Awre () is a village,

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 ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

in the Forest of Dean District of

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 ...

, England, near the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. Both the parish and the electoral ward include Blakeney, Etloe, Gatcombe, Viney Hill, and Two Bridges. According to the 2001 census, Awre had a population of 1,644, increasing to 1,714 at the 2011 census. The electoral ward gives similar figures

History

The name is from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

; ''āfor'' "bitter or sour" and ''ēa'' "water-meadow or island" translates to "sour water-meadow". The manor of Awre is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086. Together with

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been bypassed by the A48 road since 199 ...

and Alvington, the parish of Awre comprised

Bledisloe Hundred Bledisloe was an ancient hundred of Gloucestershire, England. It comprised the ancient parishes of * Alvington *Awre *Lydney The hundred was named after the hamlet of Bledisloe, once a tithing of the parish of Awre and now a hamlet north of Lydn ...

.Bledisloe Hundred
A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5. Victoria County History Awre was a large parish which included the tithings of Blakeney, Bledisloe, Hagloe, and Etloe. The manors were often in royal hands or in possession of great medieval magnates.Awre
A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5. Victoria County History. The whole of Awre parish was included within the jurisdiction 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 ...

before 1228. St Andrew, Awre, Gloucestershire (2666603177)

The village was once larger, though probably always scattered in plan. In the 17th century, shipbuilding was established in nearby Gatcombe, once an important anchorage on the Severn. By the early 19th century, the industrial and trading village of Blakeney had replaced Awre as the principal centre. A church is mentioned in

, and by the mid 12th century it was dedicated to St. Andrew. It was rebuilt in the mid-13th century as a large building with a long chancel and a nave and north aisle of six bays. The porch was added in the 14th century and the upper part of the tower was reconstructed in the 15th century. The church is a

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proces ...

of the 19th century with a 15th-century font and a 15th-century oak rood screen. A medieval dugout chest stands under the tower. The graveyard contains many burials of those drowned in the Severn as a result of shipwreck or other accident. From 1851 to 1959, the area was served by the

Awre for Blakeney railway station Awre for Blakeney railway station is a closed railway station in Gloucestershire, England, which served both the village of Awre and the town of Blakeney. History Opened by the South Wales Railway, the station was amalgamated into the Gr ...

References

External links

*
Awre Parish CouncilAwre
at Forest Web * {{Authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean