Nobody got in touch about Ned's Top.

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=entry&id=1655

examples...

Neds Top Farm, Neds Top, Oldcroft, Lydney, Gloucestershire, GL15 4NH

PLUMMERS BROOK FARM, NEDS TOP, OLDCROFT,LYDNEY,GLOS,GL15 4NG

there is evidence of quarrying in the area perhaps the pond was an old quarry

It was whispered at (my London )home that her husband shot himself.

Ancestry Probate 1946

Alec Isaac SNOOK of Yorkley Slade nr Lydney, Gloucestershire, died 4 November 1946 at Wotton Vill Gloucestershire. Administration Gloucester 13 December to Marjory Alice May SNOOK - Widow. Effects £550.

Your story of a shooting may have some truth or be a simple cover .....

County Mental Hospital,Wotton Vill

http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=111200&index=48...
With the Introduction of the NHS in 1948 the original asylum was renamed Horton Road Hospital
and the public asylum in Barnwood, became Coney Hill Hospital.

The old Horton Rd Hospial has been converted in apartments.

the area today includes :-
Wotton Lawn Hospital, Trust: 2gether NHS Foundation Trust. Horton Road,Gloucester GL1 3PX

If there’s any lingering doubt about the Sarah Jane JONES bn c 1870 who md. Amos JAMES of Blakeney Hill in 1891, here’s a personal recollection from c. 1942.
Sarah Jane had a brother Thomas Henry JONES bn 1866. He was the father of my LND born uncle, John Henry JONES.
I well recall on one of two long summer holidays spent in Yorkley with a JONES and SNOOK families, uncle saying he was going to take us to visit his ‘cousin Amos’.
This involved a long walk, including crossing a ‘donkey bridge’ over a railway to where Amos lived.
He had a garden sloping down the hill filled with roses. He showed us his collection and explained rose grafting.
(Here memory gets hazy. Was he of medium height, black neat hair with serious / intense eyes?).
His wife was said to be somewhat strange and this comment is only included as it helps to distinguish ‘cousin Amos` from another Amos JAMES who lived nearby.

Are there any living descendants of Amos JAMES who might be able to add to my knowledge of the family?

Alan Merryweather

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=39692

SEQUEL.
I looked into the ancestry of my Uncle Jack. Despite the difficulty with the Jones surname and his removal to London, I found that he wasn't really an orphan. His father had died and his mother re-married.

After moving from London to go to work in Gloucester in 1962 I once spoke to a Mr Frank Cotton, a very wealthy customer who turned out to be a partner in the Williams and Cotton enterprise. A very pleasant man and we chatted about Yorkley which he knew well.

Nobody got in touch about Ned's Top.

In 1993 I was over at Lydney with the Treasurer of the GLS FHS, Norman Phillips and his wife Joan. She is a Blakeney born lady and was interested in these recollections. We got into my car and went for a tour. The river we used to play in, Blackpool Brook, has much less water now than 50 years ago and it is a disappointment to find that this once remote spot is now a picnic area. On we went, stopping on a road parallel to a track which had once been a railway. Pointing up to the top of the bank Joan drew my attention to what little remains of the donkey bridge. The path over it leads to Blakeney Hill which is where she was living as a child. On we went. On the opposite side of the valley, we looked across at Blakeney Hill.

Joan told me that as a child she remembered that there were two men called Amos whose gardens reached down the hill so she couldn't point to which house I’d visited in the 1940s. We were about to turn to leave when I decided tell her something which had seemed too trivial to mention. I remember my Mother telling me that Amos' wife was rather odd. If Amos stood up, so did she. Out into the garden he went and she followed him. She stuck close to him all the time.
Joan suddenly said, "Your man was Amos James. I remember his wife; she was a very strange woman!" Immediately afterwards, Joan was able to point out the very house.

In the 1950's after the 'Beeching axe' decimated our railways, the Severn railway bridge was due for demolition. Unfortunately, the demolition contractors managed to lose control of the a huge central section with its tons of steel and it lies buried in the mud of the Severn. Commercial Union Assurance Co Ltd, (my employers, now Aviva), insured the scrap value of the contract and the loss cost them a lot of money.

FOREST ADVENTURES

After a spell of being evacuated to Abergavenny in 1940, (brought back home by indignant parents who thought the danger from the bombing of London was far less worrying than the moral damage of being allowed to roam about until after dark and being discovered with no seat to my trousers), when I was about seven, my brother and I spent two long summer holidays at Yorkley Slade near Blakeney. We stayed with a cousin of my Uncle Jack, (John Henry Jones, an orphan my Mother said), in a cottage which was adjacent to the Forest, at the foot of the hill and very near to the Williams and Cotton shop.

I didn't get on too well with the lady of the house [Mrs Jones?], who was very strict with me and got very cross when I put a dirty glass into the water she'd just drawn from the well in the front garden. And another time she railed at me when I slapped my brother on his sunburned back. Once I was not too pleased with her either since we used to go early morning mushroom picking and one small harvest we'd gathered was condemned as 'horse mushrooms' and unfit to eat - which I later discovered being eaten by the resident family for their supper.
Separated from the cottage by a garden was a modern bungalow occupied by miner Alec Isaac Jasper Snook, his wife Marjorie (Madge) Alice née Morgan and their son Gordon who was older than both of us. Gordon knew his way round the Forest and taught us a lot about country life. We got up to all sorts of things like damming up and bathing in Blackpool Brook about a mile distant, tying knots in the tops of young trees, gobbing onto black beetles saying "spit blood or die" - they did, but I'm not sure we always kept our promises. Gordon showed us that if you cut through bracken, close to the root, the shape of an oak tree could be seen in the stem. Once we lit a fire at the foot of a tree. The smoke alerted a look-out in one of the towers scattered throughout the forest and earned us a good telling off. And so on, in those mainly carefree days.
Sweets being on ration we were only allowed about 2 ounces a week, but the other shop near Yorkley sold only peppermints.

One particular pleasure was go fishing at Ned's Top. This was a pond about 26 metres in diameter in a depression with a wealth of newts and salamanders as well as a population of large dragonflies of varying colours. We believed them to be dangerous and spent much time fruitlessly flailing at them with bracken. A rod cut from a hedge, string and a worm on a bent pin gave us a whole day's pleasure.

A couple of times we walked to the Severn near to where the railway bridge stood towering above us while we waited to see a steam train go across. The engine driver waved to us. I also recall walking along a railway track near Lydney and watching a man go wading into the Severn out for a swim, coming out and covering himself from head to foot in the oily mud.

Another walk took us to a large rock which jutted out of the side of a hill. We called it the Rock of Ages and maybe it was somewhere on the way to my Uncle Jack's cousin Amos' house. Amos grew a lot of roses in his garden which sloped down a hill and it was here that I first learned of rose grafting. As I recall, the house, looked out over a valley and was reached by going over a wooden donkey bridge, remote from anywhere, or so it seemed. Amos might have been one of the charcoal burners whose piles of timber were dotted about the Forest. Our initials carved into a tree near the donkey bridge will long since have disappeared, even if the tree survives.

On our first expedition to Soudley Ponds there was a wood full of dead spindly trees. We had great fun pushing them over, shouting 'Timber!'. We found a slow worm near to the pond - which had to be killed. Remember the different perspective of fifty years ago?

And there was the expedition to Speech House. Suitably primed with a little history we were disappointed to find it used as a hotel and seeing diners through the windows. The likes of us were not to be admitted to such places.

I later heard dark mutterings about the Alec Snook who shot himself and on a brief visit some years back the inevitable building and infilling made it difficult to identify the cottage at Yorkley, but there it still was with its well now bricked over. The Williams and Cotton shop is now a house.

It is nearly always a disappointment to go back to places recollected with pleasure, but perhaps someone can reassure me that Ned's Top is still flourishing and not within a concrete culvert. That there is still a Rock of Ages and that someone can recall the donkey bridge and perhaps Amos James - all within a walking distance of Yorkley.

NOTE.

The above is adapted from an article which appeared in the Gloucestershire Family History Society Journal, Number 41 June 1989.

Continued....

Spooooooooooooo sorry I never went back to see yr msg; too many other lines being followed etc. TKS for yr info.

Ancestry Probate 1936

Amos JAMES of Blakeney Hill Gloucestershire died 4 February 1936. Probate Gloucester 3 April to Amos JAMES. Effects £293

Ancestry Probate 1946

Alec Isaac SNOOK of Yorkley Slade nr Lydney, Gloucestershire, died 4 November 1946 at Wotton Vill Gloucestershire. Administration Gloucester 13 December to Marjory Alice May SNOOK - Widow. Effects £550.

Name: Jessie Sidney Snook & Lavinia Brigg
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1900
Registration district: Wells
Inferred County: Somerset
Volume Number: 5c
Page Number: 669

1901
Jessie S Snook abt 1877 Wells, Somerset, England Head Wells St Cuthbert, Somerset
Levenia Snook abt 1880 Ashcott, Somerset, England Wife Wells St Cuthbert, Somerset
Jessie S Snook abt 1900 Wells, Somerset, England Son Wells St Cuthbert, Somerset

Name: Alec Isaac J Snook
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1906
Registration district: Westbury on Severn
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume: 6a
Page: 293

Year:1910
Month:Jan
Day:27
Parents_Surname:SNOOK
Child_Forenames:Alic Isaac Jasper
Fathers_Forenames:Jesse Sydenham
Mothers_Forenames:Livinia
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:Soudley
Occupation:Traction Engine Driver
Officiating_Minister:F W Baldwin Vicar
Event:Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference:P85/1 IN 1/2
Page_Number:298
Parish_Chapel:Cinderford St John

1911 Soudley Nr Newnham, Gloucestershire
Jesse Sydenham Snook 34 Wells Somerset
Lavenia Snook 31
Jesse Sydenham Snook 10
Lilian Doris Snook 8
Leonard John Snook 6
Alec Isaac Jasper Snook 4
Percy Francis Gilbert Snook 9/12
Isaac Brigg 73

Name: Jesse L Snook
Birth Date: abt 1877
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1960
Age at Death: 83
Registration district: Forest of Dean
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume: 7b
Page: 448

Name: Alec Snooks & Marjorie M Morgan
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1930
Registration district: Westbury on Severn
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume Number: 6a
Page Number: 586

SNOOKS Alec
MORGAN Marjorie May
Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office
1930 21 55

Year:1946
Month:Nov
Day:9
Surname:SNOOK
Forenames:Alec Isaac
Residence:Yorkley Slade
Age_at_death:40
Officiating_Minister:C R Williams vicar
Event:Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference:P348 IN 1/19
Page_No:30
Parish_Chapel:Viney Hill

son

Gordon Irwin Morgan Snook dob 14 January 1931 lives/lived near Salisbury Wiltshire

Name: Gordon I M Snook
Mother's Maiden Surname: Morgan
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1931
Registration district: Monmouth
Inferred County: Monmouthshire
Volume Number: 11a
Page Number: 28

Name: Gordon I Snook & Valerie Fawcett
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1956
Registration district: Harlow
Inferred County: Essex
Volume Number: 5f
Page Number: 1063

<><><>

Name: Marjorie Alice M Morgan
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1908
Registration district: Monmouth
Inferred County: Monmouthshire
Volume: 11a
Page: 15

MORGAN Marjorie Alice May
MORGAN BEACH
1908 Forest of Dean Monmouth, West Dean 1 402

MORGAN Phyllis Gertrude
MORGAN BEACH
1910 Forest of Dean Monmouth, West Dean 2 326

1911 Moseley Green Nr Parkend Glos Shire
William Morgan 31
Emily Morgan 29
Margaret Morgan 2
Phyliss Morgan 8/12

Name: Marjorie Alice M Snook
Birth Date: 30 May 1908
Date of Registration: Feb 2003
Age at Death: 94
Registration district: Salisbury
Inferred County: Wiltshire
Register Number: A58C
District and Subdistrict: 795/1A
Entry number: 37

<><><> recent builders in Lydney - another SNOOK line ?
Snook,brian J & Neil J,
8 The Millrough, Primrose Hill, Lydney, GL15 5TE

Amos JAMES of Blakeney Hill Gloucestershire died 4 February 1936. Probate Gloucester 3 April to Amos JAMES. Effects £293

Ancestry Probate 1946

Alec Isaac SNOOK of Yorkley Slade nr Lydney, Gloucestershire, died 4 November 1946 at Wotton Vill Gloucestershire. Administration Gloucester 13 December to Marjory Alice May SNOOK - Widow. Effects £550.

