Drybrook in 1931 (General)

by cmfenton , Ferndown, Dorset, Sunday, November 30, 2008, 23:05 (5909 days ago) @ Don Cameron

I'm not sure many Foresters would recognise this description of Drybrook. Certainly my aunt, who has spent all her 93 years in Drybrook or Ruardean Hill, would not.
The following comes from British History on-line "A History of the County of Gloucester" (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23266). Plenty of roads and even a railway described here!

Drybrook, a village north of Cinderford, grew up at a crossing of Dry brook by an old route from Mitcheldean to Ruardean, (fn. 49) called Morse Lane west of the village. East of the brook, which marked the eastern boundary of Ruardean, (fn. 50) two small farmsteads were established in the Morse grounds, an area belonging to Newland. (fn. 51) One, later Drybrook Farm, was near the brook and was described as new-built in 1749 when ownership of the Morse grounds passed from the Crawley-Boeveys of Flaxley Abbey to the Colchesters of the Wilderness. (fn. 52) In 1840 the farmstead further east was called the Morse and occupied by William Manning, (fn. 53) and later it was called Manning's Farm. (fn. 54) In 1782 there were also 12 cottages at Drybrook on the extraparochial Forest waste bordering Ruardean (fn. 55) and by 1832 their number had risen to c. 38, including several to the north at Hawthorns. (fn. 56) The route from Mitcheldean, by way of Stenders to the east, had been improved in 1766 (fn. 57) and incorporated in the later 1790s in a new road to Coleford, which branched south to follow a track past Drybrook Farm to Nailbridge. A lane running northwards to Hawthorns was included in 1841 in a new road to Bailey Lane End on the Forest boundary. (fn. 58) The junction of the Mitcheldean- Nailbridge road with the roads to Ruardean and Bailey Lane End became the focal point of the village and was the site of several inns in the later 19th century (fn. 59) and of several shops in 1992. The Hearts of Oak (formerly the New Inn), (fn. 60) a short distance to the south-west, was built as a beerhouse in 1838. (fn. 61) Most of the early cottages were north-west of the crossroads (fn. 62) and in 1836 a chapel was erected on the Hawthorns road. (fn. 63) On the south-west side of the village Quabbs House (formerly the Quabbs) belonged to Ruardean and in 1847 was the residence of the mine owner Cornelius Brain. (fn. 64) A school was built on the Nailbridge road in 1862. (fn. 65) From 1907 Drybrook had a passenger railway service to Gloucester from a halt (fn. 66) on the west side of the village, and in the early 20th century a few houses were built on the east side by the Mitcheldean road. (fn. 67) The village was much enlarged after the Second World War and it became the centre of the new civil parish of Drybrook created in 1953 for the surrounding hamlets. (fn. 68) Most of the new houses were north of the Mitcheldean road in the large Sunnymeade estate, which was developed piecemeal by East Dean rural district council from 1948. The estate, which included several blocks of flats, was extended eastwards in 1969. (fn. 69) Some private houses were also built in the village during that period.