Awre

This is one of the occasional series of Parish Notes complied by Sue Ross and first published on our Facebook group. You are welcome to comment with further information about the parish.

The boundary of the parish is shown in this schematic map, taken from https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Awre

Awre itself is, and always seems to have been, a scattering of farmhouses, rather than a nucleated village. It is a remarkable place, approached by small roads that constantly change direction. Surrounded by water, it sits at a height of 25 metres, giving glimpses of views over the River Severn to the Cotswolds.

An extensive system of footpaths called church ways or burying roads, which the local court leet jury was vigilant in preserving in the 18th and 19th centuries, linked the many scattered farmsteads to Awre church and Blakeney chapel.

In the mid-13th Century, the main river channel that runs down the estuary switched its course and began to erode away the shore, riverbank and land on the Awre side. As a result of this erosion, it is estimated that Awre lost about one third of its territory and even today, the parish boundary is set about three quarters of the way across the estuary as if the parish is hoping that one day, its lands will be restored. One legacy of this period is the lost village of Woodend, which was a small hamlet lying half a mile south of Awre. This used to be some way from the river but as erosion increased, the waters gradually began to edge closer until, in the ‘Great Floods’ of 1741, Woodend was finally swept away. All that remains of this lost village today is a scatter of bricks and stones which can be seen at low water on the sands.

Stamford Mercury 26th January 1738

We hear that the inhabitants at Arlingham, Awre, and several other places along the River Severn, have received incredible Loss’. Their Sea Walls being broke down, their lands over-flowed, and vast numbers of their Cattle and Sheep drowned. Several Trows and Boats were sunk near Awre.

The Noose is an especially difficult part of the river to navigate.

Map is used courtesy of https://www.archiuk.com/

St Andrews Church

The Church of St Andrew was dedicated in the 12th Century. The surrounding graveyard has many striking tombstones, including this one to Sarah Johnson, and her seven children who predeceased her.

Above the West doorway, you can just about make out an inscription to commemorate the Victorian restoration.

The interior of the church is light, and obviously cared for. It is floored with memorial slabs which are, even now, legible.

The font is from the 15th Century.

The chest was dug out from a single piece of wood, a millennia ago, and was apparently used to hold bodies found in the Severn until their burial.

In the early 18th century Blakeney chapel was a small single-cell building but it was enlarged in 1748. Later, in 1820 the chapel was rebuilt to the designs of Samuel Hewlett as a plain single-cell building with a small west tower, a low south porch, and large galleries. The new building was planned to seat 700 as it was intended to serve inhabitants of the adjoining part of the Forest.

Note that the crenelations are on one side only.

The bowl of the font is a 15th-century water stoup, discovered near Gatcombe during building of the South Wales railway. It is believed to have been taken from Awre church and buried for safety during the Reformation. Before being placed in All Saints church, it apparently was used as a flower pot.

Unusually, it seems to have been made to stand against a wall, as one side is flat.

Permission to use the photos of the interior of the church was given by photo.spot, on findagrave.com.

In the 18th century and the earlier 19th many parishioners worshipped at both Awre church and Blakeney chapel; in the 1790s most of the owners of farmhouses had pews at both places. In 1750 full Sunday services were held at the parish church with an afternoon service at Blakeney, and in 1825 one service was held at each on Sunday, morning and afternoon alternately. At the latter date Blakeney was said to attract congregations of 400-500, compared to 50-60 at Awre. On the Sunday of the ecclesiastical census in 1851 Blakeney’s congregations of 211 in the morning and 231 in the afternoon were more than twice those at Awre.

Education in Awre

Awre National school was provided with a new building in 1855, built on part of the green on a site was given by the lords of the manor, wh0 in 1856 agreed to give £10 a year towards running the school. In 1874 the income was mainly from voluntary contributions, a shortfall being made up by the vicar. The school had an average attendance in 1885 of only 36, and in 1910, as Awre C. of E. school, of only 34. The average attendance was down to 24 by 1922 and the school closed in 1927.

It is now a Village Hall.

Blakeney School was rebuilt in 1873. It was a British School (i.e. supported by the Nonconformist church). There was previously a British School built on the site in 1852.

In 1885 the average attendance was 70 and in 1904 it had an average attendance of 129 in mixed and infants’ departments. The school was renamed Blakeney Council school in 1905 when it was transferred to the county council, and the building was enlarged during 1907 and 1908 to accommodate the children from Blakeney Woodside C. of E. school, at Blakeney Hill.

Nonconformity in Awre

In 1823 a small chapel called Blakeney Tabernacle was built by the Revd. Isaac Bridgman just inside the parish boundary at Brain’s Green. Bridgman was a former curate at Holy Trinity church, Harrow Hill, in the Forest, who had found difficulty in confining his views to established church doctrine. Anglican liturgy was at first used for the services, but in 1825 the congregation joined the Independents.

In 1849 the congregation left the Brain’s Green chapel for a new one, also called the Tabernacle, built in Blakeney village.

A house was later built on the site ( Copyright © 2010 Jonathan Billinger). This was later demolished and an attractive modern house is being constructed, using some of the stones that were part of the chapel (many were used in the newer chapel in Blakeney village). The site is adjacent to the small burial ground, which is hedged around, and has one (illegible) stone. The burial ground is private.

A transcript of baptisms between 1823 and 1837 is held by Gloucestershire Family History Society, ref. NC2.

Details about the chapel may also be found at Gloucestershire Records Office, ref. D5690/1.

