Lydney, Gloucestershire Family History Guide
Lydney is an Ancient Parish in the county of Gloucestershire. St Briavels, Hewelsfield, and Aylburton are chapelries of Lydney.
Alternative names: Lidney, Lydney with Aylburton
Other places in the parish include: the tything of Aylburton, and the hamlets of Allaston, Nass, Newerne, and Purton.
Parish church:
Parish registers begin: 1678
Nonconformists include: Roman Catholic, Baptist, Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
Lydney
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
LIDNEY, or LYDNEY, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in the district of Chepstow and county of Gloucester. The town stands in Dean forest, on a streamlet running to the Severn, ½ a mile W of the South Wales railway, about a mile W of the Severn, and 9 NE of Chepstow: is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman station Aboua.
It has a harbour, called Lidney-creek, entered through gates 26 feet wide, and containing berthage for vessels of 400 tons; is connected, by tram railway, with the Wye at Lidbrook; makes extensive shipments of coal, stone, iron ore, iron products, and timber; is a seat of petty sessions; and has a head post office, a railway station, a hotel, a church, three dissenting chapels, a mechanics’ institute, a large school for both sexes, a wool and stock fair on 25 June, and other fairs on 4 May and 8 November.
The parish contains also the tything of Aylburton, and the hamlets of Allaston, Nass, Newerne, and Purton. Acres, 8,073; of which 1,370 are water. Real property, £19,008; of which £600 are in mines, and £16 in fisheries. Pop. in 1851, 2,577; in 1861, 2.889. Houses, 511.
Lidney Park is the seat of the Bathurst family; and occupies the site of Whitecross House, which was built by Sir William Wyntour, vice-admiral in the time of Queen Elizabeth, was fortified and defended, for Charles I., by Sir John Wyntour, and, on the fall of the king, was abandoned and burnt to the ground by Sir John. Remains of a Roman villa and of two Roman camps are in the grounds; and a Roman bath, pieces of tesselated pavement, urns, statues, coins, and other Roman relics have been found. An excellent building stone is quarried; coal and iron-ore are mined: and there are extensive iron and tinplate works.
The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelry of Aylburton, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £600. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The parochial church is early English; has windows of a later date; was recently restored; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and handsome spire; and contains a new carved stone pulpit, and beautiful painted windows. Aylburton church was rebuilt in 1857.
The dissenting chapels are Baptist, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodist. Charities, £3.
The sub-district contains also six other parishes, four tythings of another, and West Dean township. Acres, 22,335. Pop., 5,907. Houses, 1,184.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland 1833
Lidney, or Lydney, co. Gloucester.
London 127 m. W b N. Pop. 1393. M. D. Wed. Fairs, May 4 and Nov. 8, for horned cattle.
A parish and formerly a market-town, in the hundred of Blideslow, within the district called the Forest of Dean; living, a vicarage in the archdeaconry of Hereford and diocese of Gloucester; valued in K. B. 24l. 6s. 8d., and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The church, ded. to St. Mary, is a large edifice, with a spire at the west end, and a small chancel on the north side of the principal one.
This place appears to have been the Roman Statio Trajectus, on the western bank of the Severn, mentioned by Richard of Cirencester; for here are traces of a large intrenchment, with the foundations of ancient buildings, among which are the ruins of a supposed Roman bath or hypocaust; and many coins have been discovered of the emperors Galba, Hadrian, and Antoninus.
In the middle ages Lidney was a place of some importance; but the market formerly held here has long since been discontinued, and the town had sunk into insignificance, from which there is a prospect of its recovering in consequence of the recent construction of the Severn and Wye Railway and Canal; the former, which was originally called the Lidney and Lidbrook Railway, terminating at Lidney, and the canal, extending from that place to the Severn, with which it communicates by locks and a basin, furnishing ample facility for the conveyance of timber, coal, stone, and iron ore, the products of the Forest of Dean, and, giving rise to a considerable commerce in those and other articles.
Lidney Park, the seat of the Rt. Hon. Charles Bragge Bathurst, was the site of a mansion called Whitecross, erected by Sir William Wyntour, or Winter, vice-admiral of England, in the reign of Elizabeth, and one of the officers who shared in the defeat of the Spanish armada. His descendant, Sir John Winter, in the civil war under Charles I., fortified his house as a garrison for the king’s service, and after having gallantly defended it against hostile attacks, and kept the neighbouring posts of the Parliamentarians in constant alarm, by his incursions and assaults, at length, on the decline of the royal cause, he removed every thing valuable from his little fortress, and burnt it to the ground.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland by John Gorton. The Irish and Welsh articles by G. N. Wright; Vol. II; London; Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand; 1833.
