Moorwood / Horse Lea/Pludds (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Friday, May 19, 2006, 21:15 (6553 days ago) @ Janet Ford

Distances --- the square containing Moorwood, Horse Lea, High Beech, and out to the Pludds in the east is probably about a mile square....

He probably said "Bicknor" to the census taker - which is the Parish for parts of Lydbrook . The boundary for East and West Dean (here) is the Lyd Brook flowing down to the Wye. The enumerator proabablty added the West Dean to his notes. looking at the image the W abbr. for west looks as though it started as an E, suggesting the enumerator was not sure either !

I've always placed Joys Green, Moorwood, Horse Lea Readings, Pludds etc in East Dean , whilst Anchorberry/Hangerberry, Worral Hill on the other side of the Lyd would be West Dean. Bicknor parish is on the west side ( or at least most of it , as I'm not sure where the parish boundary is - or was in the 1860's).

So my advice is don't be too worried by the West Dean or the Bicknor, it points to the correct area, teh census data is only as good as what was given , and what has been recorded ... my experience is that thats pretty consistent compared to some I have seen :-)

Later census entries tend to support the East Dean / Lydbrook line.