There may be something in this History of Lydney from the Victoria History of Gloucestershire.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp46-84

Thanks for that Harry. Although somewhat ambiguous it seems that "prior to 1880" the lower part of Church Road was renamed Station Road. This seems to indicate that my relatives lived in the Foundry Cottages which ties in with John BOWEN's occupation.
The enumerator of the 1861 census describes a great many addresses as "cottages" or "houses" which is not very helpful to us latter day family historians!

Please can anyone help with the history of Station Road? The 1871 census has my g g grandfather John BOWEN "Refiner Iron Manufacture" and family living in Station Road where John and his wife Joan BOWEN lived for the rest of their lives. 10 years previously the 1861 census has them located in "Cottage" . They moved to Lydney from Rogerstone, Monmouthshire circa 1852. Would "cottage" refer to the old cottages at Middle Forge or those in Swan Lane and did the "cottages" become Station Road?

Hi KatieAnn,
apologies for my late reply, I did start working on this when you first posted, however my own lack of personal experience/knowledge of the area bar driving thro on the A48 many years ago, plus some apparent ambiguities wrt your post, led me to wait for other replies first.
Tonight I've revisited your query in some depth, and think I've made progress, or maybe just been studying the wrong family !?!. However I've foolishly just "lost" the lengthy text of my entire post before pressing "send", my fault entirely, so will now ask you this one question to check I'm on the right tracks before I follow it up.

Please can you confirm if this is the same household you're researching ?.
When I found them a few weeks ago, I vaguely recall reading John's wife went under a different name in the Census, and I found web postings confirming Joan was indeed a nickname?. However the more I've looked into your query tonight the more confused I'm getting, for various reasons, so seems wise to check with you before possibly going off at a tangent.

1871 Census

Household schedule number Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth City Birth County Birth Country

John Bown Head(refiner of iron) 40 1831 Male Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Wales
Jemima Bown Wife 43 1828 Female Lydney Gloucestershire England
Emily Bown Daughter 13 1858 Female Lydney Gloucestershire England
Rachael Bown Daughter 11 1860 Female Lydney Gloucestershire England
John G Bown Son 10 1861 Male Lydney Gloucestershire England
Thomas H Bown Son 7 1864 Male Lydney Gloucestershire England
Albert Bown Son 8 Months 1870 Male Lydney Gloucestershire England

This family were in the area since 1861 at least, and at Station Road Lydney in 1881, so seem a good general fit in many ways, however I think there are discrepancies with your original post.

Looking forward to your reply so we can progress, many thanks, Jeff