Broadwell is a village about east of

Coleford, Gloucestershire Coleford is a market town in the west of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, east of the Welsh border and close to the Wye Valley. It is the administrative centre of the Forest of Dean district. The combined population of the town's t ...

, England. It is at the western edge of 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 the n ...

, in the

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 authority ...

of Coleford, which is also its

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

. The village of

Mile End Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, England, east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the m ...

is to the north and

Coalway Coalway is a village in the West Forest of Dean region of Gloucestershire, England, approximately one mile south-east of the town of Coleford. Within the civil parish of Coleford, the village is just south of the village of Broadwell. History ...

is to the south.

History

Broadwell has had a long history of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

. In the late 16th century a miner acquired a lease of land bordering the royal Forest at Broadwell.Coleford
Victoria County History A tramroad opened in 1812 to link mines in the Forest with

Redbrook Redbrook is a village in Gloucestershire, England, adjoining the border with Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located on the River Wye and is within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. History Both Upper and Lower Redbrook were ment ...

and

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

entered Coleford north of Broadwell. A mine, known in 1735 as Gentlemen Colliers, included a working pit at Littledean Lane End near Broadwell in 1835. Broadwell was also one of the scattered farmsteads on the east side of Coleford. Broadwell Farm, on the Forest boundary at the place once known as King's Broadwell, was recorded in 1789. There were three

beerhouse A beerhouse was a type of public house created in the United Kingdom by the 1830 Beerhouse Act, legally defined as a place "where beer is sold to be consumed ''on'' the premises". They were also known as 'small' or 'Tom and Jerry' shops Existing pu ...

s at Broadwell in 1841.Forest of Dean: Social life
Victoria County History The

British Land The British Land Company plc is one of the largest property development and investment companies in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust when REITs were introduced in the UK in January 2007. It is headquartered in ...

Society laid out new roads north of Broadwell Farm in 1859 and several houses had been built on them by the late 1870s.Forest of Dean: Settlement
Victoria County History In 1886 a

fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

and

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

band was based at Broadwell. Broadwell's memorial hall, built in 1921, housed a library in 1955. A social club next to the hall was enlarged after 1959. Broadwell also had a football ground by 1959. Many of Broadwell's 20th-century houses were provided by West Dean Rural District Council, which between 1923 and 1934 built 44 east of the Five Acres road, and in 1948 filled the area to the south with prefabricated bungalows, most of which were replaced later in the century. Additional housing estates were added in the 1950s and 60s.

Parish church

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

of the Good Shepherd is part of the

Diocese of Gloucester The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Province ...

References

External links

* Coleford, Gloucestershire Forest of Dean Villages in Gloucestershire {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub