Place:West Dean, Gloucestershire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

West Dean is a civil parish, situated in the Forest of Dean District of Gloucestershire, England.

The Forest of Dean was an extra-parochial area in the St. Briavels Hundred of Gloucestershire. It was without the usual parish structure until the West Dean and East Dean townships were formed in 1844. For poor relief, West Dean was grouped into the Monmouth Poor Law Union and was included in the Monmouth rural sanitary district. Following the Local Government Act 1894, West Dean became a civil parish in the West Dean Rural District. In 1974 the rural district was abolished and West Dean became one of 41 civil parishes in the Forest of Dean District.

Current geography

West Dean is the largest civil parish in the Forest of Dean District, both in respect of its population and its geographical size.

At the 2001 UK census there were 10,305 people living in West Dean Parish, more than in any of the Forest towns. The size of the Parish is a considerable 4686 hectares and stretches from Berry Hill and Christchurch in the north to Bream in the south and from Sling in the west to Viney Hill in the east.

The following villages are now in West Dean parish. Some were detached parts of Newland parish in times past. Both parishes should be used to seek references.

• Berry Hill, including Christchurch, Five Acres, Joyford, and Shortstanding
• Edge End
• Ellwood
• Sling
• Clements End
• Little Drybrook
• Bream
• Brockhollands
• Yorkley
• Pillowell
• Oldcroft
• Viney Hill
• Parkend
• Whitecroft

Registration Districts

Westbury-on-Severn (1837 - 1845)
Monmouth (1845 - 1894) (as part of East Dean)
Monmouth (1894 - 1937) (as West Dean again)
Forest of Dean (1937 - 2006)
Gloucestershire (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:

• 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