Whitecroft is a village 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 the n ...

in west

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. It is located in-between

Bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including ''Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), ''Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', ''Blicca'', '' Brama'', ''Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', ''Lepo ...

and

Yorkley Yorkley is a village in west Gloucestershire, England. The village includes the settlement of Yorkley Slade to the east. Yorkley is situated between the villages of Pillowell and Oldcroft. Near the town of Lydney, it has two pubs, a sub post ...

. Whitecroft comes under the postal district of Lydney. The village has 2 pubs – The Miners Arms and The Royal Oak. Both provide food, drink and accommodation.

Whitecroft railway station Whitecroft & Bream railway station is a railway station on the Dean Forest Railway. History The station originally opened on 23 September 1875, and closed on 8 July 1929. It was re-opened to passengers on 25 May 2012 after a construction per ...

, part of the

Dean Forest Railway The Dean Forest Railway is a long heritage railway that runs between Lydney and Parkend in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. The route was part of the former Severn and Wye Railway which ran from Lydney to Cinderford. The society that ope ...

, is near the Miners Arms.

History

Cottages are recorded at Whitecroft in the 1780s.Forest of Dean: Settlement
Victoria County History A chapel at Whitecroft dates from 1824. By 1834 terraces containing 30 cottages had been built on either side of the Severn & Wye tramroad (later railway) for employees in the Parkend collieries – they were demolished in the 20th century. In 1841 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 Whitecroft – one of which has become the Miners' Arms inn.Forest of Dean: Social life
Victoria County History Whitecroft has a memorial hall dating from 1924. The village had a successful rugby club before the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and a male voice choir in the mid 20th century. The village continued to expand throughout the 20th century when estates of private and council houses were built. In the early 17th century there were

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

on Cannop brook at Whitecroft.Forest of Dean: Industry
Victoria County History They remained in operation until the Crown sold them in 1674 for demolition, to preserve the woodland of the Forest. Whitecroft had two corn mills in the early 19th century. One of the mills, in the west part of Whitecroft remained in operation until 1970. In the 19th century there were several

coal mine 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 ...

s in the area, including Park Gutter west of Whitecroft, and Princess Royal colliery between Whitecroft and Bream's Eaves. There was a factory on the south side of Whitecroft in 1866, and other workshops and industrial sites developed in the 20th century. On the Bream road several brick buildings put up in the early 20th century for Princess Royal colliery still survive.

opened in 1875 as part of the

Severn and Wye Railway The Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and open ...

. The station closed in 1929. It was re-opened to passengers on 25 May 2012 as part of the

Football club

The club currently have three teams competing in the North Gloucestershire Football League and play their home games at Grove Road; however, the third team play their home games at Lakers School. The club has enjoyed recent success in the cups and leagues over the years and have also seen the introduction of an under-15s team.

References

External links

photos of Whitecroft and surrounding area on geograph
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean