I have just found this website and on it very comprehensive information on Ruardean. There is information on other villages in the Forest of Dean which might prove useful in researching your families and where they lived.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=97

Jenny

Have you tried http://www.curiousfox.org.uk and also http://www.old-maps.co.uk
Old maps can be so helpful when trying to envisage where people lived.

Great sites both of you!
Thanks.
The online history even mentions the schoolmaster in 1851- not by name but we all know its Joseph Blanch, father of my Jacob Griffiths who was in Ross workhouse 1851 with his mam Mary Griffiths and 2 little sisters. Sites like these certainly turn names and dates into real people.
It also links the Brains and Horlicks families together in the church section, Im still looking at the Griffiths connection here.

Carol- like a dog with a bone:)