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Ley
Ley maps
Historic maps of Ley and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Ley maps
Ley photos
We have no photos of Ley, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Huntley| Bulley| Longhope| Flaxley| Mitcheldean| Newnham| Highnam| Littledean| Over| Cinderford| Newent| Maisemore| Upleadon| Hartpury| Frampton On Severn| Soudley| Haresfield| Weston Under Penyard| Ashleworth
Ley area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Ley and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Ley
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Gloucestershire memories
Churcham Vicarage
My great-great-grandfather Admiral of Peru, Martin George Guise, of the Guise family of Elmore Court and Highnam, was baptised in Churcham Vicarage. Can somebody give me the address of Churcham Vicarage so I can write a letter to the Vicar asking him for information about the Baptism document of Martin George Guise? Thank you in advence. Answers in this page, please or write me to mdealthaus@gmail.com
Elmore Court: The Bronets of Guise
Elmore Court is a beautiful manor and ancient house with many acres of property which belonged to the Baronets of Elmore, the Guise family, since the 13th century. My great-great-grandfather, Martin George Guise, Admiral and firstCommander of the Peruvian Navy, was born at Elmore Court or at Highnam and baptised at Churcham Vicarage. He enrolled in the British Royal Navy at an early age and ascended in rank during the Napoleonic Wars. When peace came to Europe he left the Royal Navy and enrolled in the Chilean war fleet under Lord Cochrane, which carried a whole Liberation Army to the Peruvian costas to fight the Wars of Independence against Spain. General Jose de san Martin, the general in chief, created the Peruvian Navy, after declaring the Independance of Peru. The first Commander of the Peruvian Navy was then Admiral Penned Marin George Guise, who some years later, in 1829, died of a gun shot in the siege of the port of Guayaquil. He is a Peruvian hero, his statue is... Read more
Lion House Youth Hostel 1957
I stayed one night at this hostel in early April 1957. A friend and I had set out from our home town of Reading on a 5 night circular cycle trip - our first such trip. Mitcheldean was our second night's stop, the first being at the then Inglesham hostel north of Swindon. We then went on to hostels at Clifton-on-Teme near Worcester, Broome, Warwickshire and Charlbury, Oxfordshire before returning to Reading. We were only 14 at the time. I can remember little of the hostel at Mitcheldean but the pictures on this site strike a chord. I remember the yard and in the part of the building where we slept the two-tier bunk beds and the sheet sleeping bags we had to take to go between the blankets that were provided - the standard deal at the time. At the time of writing I have just revisited Mitcheldean for the first time since 1957. I could not recall the exact location of the... Read more
Working at Rank Xerox.
As a 16-year-old, I started work in the wages office of Rank Xerox. There were 6 of us in the office, the boss being Fred Pearce. The other colleagues were Roger Dymond, Mary Evans, Connie Waits, Jean Short and myself. The company used to make cine cameras and projectors and was just begininig to make photocopiers. We used the Kalamazoo system for the doing the wages (no computors in those days), everything was done by hand. We spent the week working out what bonuses the workers had made and transfering the data onto their clock cards. The day I liked the best was a Friday when the cash was delivered, the door locked, then we spent the morning making up the wage packets. In the afternoon I would have to go around to all the departments and hand out the wages. There was a small shoe shop in the village of Mitcheldean and I would love to go there and choose shoes. The owner was good enough to... Read more
My Time in Mitcheldean in The 60s
I met my first wife - she was from Mitcheldesn - she also worked for Ranks in the office, her name was June Cowmeadow. Her Father was a polisher at the same factory - Bert Cowmeadow - during the early 60s. I have such a lot of happy memories of the area trips to Cinderford and all through the Forest of Dean. I was living in Pontshill at the time and rode my Lambretta scooter to see my girlfriend. We both are now remarried and live in Perth, Western Australia.
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)
My First Home
My parents owned Unlawater House from 1963 until the 1970s. It was their first house when they were in their twenties and they ran it as a private children's home. I spent the first eight years of my life there and have great memories of lunches in the garden.
They re-roofed it within the first five years of purchase. The council bought some of the land along the road to widen the road as it kept flooding as a result of the Severn tidal wave; they did eventually rebuild the pretty red brick wall which runs along the perimeter.
There were some beautiful trees in the garden (many of which have since been taken down), and a superb monkey tree which we used to decorate with coloured lights at Christmas.
