The Forest of Dean transcription project has now been running for just over 4½ years with a total of over 900,000 records having been added to the database. The project currently covers 64 parishes in Gloucestershire, namely:-

Abenhall, Alvington, Arlingham, Ashleworth, Awre, Beachley, Blaisdon, Blakeney, Bream, Bromsberrow, Bulley, Christchurch, Churcham, Cinderford St John, Cinderford St Stephen, Clearwell, Clifford`s Mesne, Coleford, Coleford Broadwell, Corse, Deerhurst, Drybrook, Dymock, English Bicknor, Flaxley, Frampton, Gorsley, Hartpury, Hasfield, Hewelsfield, Huntley, Kempley, Lassington, Littledean, Longhope, Longney, Lydbrook, Lydney, Maisemore, Minsterworth, Mitcheldean, Newent, Newland, Newnham, Norton, Oxenhall, Parkend, Pauntley, Preston by Ledbury, Ruardean, Rudford, St. Briavels, Staunton, Staunton by Newent, Tainton, The Leigh, Tibberton, Tidenham, Tirley, Tutshill, Upleadon, Viney Hill, Westbury & Woolaston.

together with 16 Herefordshire border parishes, namely:-

Aston Ingham, Bishopswood, Goodrich, Hope Mansell, Lea, Ledbury, Linton, Little Marcle, Marstow, Much Marcle, Ross on Wye, Upton Bishop, Walford, Welsh Bicknor, Weston under Penyard & Whitchurch.

9 Monmouthshire border parishes, namely:-

Chapel Hill, Chepstow, Dixton, Llandogo, Monmouth, Penalt, St. Arvans, Tintern & Wyesham.

and 2 Worcestershire border parishes, namely:

Longdon & Redmarley D`Abitot

In addition to these Church of England records, all of the Gloucestershire Forest of Dean non conformist records are being added to the database, together with the non conformist records from the Herefordshire and Monmouthshire border areas. We have also photographed the pre-1837 marriage registers for all the Gloucester parishes and many of these have now been transcribed and included in the database.

In November we completed the filming of all the Gloucestershire Forest of Dean parish registers, Bishop`s Transcripts & non conformist records which are held in Gloucester Archives. We have also photographed a number of pre-1900 registers, which are still held in the churches, the only significant exception being the post 1813 Rudford burials.

We have photographed a total of 39 pre-1812 Bishop`s Transcripts of Gloucestershire parishes. These are being sent out to volunteers with the parish registers and current transcripts, so that they can be checked and updated with any additional information which is in the BTs but not the parish registers. To date 19 parishes have been completed namely: Abenhall, Alvington, Blaisdon, Bromsberrow, Bulley, English Bicknor, Flaxley, Hewelsfield, Huntley, Kempley, Lassington, Littledean, Longhope, Longney, Mitcheldean, Newland, Oxenhall, Ruardean & Tidenham, and work is in hand on a number of others.

At the start of this project we decided to impose privacy restrictions on the database, using a 90 year cut off for baptisms, 70 years for marriages and 30 years for burials. However as the project has now been running for almost 5 years, this means there are different cut off points for different parishes depending on when the transcripts were added to the database. To tidy this up we have decided to include all the records in the database and set cut offs of 1920 for the baptisms, 1940 for the marriages and 1980 for the burials. This will enable us to increment the dates at the beginning of each New Year. The full database will be made available to a few members of the project team, so that you will be able to request specific searches of the more recent records offline.

For Monmouthshire we have worked closely with Mike John and have copied all of the available transcripts of border parishes from his website. There is one problem parish, Dixton, for which the pre-1812 parish registers are largely illegible. We hope to overcome this problem by filming the BTs and using these as the primary source.

Our focus of attention over the next few months will be the Herefordshire border parishes, where we need to photograph the most recent registers and also the Bishop`s Transcripts.

It is estimated that when the project is complete the database will contain about one million records.

It`s good to hear that so many researchers are benefiting from the database. We are greatly indebted to all the transcribers without whom none of this would have been possible, and, of course, my small band of helpers who join me at the Record Offices once a month to photograph the registers.

I would also like to thank Dave Watkins (Admin!) for his wonderful website, and for all the support he has given me in making these records freely available in a searchable database. This has truly been a great team effort.

So what next! One thought is to transcribe the Marriage Licences for the whole of Gloucestershire. This would enable us to get a free camera licence and avoid the laborious problem of sorting out the Forest of Dean licences from the rest. These licences contain additional information such as the ages and occupations of the Bride and Groom and also their parentage if they are under age, so they are very useful for pre-1837 marriages.

May I suggest that any other ideas are posted on the Forum, so that we can all join in the discussion.

Enjoy your research.

Graham Davison Project Coordinator