Three Quarries, nr Parish of Ruardean, Old Maps (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, January 31, 2016, 23:09 (3219 days ago) @ dwdavis

Hi Donald,
thanks for your kind comments, altho it appears you already have better knowledge than me on quarrying. Re the various areas, have you tried studying the old maps ?. That said, the First Series of the highly-detailed Ordnance Survey maps were not drawn until 1831, so after your ancestors' time, but still a useful guide to the old days & locations.

The "Vision of Britain" website has these earliest 1831 maps. However I'm struggling to see anything resembling quarrying in the three areas we discussed yesterday, I guess this wern't considered relevant for military purposes by the surveying Army Engineers, all the maps were hand-drawn in the field of course. I'm also surprised to see no mention of Hawkwell colliery area on the map at all (but then again it's not marked on the much later maps from that site either??).

This link to the 1831 map may not take you straight there; if not click the "bigger map" button at right. Then select "19th Century" from dropdown menu. Zoom-into the map image using mousewheel and image will progress thro' various maps until reaches the B&W O.S. from 1831 (as displayed below the map image). The big plus for this site over the others is the maps are all cleverly joined-together without any apparent seams, so one can drap and move long distances without having to reload new map pages as per the other sites.
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/?layer=europe&xMin=3144850.46274&yMin=28...

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This newer NLS site has greater coverage, however each map must be loaded separately, and it only has maps after 1883:

Here's the 1883 map for the Astonbridge area, I see quarries clearly marked just south of the Pludds, so much the same location as discussed yesterday. This map interests me as my father's ancestors were coal miners living in the Horse Lea (Hawsley) and Reddings areas to the northwest.

Zoom into the lower-centre of the map using your mousewheel.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453361

If you zoom into the lower L/H side of the adjoining map, from 1884, it shows the Hawkwell colliery area: derived from Hawkes Well, marked as "Springs" above the mine across the road (now the A4136).
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453373

The next Issue Map from 1901 actually marks the spring as Hawkes Well, as well as Hawkwell Terrace as discussed earlier, right next to the mine.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453370

These and later maps can be loaded from the menu on right of this next webpage, all from the blue'd box on it's master map. To move to adjoining maps, just point & click on the relevant box to load that map set.
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=12&lat=51.8531&lon=-2.5353&layers=39&...

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The latest map from 1953 is helpful as it shows the Northern United colliery too, thankfully this is not on the exact Hawkwell site as I'd worried yesterday, altho the underground workings do overlap. It also shows the Hawkwell brickworks, so both can be readily found nowadays.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453364

I imagine you'll have seen the "quarries" marked just east of Hawkes Well, overlooking the (long-gone) Railway Inn at Nailbridge. Could this be the location of your "Hawkwell Quarry" ??. My only reservation is that, as far as I can tell reading the British History website(below), there has been a place called "Nailbridge" since the late C18th, possibly known as a place earlier than "Hawkswell", so surely your ancestors would describe their quarry as "Nailbridge" ?? At least that location is easy to find nowadays, right at the traffic-light-controlled road junction.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/fodmembers/index.php?mode=thread&id=6875

"Nailbridge, in the Dry brook valley, took its name from a bridge carrying the Mitcheldean- Coleford road over the brook. In the later 1790s the section of the road over Harrow hill from Stenders, to the north-east, was diverted through Drybrook village to cross the brook at Teague's (or Pluckpenny) bridge, upstream of Nail bridge, and run south-eastwards to a junction with the Coleford road, from where new roads were built to Littledean to the south-east in the late 1820s and to Mitcheldean, over Plump hill, in 1841. In 1834 there were five cottages west of the brook near Teague's bridge. Some later buildings in that area, where two engine houses were used as dwellings in 1856, were on Morse Road, constructed in 1841 as a continuation north-westwards of the road from Littledean. To the south-east an area alongside the road filled with mines and railways was covered after 1960 with the extensive yards and buildings of a timber and builders' merchant, and at the junction of the Coleford road a beerhouse, opened by 1841 and known as the Railway inn in 1856, was demolished after 1960. To the south-west on the north side of the Coleford road a terrace of 15 cottages, later called Hawkwell Row, was built in the 1880s or 1890s by Jacob Chivers or A. C. Bright, successive owners of a nearby colliery and tinplate works..."
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp300-325

The builder's merchants is Hale & Co, started as a smithy etc, much history already on this site/forum, also
http://www.haleco.co.uk/history.htm

British History site for FoD Industry inc Quarrying
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp326-354#h3-0004
Hawkwell Colliery http://www.sungreen.co.uk//Cinderford/Hawkwell-Colliery.htm

More Northern United info
http://www.fdean.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=8300&tt=graphic

This will give you an appreciation of good and bad days of Northern United, the last deep mine in the Dean.
http://forest-of-dean.net/gallery/cinderford_2/mediafiles/l21.jpg
http://www.sungreen.co.uk/cinderford_east_dean/northern_united.html

As well as in this FoD site's Photo section, of course, the following link is to a site owned by author and friend of the Dean and this forum, Neil Parkhouse. Sadly no photos of Dean Quarries but plenty of the Mines.
http://www.archive-images.co.uk/gallery/Archive-Images-of-the-Forest-of-Dean-Coalfield/

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Using the above sites should allow you to view maps for the Mitcheldean area too, I hope you find something relevant, despite my failing to do so. Please, any problems with the links (I know from experience the map sites can be demanding of both computer & user), just ask.

atb Jeff.