Finding Parishes & Places within the Forest area (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, October 01, 2013, 14:00 (4065 days ago) @ Gill

Hi Gill,
thanks for your kind words, the pleasure was all mine. Yes the "problem" with his great hobby is the more we learn, then the more we still have left to learn, regardless of how long we've been at it !. I spent the first 25 years of my life living in the Forest and still visit family there, I thought I knew the area pretty well, particularly towards Gloster and Hereford, yet its only these last few years while doing my FH research I've got to know the area properly - even last night I had to check where Tibberton was, even tho I drive within a few miles of it very regularly along the A40 from Gloster to Westbury. Nowadays we often learn the main routes from A to B but without finding the little places just off our well-beaten track.

May I suggest you use this very helpful Map from within this website, find for example Tibberton on the dropdown lefthand menu, press "locate", and the map displays where it is. This map can then be enlarged etc. Repeating with "The Leigh" and you'll find thats about 5 miles east, it's north of Gloster so well-outside of the Forest, far enough from say Tibberton(my error) in the early 1800s to disguise a Marriage !. However the areas you know, Whitecroft/Yorkley is all within a stone's throw of Newland/Coleford, they are all several miles west from Tibberton so almost another world relative to The Leigh in early 1800s respects, hence the apparently odd distance between Baptism & Marriage.

Sorry for the "lecture", not wishing to teach anyone to suck eggs, but I've always had a great interest in maps and for FH research they are a wonderful tool, particularly the fantastically-detailed early Ordnance Surveys.

http://www.forest-of-dean.net/index.php/forest-of-dean-parish-map
This and many other very helpfull period maps are found under the "Forest of Dean" heading at top of this website's homepage.