Nass
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870
Nass, a tything in Lidney parish, Gloucester; 4 ¼ miles NW of Berkeley.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Purton
Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
Purton, a tything in Lydney parish, Gloucester; on the river Severn and the Great Western railway, 2 1/2 miles NE of Lydney.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A Fullerton & Co. N.d.c. [1870-72].
Directors of Companies
The following people were listed in the Directory of Directors 1881 as directors of companies who were either living in Lydney or the company was based in Lydney or both.
Keeling – Mr George B. Keeling, Lydney, Gloucestershire, is a director of the Severn and Wye and Severn Bridge Railway Company
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Davies David; and Richard Ferdinand Cox; Lydney, Gloucestershire, and Oxford, coal dealers, Dec. 25, 1838.
Kelsey James, Lydney, Gloucestershire, grocer and draper, July 23, 1839.
The London Gazette
Discharge of Prisoners
The people listed below were discharged as a prisoners in the debtors prison.
Sarah Allpass sued and detained as Sarah Alpass formerly of Lydney Gloucestershire Draper Grocer Tea Dealer Baker and General Shopkeeper then of the same place managing such businesses for the Proprietors thereof then of the same place and late staying for a short time at No 9 Long-smith street in the city of Gloucester out of business and employment – 27 March 1851 – The London Gazette
Parish Registers
Marriage Licences and Allegations
London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869
The following have been extracted from London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869.
Abbreviations. — B. Bishop of London’s Office; D. Dean and Chapter of Westminster; F. Faculty Office of Archbishop of Canterbury; V. Registry of the Vicar-General of Canterbury.
Delahay, Thomas, of Alteranis, co. Hereford, gent., bachelor, about 25, and Mrs. Jane Horton, of Aliston, co. Gloucester, spinster, about 32, and at own disposal — at Aliston aforesaid. 4 Dec. 1676. V.
Source: London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887
Parish Records
FamilySearch
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England, Gloucestershire, Lydney
Directories
Lidney (Lydney) Universal British Directory 1791
Lidney is a mean inconsiderable town, on the border of Monmouthshire; although described in our topographical surveys as a market-town, it has long lost all appearance of a market. The market was formerly on a Wednesday. Here are two annual fairs, May 4 and November 8. The road from Gloucester to Chepstow passes through here.
Lidney is distant from Gloucester twenty miles, Monmouth twelve, Chepstow eight, Newnham eight, Dean ten, and from London seventy-one miles. It is seated on the west bank of the river Severn. Here are the remains of a large Roman encampment with foundations of many ancient buildings, among which are the ruin of a Roman hypocaust or bath of an oval form; a great number of Roman antiquities and coins are found here.
Contiguous to this place are the iron-forge, furnace, and collieries, of Messrs. Pidcock, of Stourbridge. There is no coach or regular conveyance to or from Lidney. The only good inn is the Feathers. – The following are the principal inhabitants:
Gentry, &c.
Bathurst Thomas, Esq. (F.) Lidney Park
Clewer Joseph, Gent. (F.)
Cowles Charles, Gent. (F.)
Curtis – , Gent.
Jennings Mrs.
Paed John, Gent. (F.)
Tanner David, Esq. (F.)
Wade Thomas, Gent. (F.)
Wade Mrs.
Clergy.
Birt Rev. Canon, (F.) Vicar
Jones Rev. – , Curate
Physic.
Asher James, Surgeon
Traders, &c.
Boughton William, Butcher
Browning Thomas, (F.) Shopkeeper
Davis John, Soap-boiler
Harrison Thomas, (F.) Purveyor of the Forest of Dean
Hewlett Thomas, Wheelwright
Holder Thomas, Innkeeper, (Feathers)
Hook Richard, Maltster
Howell John, Grazier
Huntley William, (F.) Carpenter
Inman Ja. Innkeeper, Purton-passage
Jacobs Jacob, Mason
Pritchard – , Organist
Williams William, (F.) Wheelwright
Winter John, Innkeeper, Newarn
Contiguous to Lidney is the fine seat of Thomas Bathurst, Esq. called Lidney Park. – James Selwyn, Esq. has a seat at Woodside. John Byrkin Thomas, Esq. at Oatfield. – John Wade, Esq. at Awre. – At Tidenham is the seat of — Williams, Esq. – Blakeney is the seat of —- Barber, Esq. – And, Strote is the seat of the Rev. Stephen Sayce.
Source: Universal British Directory 1791
Administration
- County: Gloucestershire
- Civil Registration District: Chepstow
- Probate Court: Post-1541 – Court of the Bishop of Gloucester (Episcopal Consistory), Pre-1541 – Court of the Bishop of Hereford
- Diocese: Post 1835 – Gloucester and Bristol, Pre 1836 – Gloucester
- Rural Deanery: Forest
- Poor Law Union: Chepstow
- Hundred: Bledisloe
- Province: Canterbury