Bream or Breem, Gloucestershire

Historical Description

Bream or Breem, a village and a tithing in Newland parish, and an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1854 out of the parish of Newland and the township of West Dean, in Gloucestershire. The village lies in the Forest of Dean, 2 miles from Parkend station on the Severn and Wye and Severn Bridge railway, 4 miles NW of Lydney station on the G.W.R., and 4½ SSE of Coleford. It has a post office under Lydney; the telegraph office is at Whitecroft railway station. Near the village are some ancient Roman mines. Population of ecclesiastical parish, 2023. The manor belongs to the Crown. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church was partly rebuilt in 1861. There is a mission church at Yorkley Wood. There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Bible Christian chapels.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient County	Gloucestershire
Civil parish	Newland
Hundred	St. Briavells
Poor Law union	Monmouth

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The register, from the year 1560, is included in that of Newland, but there is a separate register from 1813.

The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.

Churches

Church of England

St. James

The church of St. James, partially rebuilt in 1861, chiefly at the cost of Miss Alice Davies, is a building of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, north aisle, south porch and a western turret containing 1 bell: the east and west windows are stained; the latter was erected by the parishioners as a memorial to the Rev. J. F. Gosling M.A. vicar 1869-82, and there is another in the chancel erected by his brothers: a new organ was provided in 1897, at a cost of £250: the communion plate includes a silver chalice and paten dated 1680, the gift of James Gough, gentleman: in 1891 the south porch was rebuilt, a new window inserted, a chancel aisle erected, the vestry enlarged, and the seats re-arranged, and again reseated in 1904, now affording sittings for 400 persons.

Methodist

Primitive Methodist Chapel

United Methodist Chapel

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Bream or Breem from the following:

Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Breem)

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Gloucestershire online:

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of the county of Gloucester, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.