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Cinderford
Cinderford maps
Historic maps of Cinderford and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Cinderford maps
Cinderford area books
Displaying 1 of 10 books about Cinderford and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Cinderford
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Cinderford.
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Cinderford Square
I was born in Cinderford in 1962 and lived there until the mid 1980s. Through my childhood the town centre around the Square (now called the Triangle!) was busy and prosperous with all sorts of shops, my favourites being Woolies for my huge Airfix collection and James (now Merretts) for comics, toys and Standard fireworks. It's sad to see the town centre run-down now, my mum and sister still live there. However I accept it was partly due to me and many friends from that generation moving away to get jobs that directly contributed towards this, Catch 22 I guess. I moved as my job at Ranks (Xerox) was in doubt, they'd just started running this main local employer down, my friends had to move to get teaching jobs. We all still have family living local though and really enjoy occasional get togethers in our old local, The Miners. The shops in the centre of this pic behind the War Memorial (still there of course) were demolished in perhaps... Read more
Stepping Back in Time
It started when my mother was dying, when we asked her about the family history, and she gave us names and dates. Her family came from France in late 1500. They were Hugenots and they were Puritans, and were chased out of France because of their beliefs. They went to live in Gloucester, where they helped to rebuild the church in Taynton St Lawrence. We went to visit the church and it was the most exciting thing to experience. All our early ancestors are buried down the aisle of the church. One could not be found - the last one - so when we went and spoke to a man who was writing about our ancestors (she had written a book), and they confirmed we had the right family. His name was Douglas J Parker. He wrote the story of the two churches, the old and the rebuilt one. He told us they were looking for the last to be buried there and how they came to find her.
Let... Read more
Boyhood Memories
I have great memories of Cinderford [Bilson Green areas] from 1953 to 1961 when I was growing up. I remember riding go-carts down the hill. My mother was born in Cinderford [Margaret Hale, married name Hancox and she worked at Rosedales]. My grandfather was Milce Hale. This is a great site that brought back memories now that I live in Lake Wales, Florida, USA. If anyone remembers my parents or myself, it would be great to hear from you. Phil
Gloucestershire memories
School Holidays
This picture reminds me of wonderful school trips to the west of England from a school based in Oldham called Fittonhill Secondary. This hotel was our base for the weeks holiday and we went out daily on organised trips to Chepstow, Symonds Yat, Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust, Tintern Abbey among other glorious places. Living in a built-up area like Oldham this seemed heaven even as a 13-14 year old. I came on the trip three years running so it must have been magic. I found this site looking for the actual hotel thinking it would be nice to re-visit my youth and book a stay there but I can only assume that it no longer exists. The picture is just as I remember the hotel but would have loved to have seen a view of the gardens at the rear or even an interior picture. I have no pictures from those holidays sadly as cameras were not as easily purchased back then and as a teenager you don't think that one... Read more
Memory of Soudley
Steam to Stratford, in the early 20's James Joiner (a contractor from Soudley) assembled his convoy of Traction Engines en Route to Stratford Upon Avon to start the new Sewer Contract which was awarded to Joiners for £57,000.
He used Forest Coal miners who were unemployed, to tunnel under the Town Streets to engineer this prestigious contract. My late father, Roy James Bevan was a 15 year old traction engine Driver's mate, starting his own career as a transport pioneer buliding up a Transport business in Soudley with his brother. The photo shows the road to Sutton Vale towards Littledean. When I worked for my father we road tested vehicles on this stretch of road. On a more romantic note, it was along this road I courted my late wife Ursula - we used to walk on Sunday evenings to the Top Ponds.
My Sister Mandy
Myself and my husband Roger had visited Soudley Ponds several times when travelling around during weekends away and my younger sister Mandy loved to listen to tales about where we had been and what we had seeing and doing. Roger and myself loved Mandy and her husband John and had spent many many happy times together over the years. We decided one day to take them to see for themselves and along with their daughter Sophie aged 10 we had a lovely day. The weather was quite damp and it had been raining. We arrived early and decideo to walk around the pond while we waited for the Heritage Centre to open. As we neared the end the sunlight broke through the clouds. It hit a willow tree standing on the other side of the pond. The tree was heavy from the moisture in the air and heavy droplets were falling into the water from the drooping branches, one of the most magical sights. As the sun broke though... Read more
Unlawater Hotel
This hotel was owned by my mother Patricia Woods till around 1959. Newnham was a busy place then. H G Zeal had a themometer factory in the High Street.
Above the hotel was a dairy farm run by A.Jones (Dean Forest farm).
As a matter of interest, the name Unlawater translates to River of Sorrows and was from a time back in history when Lady Padget lived there and a member of the family drowned in the river.
Best wishes,
Rai Woods. (Captain)
