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Coleford

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[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"COLEFORD, a market town and district parish in the parish of Newland, hundred of St. Briavel's in the county of Gloucester, 4 miles E. of Monmouth. It is situated in Dean Forest, near Offa's Dyke and was the scene, in 1643, of a skirmish between Lord Herbert and a party of Roundheads, in which the latter were dispersed. The town is small, but well built, with a market-house and schools. It is one of the polling-places for the county, and a potty sessions town. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the collieries and iron-mines.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £160, in the patronage of the bishop. The old church was destroyed in the Civil War, and not rebuilt till the time of Queen Anne. The present church is a stone edifice, with tower, dedicated to St. John. The Independents, Baptists, and Wesleyans have places of worship, and there are several schools. The market day is Friday. Fairs for cattle and wool are held on the 20th June and the last Friday in August."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

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Archives & Libraries

  • Original source material relating to Coleford, and other parishes in Diocese of Gloucester may be found at the Gloucestershire Archives.

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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Coleford which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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Historical Geography

  • Christchurch is an "ecclesiastical parish formed from extra-parochial area of the Forest of Dean, 1844."
    Coleford was a "chapelry of Newland until 1872, united with Staunton since 1922."
    (Ref: Guide to the Parish Records of the City of Bristol and the County of Gloucester; I. Gray & E. Ralph, 1963)

  • "In County and Diocese of Glos. A small portion [of Coleford] was previously within Herefordshire, near Welsh Bicknor"
    (Ref: The Parish Registers of Herefordshire, J Harnden, 1987, ISBN 0 9512347 0 6).

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SO575108 (Lat/Lon: 51.794443, -2.617235), Coleford which are provided by: