Forest of Dean FHT Forum - Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces (reply)

Roger Griffiths — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:54:10 +0000

Good, glad to be of help.

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces (reply)

rbaynton — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:25:02 +0000

Yes, thats the family! They also had a daughter, Charlotte 1872, who was my Great Grandmother

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces (reply)

Roger Griffiths — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 11:16:12 +0000

Are they George Wait(e)c1836 and Susan James c1835? Children include Julia c1858, William c1863 and Eliza c1870. If so, George's eldest brother John 4Feb1827 married my great grandfathers sister Mary at Parkend 2Jun1850. Sorry I don't have chapter and verse as it is peripheral to my paternal family tree.

Also I have photocopies from The Industrial History of Dean pertaining to Soudley industrials which I can scan for you. It was demolished c1890 although the manager's house is extant (in the photographs) or was 10 years ago when I last wandered around the site.

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces (reply)

Jefff — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 15:27:27 +0000

The superb Victoria British History website's always worth searching for text and occasional maps wrt history of the area, altho it sadly doesn't cover all of the Forest area. It's essentially a compilation of many snippets and references from all available archives & sources. Among other things it states
"The works at Ayleford may have been replaced by the Lower Soudley iron-works, ½ mile further up the Soudley brook and, like Ayleford, on the Hayhill estate. The iron-works owned by Edward Jones that were rated in 1824 may have been at Soudley rather than at Ayleford, for a map of the same year marked a pond, mill, and foundry at Soudley. The works, which lay beside the mineral railway-line from Bullo Pill to the Forest of Dean, were occupied in 1839 by the Soudley Iron Co., and were called the Great Western Iron Works in 1879. By 1885 they had evidently gone out of use, and by 1901 the course of the railway-line had been diverted to cross the site. The pond made in the brook above the works had gone by 1920."

From: 'Newnham: Economic history', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (1972), pp. 40-44.

URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15751&strquery=soudley
Date accessed: 22 September 2012.

For many other references to the various ironworks in Dean thro the ages, including at Soudley, see
http://87.248.112.8/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=great+western+ironworks+soudley&...

Re photos I've looked in "The Old Industries of Dean" by David Bick but sadly Soudley barely gets a mention, this book altho excellent (and only a few pounds secondhand on the usual auction sites etc) is largely based on the mining industry.

Re prices of books on another wellknown internet sales site, Hart's book is currently available from £35 to £216 !!...... this site often has price oddities, sometimes incredible, as sellers use automated pricing systems that are adjusted, often incorrectly, if special/signed etc editions sell at auction etc etc. This applies to all forms of "collectibles", I think many sellers are happy awaiting those rare millionaire money-no-object collectors. Meantime I suggest regularly scouring the auction sites as bargains are there to be found, especially if the seller hasnt arranged their auction to end on the popular hence competitive Sunday evenings.
Good luck !

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces (reply)

rbaynton — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 15:18:24 +0000

Thanks for that :-)

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces (reply)

m p griffiths — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:59:59 +0000

There are a number of photographs of the Great Western Iron Works Soudley in the photograph section of this site.

http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/soudley

and previous thread: Cyril HART's book is available through the Library system

http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=28706

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=28594

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces (reply)

rbaynton — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 10:04:56 +0000

My Great great garandparents George & Susanah WAITE lived just 4 doors away from Louisa at cottage 10 on the 1891 census. Interestingly, next door in cottage 9 is another family of NELMSs, presumably related
Would be interested if you found out anything about the Great Western Iron works. The industrial history of Dean by Cyril Hart seems to go for a fortune on the internet & I am too mean to buy it. £92 on Abe books!!

Great Western Iron works Cottage/ Soudley furnaces

Firwood — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:00:14 +0000

Great Great Grandmother lived here in 1891 Louisa Nelmes born 1817 Awre, name spelt Louscia on 1891 census. Any information / photos of this location please.