I am enjoying finding information on the Brains of the Forest of Dean. However, I am totally confused about(even having read what Slowhands had to say about those Deans) Littledean, Little Dean, East Dean, West Dean, etc. Which are villages or settlements and which are some sort of district?

Is there a map which graphically displays these different places?

Pang .... lost in the Forest

There are maps on this site http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/the-forest-of-dean/maps-of-the-forest even a hand coloured one showing the parishes :-)

as I have said before boundaries move over time which just complicates things !!

PS
The BRAINS of Collafield / Littledean should not be to hard to untangle

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

Hello Pangur,

Into the 19th Century, the FoD was extra Parochial, ie an inhabited area but was not populous enough for the CofE to be justified in forming parishes and building churches. It was referred to as Forest and then East and West Dean which was used for administrative purposes such as the Census. I could list the 'villages' that formed East and West Dean but it won't help. People were prepared to walk long distances to their favoured church. My great grandfathers sister lived in Soudley, East Dean but was married in St Paul's Parkend (West Dean) in 1850. Her nearest parish church was St John's Cinderford, but St Paul's has a special charm, most impressive.

I'm afraid that if your interest is in the Brain family you must cast your net wide and list every Brain over the whole area and try to make sense of it.

By American standards the Deans to which you refer cover a very compact area and if your ancestors were anything like mine they may have links with many villages and areas within the Forest of Dean and neighbouring areas (including across the border/River Wye into Wales) and not have been confined to one particular village.