Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LIDNEY, or LVDNEY

LIDNEY, or LVDNEY, 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; 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 railwaystation, 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, Neweine, 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 buildingstone 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. Valne, £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.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Lydney AP/CP       Lydney SubD       Gloucestershire AncC
Place names: LIDNEY     |     LIDNEY OR LVDNEY     |     LVDNEY
Place: Lydney

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