East Dean 1851 Census - Cinderford School and Coopers Tump (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, April 03, 2014, 12:26 (3888 days ago) @ Daffodil

Hi Daffodil,

a good start is always the definitive British History website, in this case

"and in the 1840s the area near the bridge was chosen as the site for a school and a church. Later in the century the settlement grew into a small town with many of its shops, inns, and other meeting places to the north on or near the Littledean-Nailbridge road. The town continued to expand in the 20th century and extensive industrial development took place there after the Second World War.
In 1832 there were c. 51 dwellings east of the brook at Cinderford bridge, in the area then called Lower Cinderford. Most were south of the road (St. White's Road) on Ruspidge Meend, which belonged to the Abbots wood estate and where Edward Protheroe built cottages, including several terraces, for miners in his employment. In 1841 the settlement at the bridge included a chapel and two beerhouses. On the hillside to the north-east, known as Cinderford Tump, the White Hart inn had opened by 1834 and, to the west, a school was built by Edward Protheroe in 1840 and the church of St. John the Evangelist was opened in 1844. At the ironworks, which stood 800 m. north of Cinderford bridge, cottages were built at the bottom of the later Victoria Street to the south-east. In 1832 the area, known as Upper Cinderford, included c. 38 houses, mostly terraced cottages provided by the ironworks' owners, and a beerhouse called the Forge Hammer."
From: 'Forest of Dean: Settlement', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 300-325.
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23266
Date accessed: 03 April 2014.

To make any further clarification easier for us all can you please advise if you know Cinderford at all, does any of the above fit what you do, don't, know ?. Effectively the town started off at the far eastern(Ruspidge) end, at the Bridge and rising above it is the Tump (nowadays called St White's Hill, not sure yet about Cooper's?) where St John's church is. In the early Census's this area was sometimes called Woodside before becoming known as Cinderford.
These very old photos are taken from Ruspidge looking back north across that area. Cinderford grew westwards from here, so away from the camera "behind" the church
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/cinderford/mediafiles/l8.jpg
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/cinderford_2/mediafiles/l55.jpg

This view is taken from the southwest side of the town, aka "Valley Road", showing the growth, St John's Church can be seen on the Tump to the right. The area at front shows the mine workings etc. The large building at extreme left on the skyline is, I think, the tall(for it's day) Baptist Chapel which stands out in many old photos.
The "modern day" town centre (Commercial St, Market St, the Triangle, shops etc) are all still further north to the viewer's left, out of shot of this photo.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/cinderford/mediafiles/l56.jpg
This one shows more of the growth northwards from St John's Tump end of town.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/cinderford_2/mediafiles/l63.jpg

Studying the Old Maps site will help, suggest search for "Stockwell Green" which is just above S John's Church. Sadly the oldest map on the site is from 1881, but is still a good guide to the area.
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html

NB: My old school Bilson, shown in some of this's sites Gallery photos, is a later and different school to the Protheroe School mentioned in the above text, and in a different location on what is now Station Street.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/cinderford/