Woolaston

Woolaston is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire in South West England. It lies on the north side of the Severn Estuary approximately 5 miles (8 kilometres) from the Welsh border at Chepstow and is surrounded by woodland and agricultural land.

For places with similar spellings, see Woolston and Woollaston (disambiguation).

Woolaston

Woolaston village
Woolaston
Location within Gloucestershire
Population1,206 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSO594003
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLydney
Postcode districtGL15
PoliceGloucestershire
FireGloucestershire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

Development of the village

There are plans to develop the dairy into a small housing development.[2] Recent developments have consolidated rather than expanded the village.

If you travel north west from Netherend you pass a Methodist church, then 'Birchwood Road', leading to a housing estate, the 'Ring Fence' a small lane with a number of cottages along it, the 'Rising Sun' one of the village's two public houses and the village allotments.

Woolaston Common is about 1 mile from the main A48 road and north of the main village. Here there is a small hamlet of houses and an area of common ground which, for the most part of the year, is covered in bracken. Adjoining the common is also another hamlet called Sandtumps.

Governance

The village falls in the 'Hewelsfield and Woolaston' electoral ward. This ward stretches from Brockweir in the north east to Woolaston. The total population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 1,690.[3]

St. Andrew's Church

St. Andrew's parish church at Woolaston is about a mile south west of Netherend along the A48 towards Chepstow. The earliest record of its existence is in 1131.[4] However, the old circular churchyard and the nearby Roman road, which ran just to the north-west of the church, suggest a much earlier holy site. The Tower was originally a low one with a short wooden steeple, but following the granting of a faculty in 1774, it was completely rebuilt.[5] It was threatened with closure in 2007 but at the final Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve it was announced the Church will be saved.[6]

Stroat Church and ruined Bible Christian chapel

Stroat Church (previously known as Stroat Mission) is located three miles out of Woolaston on the A48 towards Chepstow. It has been involved in the village of Woolaston for over 120 years.[7]

Its history began with Squire Morgan and his family in the 1880s.[8] They were evangelical Anglicans with a deep concern for the people of the Parish of Tidenham and in particular for those living in Woodcroft and, these being the distinctly rural areas where they most felt a need to evangelise. Scattered though the community was, the work they embarked upon at Woodcroft prospered. People came to worship from a wide area by whatever means they could, but mostly on foot or by horse and cart. Today the car has replaced the cart but the countryside is still much as it was back then.

It was in 1889 that the Morgans bought a plot of ground at Stroat and in that same year erected a corrugated iron building that became known as the Iron Room.[8] As the years rolled on Stroat became independent of Woodcoft.

There is a derelict Bible Christian chapel, built in 1836, on Woodside Road, near its junction with Slade Road.[9]

References
  1. "Parish population 2011". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  2. "Farm in 36 homes plan". Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  3. "Hewelsfield and Woolaston ward 2011". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  4. "Church of St Andrew". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  5. "Woolaston Church - St Andrews". Forest of Dean and Wye Valley. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  6. "Woolaston in the Forest of Dean". Dean web. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  7. "Stroat Church". Stroat Church. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  8. "Stroat Evangelical Church, Stroat, Tidenham". Gloucestershire Places of Worship. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  9. Gill (2011). "Bible Christian Chapel, Woolaston Woodside, built 1836". picasaweb.google.com. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
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