Vintage Dean Forest Park booklet:
The Geology of Symonds Yat and the Wye Gorge
Original printed price 1/- (one shilling) on the cover – pre-decimal, so published before February 1971.
An illustrated visitor guide to the rocks and landforms around Symonds Yat Rock and the Wye Gorge in the Forest of Dean. Packed with original black-and-white geological sketches and explanatory notes.
Contents / features visible in this copy include:
Cover diagram of isolated crags of white oolite and Lower Dolomite, with notes on dip, joints and vertical cliffs
Cross-section of the Symonds Yat area showing Yat Rock in the Lower Dolomite, rock stacks, River Wye, Old Railway Tunnel, Lower Limestone Shale and Tintern Sandstone – “The Origin of the Wye Gorge”
Detailed drawing of Crease Limestone: caves, stalactites, stalagmites, tufa, iron-ore deposits (haematite), dropping wells
Views of Seven Sisters Rocks and Flake Pinnacle Rock
Notes on Quartz Conglomerate, Coal Measures, Coleford High Delf, etc.
Glossary covering terms such as Alluvium, Carboniferous, Crinoidal Limestone, Dip, Dolomite, Haematite, Limestone, Oolite, Quartz, Shale, Tufa, Travertine
A nice piece of Forest of Dean / Wye Valley local history and geology ephemera. Useful for walkers, geology students, collectors of Forestry Commission / Dean Forest Park publications, or anyone interested in Symonds Yat.
Condition
Used, as shown. Cover has age-related staining, foxing/spotting, some edge wear and a punch hole to the right-hand margin. Pages are generally clean and complete with the original sketches still clear. Please study the photos – they form part of the description.
No date or author printed on the cover. Similar later Forestry Commission leaflet issued c.1975; this is an earlier Dean Forest Park printing.
Happy to combine postage with other items. Any questions, just ask.

The 1/- cover price already puts it before decimalisation. I’ll look for a publication date or reprint history for this exact Dean Forest Park title.The drawing style looks a lot like William Dreghorn’s 1968 Forest of Dean geology book. I’ll check whether he also produced this leaflet.There’s no printed date on the cover, so it has to be dated from the clues on the booklet itself.
Most likely: mid-to-late 1960s (about 1960–1970).
Why that range:
Price 1/- means it was printed before decimalisation on 15 February 1971. After that, prices were in new pence.
The cross-section labels an “Old Railway Tunnel.” The Ross & Monmouth line through Symonds Yat closed to passengers in January 1959, so “old” points to a date after 1959.
It is branded Dean Forest Park (the Forest Park dates from 1938). This style of cheap illustrated visitor leaflet is typical of Forestry Commission material from the late 1950s and 1960s.
A later 1975 Forestry Commission leaflet exists with almost the same title, as an 8-page A5. Yours is the earlier 1/- Dean Forest Park version.