Life in Hewelsfield and Brockweir during the 16th Century
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/stories-and-articles

If you like reading a little about history and the way people lived in the
Forest back in the 16th Century, then you will certainly enjoy reading this
article which was originally published by the Chepstow Society back in 1950.

The original article was kindly sent to us by Gordon Williams. It was then
re-typed by Helen McDonald and Ian Pritchard so I could put it into a PDF file
for all to read.

Enjoy

Hi David

Thank you for forwarding that reference. The article is fascinating. My
great great grandfather (Thomas Hopkins) shows up in most censuses as having
been born in St Briavels, but I have found one reference to him having been
born in Brockweir.

The family 'legend' is that the Hopkins family is Welsh (and it certainly is
on one side), but wouldn't it be amazing if the Hopkyns in that article was
an ancestor of ours! That would mean that our branch of the Hopkins family
go back to that time at least in the FOD, and we would have a detailed and
valuable story about our family! Sigh... More research to do...

Of course if that were true, it doesn't mean that the family isn't Welsh. I
guess it just depends on where you believe the border lies!

Thanks once again.

John Hopkins