Gatcombe fisheries (General)

by peteressex , Tuesday, September 24, 2019, 09:15 (1893 days ago) @ Pam Herron

Hi Pam.

Although I haven't taken the Virgo aspect further (your other post yesterday), I thought you might be interested in something I did discover about salmon fishing on that stretch of the Severn. A very short way along from Gatcombe is Etloe, where there is a bungalow called "Salmonstone." It was at one time occupied - around the late 1940s/early 50s - by a local schoolteacher called Nesta Fryer, who was a friend of my uncle Sidney Essex who was once manager of the British Road Services depot at Lydney. He and his family visited Nesta occasionally. A few years ago I went to Etloe and found the bungalow. Its stone nameplate incorporates an outline drawn around the shape of a record-breaking salmon landed along there. I don't know who actually landed it, but there was a gentleman in a house almost opposite who knew the history. So you never know - if you ever get to Etloe you might pick up some Goulding information or other history relevant to your researches.

Stimulated by your other follow-up, I might print out the Virgo record and send it to my late father's cousin, George Virgo's daughter, who still lives in Lydney, and see if she can confirm it as "our lot."