Arden, Warwickshire

The Forest of Arden is a territory and cultural reference point in the English West Midlands, that in antiquity and into the Early Modern Period covered much of that district: 'This great forest once extended across a wide band of Middle England, as far as the River Trent in the north and the River Severn in the south'. It thus included much of Warwickshire, and parts of Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands, and Worcestershire. It is associated with William Shakespeare and is the setting of some of his dramas. The 'forest' did not necessarily denote continuous woodland, "but a large predominantly wooded area with many clearings and areas of cultivation''.

The Forest of Arden area may be said to fall within the Roman roads which bounded the territory within: in the east by Icknield Street, in the south by the Salt Road (the modern Alcester to Stratford Road), in the south east by the Fosse Way, and in the north and west by Watling Street. The Gough Map shows this traditional extent of the forest.

More recently the shorter term Arden has been used to describe a smaller area primarily concentrated in the historic county of Warwickshire and parts of the modern West Midlands metropolitan county.