Situated on the westerly edge of the Forest of Dean and lying within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural beauty, the villages of English Bicknor and Symonds Yat Rock  are steeped in the history of this fascinating area and offer the residents and visitors a vast range of activities and landscapes.
Recorded as a hamlet in the Doomsday Book of 1086, English Bicknor is one of the  ancient villages of the Forest of Dean. It grew up around a Norman castle.

       Today the  medieval parish church of St Mary the Virgin, the Old Rectory and the school stand in the  grounds of the castle.
      There are still many humps and bumps in the garden of Castle House, all that is left today of an old motte and bailey castle, thought to have been built in stone between 1100 and 1154. Part of Offa's Dike runs through this area and many stretches of it can still be found along this part of the Wye valley.