I popped in the Centenary Lounge at Stroud Station
Before catching the train to Gloucester for Lydney:
I was on the scent of the industrial Dean
In 1926 and the Great Western Railway,
And, therefore, studied the GWR map
From 1923 up there on the wall,
With more care than my usual perfunctory glance.
I focussed on the area of the Dean
Within a sort of railway quadrant:
Ross to Monmouth to Chepstow to Grange Court to Ross –
Not a huge area but once home to over 40 pits and 6,000 miners
And home to over 30 railway stations,
Here are the stations in alphabetical order:
Awre Junc.,
Bilson Goods, Blaisdon Halt, Blakeney Goods,
Bullo Cross Hlt., Bullo Docks, Bullo Pill Goods,
Cinderford, Cinderford Goods, Coleford,
Drybrook Halt, Drybrook Road,
Longhope, Lydbrook Jc.,
Lydney Docks, Lydney Jnc., Lydney Tn.,
Milk Wall, Mitcheldean Road,
Newnham, Parkend, Ruspidge Hlt. Goods,
Speech House Rd., Staple Edge Halt,
Steam Mills Cr. Halt, Symonds Yat,
UpR. Lydbrook, Upper Soudley Halt,
Walford Halt, Westbury on -Sev-Halt,
Weston-under-Penyard,
Whimsey Halt, Whitecroft.
On I went to Lydney to the Dean Forest Railway
(It’s signposted close by today’s railway station),
Leaving the busy roads for a footpath
To ‘Tramway Bridge’, built 1810,
‘For the Lydney and Lydbrook Canal Company’,
‘Later the Severn & Wye Railway’,
‘The tramroad was built to improve the export of Forest of Dean coal
via Lydney Harbour and the River Severn’.
So, you don’t have to venture far to be
straight on the scent of coal in the Dean in 1926,
Perhaps remembering the words of Ralph Anstis:
‘The effects of the rail strike were soon noticeable. At Awre station milk churns were left uncollected and at Symonds Yat, Upper Lydbrook, Coleford, Parkend, Whitecroft, Bullo Pill and Blakeney the stations were closed with the staff out in support of the miners.’
‘On the second day of the strike, the proprietor of the Lydney Picture House offered a free showing to strikers with an introductory report on the strike too.’
Take a stroll around the town, walk to the harbour,
This small town that once had three stations …
The station-sign at Lydney Junction on the preserved line,
Is GWR inter-war evocative:
LYDNEY JUNCTION
CHANGE FOR
SOUTH WALES PADDINGTON & GREAT WESTERN LINE
I sat down on an old GWR bench,
And pictured the children evacuated from here
During the lock-out of the spring, summer and autumn of 1926,
Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
But here’s the list of pits affected by that time a century ago:
Arles Level, Bridewell & Mailscot Gate, Brominghold,
Cannop, Cross Ash, Crown, Crump Meadow,
Dark Hill, Drybrook, Eastern United, Farmer’s Folly, Foxes Bridge
Harrow Hill, High Meadow, Hillersland, Hopewell Drift,
Hopewell in Wimberley, Lightmoor, Lower Dark Hill,
Mapleford, Marion’s Vale, Milkwall,
New Fancy, New Hawkins No. 1 Level,
New Regulator and Slope, New Speedwell,
Nine Wells, Norchard, Oldcroft, Park Hill, Parkend Deep,
Pastor’s Hill, Patches & Lonk Level,
Pluck Penny, Princess Royal, Prosper Hill, Reading Horne,
Silent Standing, Shutcastle, Steam Mills, Thatch,
Thornton Reeks, Trafalgar, Upper Dark Hill, Valletts No. 1 Level,
Waterloo, Weavers Pitching No. 2, Well Level,
Well Level No. 2, Winnell, Worcester No. 2, Worrall Hill.
If you wish to read further, here are a couple of links:
https://radicalstroud.co.uk/the-forest-of-dean-the-general-strike-and-lockout/
https://radicalstroud.co.uk/gwr-voices-for-performance/
And if you wish to walk further and farther, I recommend these three leaflets available from the Forest of Dean Local History Society:
The Mines Trails
Walk No. 1 The Speculation Trail No.2 The New Fancy Trail No.3 Cannop Ponds Trail
https://forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/publications-for-sale/
Radical Stroud thank the GWR for its support
in the commemoration of the General Strike in our locality and region.
This would not have happened without the GWR.
We thank Stroud Town Council similarly.