very far. I guess we could add that the locals were not the most well-off either, though having said that a miner coming home with wages would have been a tempting victim if alone."

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"The Forest of Dean Local History Society were the first LHS to stage a History Fair in 2000," FODLHS Conservation and Enquiries officer Averil Kear tells us. "The first was held in Lydney Town Hall, that in 2004 being opened by Lady Healey.

"Our last Fair in 2007 held at the Speech House was very well supported by local and wider ranging organisations and by the public who came along. This year's Fair will be slightly different as we shall be staging some quite short workshops during the event to help with both family and house history. There is also John Putley's children's workshop."

"Essentially we'll be using the craft activities from our Stand & Deliver Roadshow which include making and decorating highwayman's tricorn hats, making and decorating highwayman's masks – both plain style and Venetian-style with beak nose – plus making and colouring cardboard tube highwaymen," John continues.

"Everything the children – and parents! – make on the day they can take home with them. We'll also be giving out activity packs, which comprise a handout with facts about highwaymen and activities to do at home, such as making a wanted poster or drawing their own highwayman.

 "I'll be dressed up as a highwayman as well to add to the fun and will happily chat to children about what a highwayman's life was like and what sort of nefarious activities they would get up to on Dean's wooded roads."

"We shall also be having a silent auction with some really excellent items to bid for," says Averil, who is herself running the Your House Has History mini-workshop. "We shall be putting up for auction copies of the Victoria County History Vol V – Forest of Dean, a much sought after copy of Dr Cyril Hart's Industrial History of Dean, Fay Godwin's The Secret Forest of Dean signed by Edna Healey, and a set of New Regards from the year 2000 to 2010."

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The 5th History Fair opens at Coleford's Bells Hotel on Sunday at 10am, closing at 4pm. Opening the event is FODLHS President Baroness Royall of Blaisdon.

For those who haven't visited, it's a chance to see the old buildings, though now much modernised and extended. As well having a couple of dozen stands and exhibitions, it provides an FODLHS History Help Desk, with refreshments available.

"The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society has been in existence since 1876 and is the leading historical and archaeological society in the county," John Loosley, Gloucestershire Rural Community Council Local History chairman and BGAS representative, tells us. "We will be displaying examples of Society activities including residential meetings, lectures, outings; facilities such as our library in Cheltenham; and a selection of the many publications published by the Society."

"We will have our display boards showing the work we are doing on the local war memorials, and recording memorial inscriptions at Clearwell Church," says Steve Cooper of the Gloucestershire Family History Society FOD Branch. "In addition we will be running our help and information desk."

"We will be displaying some of the archive which was displayed last September for the Lydbrook School Centenary celebrations," says Gay Rawlings, Lydbrook Historical Society secretary. "We will also be taking some of our general photos, so some thing of everything we have."

"Tidenham History Group will have a display on the men who gave their lives in WW1 in Tidenham and Chepstow," Liz McBride and Keith Underwood inform us. "This is an ongoing research project, in­volving over 200 men, not all of them were recorded on the war memorials.

"We are looking for more information on all of the men, and two or three in particular have so far drawn a blank as to their place of death or where or how they served. Any information your readers may have on the men would be most appreciated. We will also have a display on research by David Barber into the brickworks which existed in Tidenham parish in the 19th century."

 "We are mounting a display around Steve Ryan's book Thomas Street – Courts and Characters as he died earlier this year," says Henry Hodges of The Chepstow Society. "The display will be a tribute to Steve Ryan, who died at Christmas, the Society's last publication being about his growing up in Thomas Street in the early twentieth century," Liz McBride adds. "Steve is also remembered for his involvement with the Severn Princess and was a popular speaker on the subject."

"We will be displaying photos and information mostly relating to the Coleford battle memorial plaque," says the Sealed Knot Regiment's Keith James. "We will also be promoting the Coleford muster planned for next year."

"We are showing the development of the Church of England properties in Coleford from the old chapel of ease to the present parish church," Janet Marrott of the Coleford Area Market & Coastal Towns Initiative Partnership tells us.

"We will be focusing mainly on the Overlooking the Wye project and be promoting the events, walks and talks for the coming year in the Wye Valley AONB," says AONB Information Officer Nikki Moore.

"We will display information about the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group and will have books and other publications for sale," says SGMRG's Chris Willmore, suggesting a glance at their sgmrg.co.uk website. "We will also bring display boards and artefacts."

"We will be basing our display on the old photographs of Brockweir and the building of Brockweir Bridge," says John Norman for Brockweir & Hewelsfield Local History Group. "Between us we have a large collection of these old photographs and look forward to showing them."

Other groups displaying their wares include: Dean Archaeological Group, Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology, GCC Archaeology Services, Gloucestershire Geology Trust, Hereford and Gloucester Canal Trust, Monmouth Archaeology Society, Chepstow Archaeology Society, Forest Prints and St Briavels PC.

5th History Fair Programme

10am Doors open

10.30am Opening ceremony by FODLHS President, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon

11am Mini Workshop: Research Melting Pot with Cecile Hunt of FODLHS

11.30am Mini Workshop: 15 minute Family History Vicky Thorpe of Gloucestershire Archives

12 noon Mini Workshop: Your House has History with Averil Kear for FODLHS

2pm Mini Workshop: Research Melting Pot (as above)

2.30pm Mini Workshop: 15 minute Family History

(as above)

3pm Mini Workshop: Your House has History

(as above)

3.30pm Auction closes

3.45pm Auction results

4pm Doors close