Having stayed there two consecutive years, (probably 1941 and 42) during the 6 week Summer holidays there are some questions I'd like to ask to sort out a mystery.

Amos JAMES and Sarah Jane JONES were my grandparents. I was born on Viney Hill in 1936 just after Grandad died.
I spent holidays with my uncle Amos and Auntie Gertie, and yes, she was a bit strange!

I remember the steeply sloping garden and the long walk with the donkey bridge.

We went down to the Forest last October, after many years away, and stayed at the old Tump House, but could not find the Bridge - is it still there?

I can add to your knowledge of the family up to the present day, please reply.

Manfred("Fred") James

Are there any living descendants of Amos JAMES who might be able to add to my knowledge of the family?

Alan Merryweather

Sarah Jones married Elisha Davis in 1889, In 1891 census Elisha is lodging 3 doors away from Sarah's brother Henry in Abercarn, both working as miners.
Sarah Davis(s) is working as a Servant for a family called Page at St Briavels.
1901 Census as follows
Elisha Davies b1869 at Trelleck Head
Sarah J Davies b1871 St Briavels Wife
Mary Davies b1892 Abercarn Daughter
Allen Davies b1895 St Briavels Son
Albert Davies b1897 Tidenham Son
Dorothy Davies b1900 Tidenham Daughter
Elisha was working as a Labourer and they were living at Newland

I have found Dorothy's baptism on this site.

Can anyone help in finding out when they went to Australia after 1901 and where they settled?

Regards

Alison

I am very sorry to confuse you, it was my mistake, I didn't read what had been written correctly.

Many thanks for clarifying that Mountain Ash is not in Gloucestershire, it must be a transcription error on the Census on Ancestry.co.uk.

I guess we have to keep searching.

Kind Regards

Alison

Please do not confuse me, my brain is befuddled as it is! The Sarah Jane Slowhands & I were discussing appeared to come from Yorkley rather than St Briavels. He has that Sarah Jane (James)on the 1901 Census still living in East Dean, so that's why he doesn't think she is yours. Clear as mud eh?

Mountain Ash is in Glamorgan, just up the valley from my lot. We haven't got one in Gloucestershire have we boys and girls??

Kind Regards
Christine

It was Maud Jones my Grandmother that Slowhands found on the 1901 census, not Sarah.

I have been searching through the 1891 wales census and found a Sarah Jane Jones aged 20, working as a barmaid at the Jeffries Arms Hotel in Mountain Ash, Glamorgan. For place of Birth it says Mountain Ash, Gloucestershire, which is confusing. Could this be her?

Alison

1901
Sarah J James abt 1870 Yorkley Slade, Gloucestershire, England Wife East Dean Gloucestershire

record-id 17740
Entry Number 187
Year 1891
Month December
Day 6
Groom Surname JAMES
Groom Forename Amos
Groom age at marriage 20
Groom Condition Batchelor
Groom Rank or Profession Collier
Groom Residence Blakeney Hill
Groom Father's Surname JAMES
Groom Father's Forename Thomas
Groom Father's Rank or Profession Mason
Bride Surname JONES
Bride Forename Sarah Jane
Bride age at marriage 21
Bride Condition Spinster
Bride Rank or Profession Servant
Bride Residence Yorkley Slade
Bride Father's Surname JONES
Bride Father's Forename William
Bride Father's Rank or Profession Collier
Licence or Banns Banns
Date of Banns (not stated)
Signature or Mark Both sign
Witness 1 The Mark of William Turley
Witness 2 Annice Turley
Officiating Minister Edward S Smith
Event Type Marriage
Memoranda Father of Groom deceased
Register Reference P348 in 1/3
Page No 94
Parish/Chapel Viney Hill

Thanks this is the family, their were also 3 more children not listed on the census.
Emily born 1869
Catherine Beatrice (Kate) b1881
William b1862

I would really like to find out when Sarah went to Australia and whether their are any descendants, to add to my tree?