Anyone living of even just visiting the Forest of Dean will have heard locals saying “ow butt” at the end of conversations. It is a term of endearment and a legacy of the ‘butty’ system that operated in the mines.
Local historian Ian Wright has researched how the system operated and, in an article for the current New Regard, the history journal of the Forest of Dean Local History Society, he describes how the system came to a controversial ending.