Clanna Lodge, Alvington & Chepstow Workhouse (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 23:08 (3792 days ago) @ kate fletcher

Hi Kate,
I must first say I don't know the Clanna area from personal experience, hopefully other readers will. When I first read the word "Lodge" I wondered if yours was one of the many Lodges built to house Forestry workers, this prior post gives some background on this subject which may be of interest albeit perhaps irrelevant here.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=35549

However I cannot find any clear/direct reference to such a Forestry Lodge at Clanna. Having now properly read the older posts in this thread (thanks Slowhands), I now wonder if Clanna Lodge was not Forestry related but a "normal" private residence, which could still be called a Lodge of course. Page 85 of this English Heritage Report describes Clanna House(demolished 1952) and it's large Estate with a Farm and other buildings, it seems quite possible it had a "Lodge" too. In the UK lodge was often used to describe the small house "guarding" the main gates of a Victorian(ish) era country estate, perhaps most relevant here, but could perhaps also describe a holiday home on such an estate for visitors to use while enjoying a shooting/fishing holiday ?. The word "lodge" was used to describe a temporary base for hunting trips in remote places, such as the Royal Forests, way back in medieval times - perhaps from the old French word "loge" of similar meaning, 1066 and all that....
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/forest-of-dean-mapping-project-nmp/FoD_...
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/lodge

As suggested by Slowhands, the definitive history of the Alvington area is on this website. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23249
There's too much to reproduce here in full but hopefully it will make interesting reading for you; if you search the text you'll find 57 mentions of "Clanna", both as an area and as specific places such as theHouse, the Falls and the Farm, but no Clanna Lodge as such; searching "Lodge" gives just two hits, both for a residence called Severn Lodge built c1820, perhaps ??? this is the same building ??? - we need to study the maps more closely to clarify(see below!).

You might also find this detailed & illustrated report of interest, Severn Lodge and Clanna Lane are both mentioned.
http://www.fdean.gov.uk/media/Assets/Planning-DC/documents/Conservation%20Areas/Current...

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At this time I don't have full access to the 1861 Census. What were your ancestor's professions while living at the Lodge, this may well help us; perhaps they were estate workers(gamekeeper, gardener) or maybe even woodmen/foresters ?. If you search tinternet for "Clanna Falls" you'll find a few photos of Clanna estate workers from the 1920s, but not your Fletchers sadly. That same website has photos of Severn Lodge, showing it's next to St Andrew's Church Alvington so defintiely NOT Clanna.

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WARNING !
Searching tinternet yields modern maps/photos of "Clanna Lodge". HOWEVER be warned that this is NOT the Lodge we're seeking. Carefull study of the various Ordnance Survey maps on the truly-excellent Old Maps site (use Slowhands' link & co-ords above) show that Clanna Lodge c1972 had been previously called Clanna Cottage during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Cottage is not part of the Clanna estate, it's situated where Kear's Grove meets the road, so topleft of the map shown on the English Heritage webpage mentioned earlier. Sadly the Old Maps site doesn't give an 1861 era map but the 1:2500 scale maps from 1881 and later show it had all the trappings of a country estate, such as farm, pheasantry and ice house...

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Re the Chepstow Workhouse, this prior thread contains some references to it, aka "Poor Law Union".
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=31855
This excellent website is the best reference for Poor Law related queries.
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/intro/
It has recently been revised, here's an updated link to the Chepstow entry, it's just across the borders so is listed under Monmouthshire, Wales.
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Chepstow/

This site gives the staff and inmates at the 1881 Census, all such Institutions (like hospitals etc etc) were included within the various Census surveys. However in later years the Census or PR references weren't always so obvious to spot at first glance, eg the address "Westbury workhouse" became known as "No 1 Westbury". Apart from these references, the Workhouses site shows what more specific Records do exist for each Union(ie area/town), for Chepstow they are housed at the new Gwent(modern name for Monmouthshire/South Wales area) Archives, see site for full details and links. Hopefully they'll be able to help you by email enquiry.