Place:Longhope, Gloucestershire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

Longhope is a village and civil parish in west Gloucestershire, England, since 1974 situated within the Forest of Dean District. The placename Longhope means "long, enclosed valley" which describes the aspect of the village.

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

"LONGHOPE, a parish in Westbury-on-Severn [registration] district, Gloucester; on the Gloucester and Hereford railway, near the boundary with Hereford, 6 miles N by W of Newnham. It has a station on the railway, and a post office under Gloucester; and is cut into two divisions, lower and upper. Acres: 3,070. Real property of the [lower division]: £2,713; of the [upper division]: £2,647. Population: 1,104. Houses: 229. The property is divided among a few. The manor and much of the land belong to E. Probyn, Esq. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester. Value: £400. Patron: Gen. Sir John W. Guise, Bart. The church is ancient; was recently restored; and had a spire which became unsound, and was about to be taken down in 1867. There are a Baptist chapel, and charities £135."

Registration Districts

• Westbury-on-Severn Registration District (1837 - 1937)
• Forest of Dean Registration District (1937 - 2006)
• Gloucestershire Registration District (2006 - )

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:

• 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. Do 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
• Unfortunately, A History of the County of Gloucester in the Victoria County History series provided by the website British History Online does not cover this part of the county
• Ancestry.co.uk has recently added Gloucestershire Burials, 1813-1988; Confirmations, 1834-1913; Baptisms, 1813-1913; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813; and Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. (entry dated 1 Aug 2015)