Cinderford Churches before St Johns, pre 1844 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, April 04, 2014, 00:52 (3888 days ago) @ Jefff

Hi again Daffodil,
re which Churches the residents of Cinderford might have used before St Johns was built, as well as Littledean, they might have used the Holy Trinity Church at Drybrook/Harrow Hill. This was the very first Church built within the "high/inner" Forest, again from the British History site

"HOLY TRINITY at Harrow Hill, near Drybrook, known locally as the Forest church, was opened in 1817 and consecrated later the same year. It was built as a free chapel by its first minister, Henry Berkin, then curate of Weston under Penyard, who began holding services in the Forest in 1812 while at Mitcheldean ..........
Berkin, under whom the church was attended by people from as far away as Lea Bailey, Pope's Hill, Blaize Bailey, Cinderford, and Lydbrook, was sometimes styled a perpetual curate. From 1821, when he also had the cure of Hope Mansell (Herefs.) adjoining the Forest, he was assisted by a curate, whose stipend was paid by a benefactor. Berkin entrusted the curate with a mission to Lydbrook, for which he built a Sunday schoolroom. Isaac Bridgman, the first curate, also preached at Littledean Hill, Cinderford, and Gunn's Mills but his affinities with nonconformist preachers led to his estrangement from Berkin and in 1822 to the revoking of his licence and to an interdict against his officiating in any church in the diocese."
From: 'Forest of Dean: Churches', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 389-396.
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23271
Date accessed: 04 April 2014.

In those days people were used to riding or more probably walking a few miles for work every day, so a similar journey to Church wasn't an issue.

You know Abbotswood# petrol station on the righthand side when going down Lower High Street, Cinderford ?. Just before you reach it there's a crossroads, turn right up into Albion Place, left (by Chinese takeaway?) down towards Denecroft then Valley Road.
This 1975 photo was taken from bottom at Denecroft looking up towards the highstreet
http://way-mark.co.uk/foresthaven/livnhist/slide074.htm#

I used to wondered why that road was so straight and raised above the old houses(far left-hand side of photo), especially before the newer housing was added at Denecroft ?. Well before being a road it was a mine tramway (early horsedrawn railway), if you follow it up across High Street into Albion Place it takes you up to the edge of Haywood, the track splits left & right if I recall correctly (the tramway used to go to the right, up to St Annals iron mine on the top of Littledean Hill). If you can imagine continuing along the left track so staying on the level, you'll pass out of town behind Springfield Drive & playing fields to your left and on into the wooded Haywood Inclosure below Edgehill Ridge. Keep going straight ahead, past the old Haywood Level (ie mine) and you'll reach the Vicarage just below Forest Church on Harrow Hill. Despite spending many happy 70s school holidays roving thro Haywood I've never walked the whole route upto the Church, but that was the route some Cinderford churchgoers used, a shortcut compared to the modern road out via Steam Mills & Nailbridge.

See these old maps, a great site once you get the hang of it, zooming-into a map will open it out into greater detail, can also "drag" the map using a mouse pointer. Below the maps is a key to the date of the map being displayed, in this case the "19th century map" is very early, from 1831, so perfect for your timescales. You can see how insignificant "new" Cinderford almost appears compared to the much more "senior" Littledean, Abenhall etc. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/20228

[# why not Haywood !?]