Place:Lea Bailey, Gloucestershire, England

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Lea Bailey from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"LEA-BAILEY, a tything in Newland parish, Gloucester; near the river Wye, 4 miles SE of Monmouth. Acres: 54. Population: 231. Houses: 43."

A Vision of Britain through Time provides a small map on which Lea Bailey is marked very close to the border with Herefordshire to the east of Hope Mansell. A Vision of Britain through Time further states that Lea Bailey was a tything until 1866 when it became a civil parish, and the civil parish was then abolished in 1890. The 1900 Ordnance Survey Map of Gloucestershire locates it in the very large civil parish of East Dean in the East Dean and United Parishes Rural District. In 1935 this would have been altered to the parish of Cinderford in East Dean Rural District.

There is a description of Lea Bailey following the first map in Chapter 3, Volume 5 of the Victoria History of Gloucestershire provided in the website British History Online.

Registration Districts

Westbury-on-Severn (1837 - 1890)
Westbury-on-Severn (1890 - 1937) (as part of East Dean parish)
Forest of Dean (1937 - 1953) (as East Dean parish)
Forest of Dean (1937 - 1953) (as Cinderford parish)
Gloucestershire (2006 - ) (as Cinderford parish)

Research Tips

• Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for this part of Gloucestershire are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

• Volume 5, Chapter 3 of the Victoria County History of Gloucestershire found in the website British History Online expands on the subjects of freemining and foresters throughout the Hundred of St Briavels. The chapter includes maps of the various communities and their relationships to one another.
• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish in the county. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Respect the copyright on this material.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county