East Dean, Gloucestershire

Historical Description

Dean, East, a township in Gloucestershire. Acreage, 13,265; population, 14,622. It consists of the eastern part of Dean Forest, and comprises Cinderford, Drybrook, Ruardean-Woodside, Ruardean Hill, Harry Hill, Bilson, Bilson Woodside, part of Lydbrook, Ruspidge, Soudley, Hinders Lane, Dockham, Lea Bailey, The Plump, and Pope's Hill. There are stations on the Severn and Wye, Severn Bridge and Monmouth railway at Cinderford and Drybrook Road, and post offices at Cinderford, Drybrook, and Ruspidge. The township is divided into three ecclesiastical districts, Holy Trinity, St John the Evangelist, and St Stephen's, Woodside. The living of Holy Trinity is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £290. Patron, the Crown. The church was built in 1816. The parish was constituted in 1842, and comprises Drybrook, Ruardean-Woodside, Ruardean Hill, Harry Hill, Nailbridge, The Plump, Lea Bailey, and Pope's Hill. The ecclesiastical parish of St John the Evangelist was constituted in 1844, and comprises Cinderford, Ruspidge, and Soudley. The living is a vicarage. Patron, the Crown; gross value, £270. The ecclesiastical parish of St Stephen's, Woodside, was constituted in 1880, and comprises Cinderford (part of), Bilson-Woodside, Hinders Lane, and Dockham. The living is a perpetual curacy; gross value, £250. Patron, the Church Patronage Society. There are Congregational, Baptist, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Bible Christian chapels.

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

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1817.

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

Churches

Church of England

Holy Trinity, Harry Hill

The church of Holy Trinity, Harry Hill, which is 4 miles south from Micheldean Road station and 6 north-west from Newnham, is a plain building of stone, erected in 1816, in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 2 bells: there are 700 sittings.

Baptist

Baptist Chapel, Ruardean Hill

Congregational

Congregational Chapel, Drybrook

Congregational Chapel, Brierley Hill

Congregational Chapel, Popes Hill

Methodist

United Methodist Chapel

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Ruardean Woodside

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of East Dean are available from a number of sites:

Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
Google Streetview.
National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
OpenStreetMap.
old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

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.