Blaisdon is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England, about ten miles west of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. Its population in 2005 was estimated by

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. The council's principal functions are county road ...

to be 249. An estimate in 2012 placed the population at 420. The local church is dedicated to St Michael. John Dowding of Tanhouse Farm, Blaisdon developed the popular jam-making plum "Blaisdon Red" in the late 19th century. The Blaisdon Stud Farm was the home of the world's largest

shire horse The Shire is a British breed of draught horse. It is usually black, bay, or grey. It is a tall breed, and Shires have at various times held world records both for the largest horse and for the tallest horse. The Shire has a great capacity for ...

, " Blaisdon Conqueror". His bones are in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Blaisdon Hall Blaisdon Hall () is a Grade II* listed building at Blaisdon. It includes a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1995.

sits on a hill overlooking the village. It was built in 1874. It was used as a seminary and school by the

Salesians of Don Bosco , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turi ...

from 1935 to 1995. It was an agricultural college (

Hartpury Hartpury is a civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It has an area of about , about 270 homes and a population of about 700 people, increasing to 1,642 at the 2011 census. The village is about north of Gloucester. Geographically the parish ...

) from 1995 to 1999. It has since become a private residence.

Railways

Blaisdon Halt was located on the section of line between

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye ( Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye ...

and Grange Court on the

Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway The Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway (also known as the Gloucester and Dean Forest Railway), was a railway which ran for linking Hereford and Gloucester, England, via Ross-on-Wye. It was opened on 1 June 1855 as a broad gauge line, it ...

. It was opened on 1 June 1855 as a broad gauge line, it was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1862. In 1869 the railway was converted to standard gauge. The railway was closed to passengers on 2 November 1964, freight services between

Ross-on-Wye railway station Ross-on-Wye railway station is a former junction railway station on the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway constructed just to the north of the Herefordshire town of Ross-on-Wye. It was the terminus of the Ross and Monmouth Railway whi ...

and Grange Court railway station continued on until 1 November 1965.

References

External links

Blaisdon
Forest Web Villages in Gloucestershire Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub