PARKEND is a hamlet in the township of West Dean, Forest of Dean and parish of St. Paul, which was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1842; it is 4 miles north from Lydney station on the South Wales railway, 4 south-east from Coleford, 14 south-east from Ross, and 16 north-east from Chepstow, in the Western division of the county, hundred of St. Briavels, Monmouth county court district, archdeaconry of Gloucester, rural deanery of South Forest and diocese of Gloucester and Bristol.

The church of St. Paul, consecrated in 1822, is a handsome octagonal building of stone, having a tower with 1 bell, organ and gallery. The registers for baptisms and burials date from the year 1822, and that for marriages from 1836. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £150, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol and held by the Rev John Joseph Ebsworth, M.A. of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. There is a chapel for Baptists. A cemetery was consecrated here in 1862.

There is a mixed school for boys and girls, with residence, supported by an annual grant from the office of Woods and Forests and by voluntary contributions.

Here are Extensive iron, tin and coal works.

Whitemead Park is the seat of Sir James Campbell, bart. J.P. with an area of 42 acres.

The principle landowners are the Crown and Henry Crawshay esq. and the Park End Coal Company.

The soil is for the most part of a stiff clayey nature and the land is mostly used for the growth of timber. The area is 4,676; the population in 1871 was 3,814.

Parish Clerk Henry Gunter

POST & MONEY ORDER OFFICE & Savings Bank,—Philip Jones, postmaster. Letters through Lydney, arrive at 8.50 a.m. & 12.25 p.m.; dispatched at 6.50 p.m.

Mixed School, Thomas Driffield, master; Mrs Driffield, mistress; Miss Julia Cole, assistant mistress in infants department.

RESIDENTS

Campbell Sir James, bart, J.P. Whitemead Park [deputy surveyor of Dean forest]

Curry John, M.D.

Ebsworth Rev. John Joseph, M.A. Vicarage

Thomas Sydney J Park End house

COMMERCIAL

Blanch James Wintle, colliery manager, Oakland house

Boyce John, Speech House

Edwards Mary (Mrs.), British Lion

Frowen James, shopkeeper

Frowen William, boot & shoe maker

Haines James, blacksmith

Hathaway Henry, accountant

Hughes, Jas. Timber merchant & saw mls

James Isaac, colliery manager

Jeffries Stafford, boot & shoe maker

Jones John, butcher

Jones Philip, grocer, draper, general merchant & postmaster

Jones Richard, New inn

Jones Solomon, colliery & iron mines manager

Liddington Thomas, shopkeeper

Nash William & Co. Grocers & drapers

Morse John, haulier & glass bottle scruff maker

Park End Coal Co. Limited (Sydney J Thomas, manager)

Park End Iron Works Henry Crawshay & Sons, proprietors; John White, sec.

Payne Edwin R, Stone saw mills

Powell Melson, beer retailer

Rees Brothers, machinists

Rees Alfred, quarry proprietor

Scott Richard, Fountain inn

Smith Joseph, police sergeant

Thomas William, farmer, York Lodge

Futterill is 6 miles from Lydney station and 2 from Coleford—Letters through Coleford, which is the nearest money order and telegraph office

Blanch Thomas, carpenter

Brookes George, blacksmith

Carter John, George inn

Dibbin Henry, grocer

Powell Amos, Haulier

Titanic Steel & Iron Co. Forest works (not at work)

Wanklyn & Grindell, fire bricks & pottery ware makers, Dark Hill works

Western Counties Colliery Co. (George Oldland, proprietor)

Whitecroft, 3 miles north from Lydney station and 5 from Coleford, is situated in the vale betwixt rising ground covered with fine plantations of timber; the inhabitants, whose dwellings are scattered here and there in singular irregularity, are mainly employed in the coal, chemical and quarry trades.

POST & MONEY ORDER OFFICE & Savings Bank.—Daniel Simms, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Lydney at 8.15 a.m.; dispatched at 7 p.m.

COMMERCIAL

Bendall John, haulier, Park hill

Hook Thomas, beer retailer

James William & Joseph, hauliers

Jones William, beer retailer

Jordan Charles, shoe maker

Kear Thomas, Miner’s Arms inn

Lewis Christiana (Mrs.), beer retailer & shopkeeper

Morgan Thomas, beer retailer

Morse Thomas, miller

Park Hill Mining Company (Solomon Jones, manager)

Phipps Henry, colliery proprieter, Pillowell colliery

Phipps James, beer retailer

Pughesley James, chemical works

Simms Daniel, grocer & post office

Thomas Henry, haulier

Wyatt John, grocer & draper