Forest of Dean areas but the focus has been to capitalise on the scenery and to create jobs from tourist attractions and the leisure sector. Significant numbers of residents work outside the area, commuting to Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bristol, Newport and Cardiff. For hundreds of years, mining in the Forest of Dean Coalfield has been regulated through a system of freemining. This, and other forms of self-governance, coupled with the Forest's geographic isolation between the rivers Severn and Wye, has given rise to a strong sense of cultural identity in those from the area, who are collectively known as 'Foresters'. The ancient rights were
Forest of Dean Railway 1838 a fall in trade produced a 17s dividend, but in the following year the directors noted with satisfaction how the Dean Forest (Mines) Act 1838 had stimulated mining and trading activity in the district, and in 1839 and 1840 the dividend was up to about 5%. In October 1834 William Allaway asked the board for permission to use a locomotive on the tramroad. He enquired as to "the weight that six wheels would be allowed to carry", and he probably had in mind the six-coupled engines then being used on the Sirhowy Railway. He was told that the tramroad