On the wall of the burial ground is a boundary stone for the Forest of Dean. These are mapped on Toll Houses (mister.red)

Pevsner judges the Congregational Chapel very harshly, saying ‘of stone, debased classical’.

Historic England is rather kinder, stating that ‘A remarkably complete and architecturally distinctive example of its type, one of the most prominent and distinctive expressions of nonconformist architecture in the Forest of Dean region.’

Built in 1849, for the congregation that had previously worshipped at Brains Green, I personally (without my GFHS hat on) find it rather charming. It is now a private dwelling.

The Chapel had average congregations of 265 in the morning and 205 in the evening in the 1850s.

Records of the church are held at Gloucestershire Archives, ref. D5690.

In 1972 Blakeney Congregational Church became part of the United Reformed Church after joining the National Union of Churches. It remained technically a United Reformed Church until closure in September 1987, despite wishing to become an independent congregation following a dispute in 1975.

Blakeney Baptist Church was built in 1833 and was restored in 1874. Congregations of 250 attended services in 1851. It is now owned privately.

Gloucestershire Archives holds records, ref D2758

The Marriages can be searched from 1879-1917, and the Burials from 1834-1837 on https://forest-of-dean.net/joomla/index.php/parish-records-search

Public Houses

The Red Hart has been licensed since about 1483. It is thought that the original wattle and daub construction was built as a hostelry for the workers brought in to renovate the 13^th century parish church of St. Andrew. The Red Hart has been added to and altered in a variety of architectural styles over the last few centuries. It seems to have been altered in the 17^th Century.

https://www.gloucestershirepubs.co.uk/ has further information about the pub.

The Yew Tree is tucked away to the north of the square, west of the chapel and is recorded as trading in 1817. It ceased trading by 2003 and the building was left unoccupied.

The Yew Tree is now in residential use, but a West Country Ales ‘Best in the West’ ceramic plaque has been retained in the development.

The Kings Head was an 18^th century building situated on the A48 in the centre of Blakeney. An early photograph of the Kings Head shows a stream running directly in front of the building. A small walled garden between the pub and the stream was planted with ornamental shrubs, etc. Regrettably the stream has now been culverted under the main road and the once picturesque garden has disappeared under tarmac; the inevitability of progress.

It is now closed, and in a sorry state.

Gatcombe

Gatcombe is a small village on the banks of the River Severn. It was once one of the Forest of Dean’s busiest ports and the waterfront once had a quay, pier and a slipway. Timber was shipped to Plymouth from here for the construction of ocean going sailing vessels. There was also a thriving salmon fishing industry.

In 1850 the Great Western Railway built the line from Gloucester to Chepstow and onwards to South Wales. The route of the railway followed the banks of the River Severn for three miles and at Gatcombe it was built directly across the riverside frontage, destroying the pier and slipway. The remains of the quay still exist on the landward side of the railway but are now heavily silted up. The railway engineers built an arch to allow fishermen and boat owners access to the River Severn.

It had two inns.

The Ship Inn was an early 19th century hostelry located at the property now called the Court House, on the west side of the hamlet of Gatcombe, standing above the riverside.

The picture is of what has variously been called Drakes House (Drake was thought to have stayed there), the Sloop Inn, and the Gatcombe Boat. After the trade from the port had declined and the navvies had finished working on the railway the Sloop Inn was left in isolation which may have been the reason for closure.

The Forest of Dean Central Railway

In the 19th Century, the miners in the Forest of Dean faced a struggle to get their products to market, hindered by the hilly terrain and poor roads in the area.

In response, the Forest of Dean Central Railway was a mineral railway line designed to connect certain collieries in the central part of the Forest of Dean to a new dock at Brimspill on the River Severn. It was authorised by Parliament in 1856, but, by the time it opened in 1868, the principal colliery intended to be served had ceased operation. It was unable to finance the construction of the dock at Brimspill and relied on transfer of traffic to the main line of the South Wales Railway (later the Great Western Railway).

The map, courtesy of Know Your Place (https://www.kypwest.org.uk/) shows the unfinished line toward Brimspill and the signalbox is north of where Awre for Blakeney station once stood.

Driving through the parish, you can see the remains of the works for the railway.

Oaklands House

Oaklands House was built by a local ironmaster, Henry Crawshay (1812-1879).

‘At the time of his death, the number of his employees, at the collieries, mines, and furnaces could hardly be less than 2,000 souls. As an employer, he always lived on the happiest terms with his workers, and always lent a favourable and kindly ear to their grievances.’

He also seems to have lived a fairly unusual life. To his family’s disapproval, he lived with a young woman who worked at the Iron works. They had 13 children, 6 of them before they married, but, after their marriage in 1844, settled down to a life of Victorian respectability at Oaklands.

Oddly, both he and Eliza don’t appear on the ’41 Census, but their 6 children do.

The twins Lucrezia and Sarah, aged 6, were at a Ladies School in Doynton. Henry and Edwin, aged 7 and 5, were lodging with a Schoolmaster and his wife in Bristol, and Emily and Agnes, aged 2 and 1, were lodging in Bedminster, Bristol.

Blakeney

Blakeney village grew up on the Gloucester-Chepstow road around the junction of the Soudley and Blackpool brooks, which powered a number of mills in and around the settlement. As a fairly populous village on the main through route and a centre for trade, Blakeney rather than the isolated Awre village became the principal focus of parish life. Blakeney’s chapel came to attract larger congregations than the parish church.

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Published: 1 year ago