Hewelsfield is a village in

Hewelsfield and Brockweir Hewelsfield and Brockweir is a civil parish in Forest of Dean District, Gloucestershire. The parish was called Hewelsfield until 1994. It contains two distinct villages, Hewelsfield and Brockweir, with scattered settlement on Hewelsfield comm ...

civil parish, 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 ...

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 Gl ...

, England. The village is located 6 miles south of Coleford and 5 miles north-east of

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

, close to the

Wye valley The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; cy, Dyffryn Gwy) is an internationally important protected landscape straddling the border between England and Wales. The River Wye ( cy, Afon Gwy) is the fourth-longest river in th ...

and partly within an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

History

The area was known in the Anglo-Saxon period as ''Hiwoldestone''. It was included by

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

in the Royal

, but by the 12th century was established as a village, with a church. Ancient routes running up from 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 ...

at Alvington and

Woolaston Woolaston is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire in South West England. It lies on the north side of the Severn Estuary approximately 5 miles (8 kilometres) from the Welsh border at Chepstow and is surr ...

met at Hewelsfield village and continued to the nearby village of St. Briavels. In 1266 the manor of Hewelsfield was granted to

Tintern Abbey Tintern Abbey ( cy, Abaty Tyndyrn ) was founded on 9 May 1131 by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow. It is situated adjacent to the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye, which at this location forms the bo ...

, which retained it until the

Dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

in 1536. Together with the abbey grange at Brockweir, the manor was then granted to

Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester (26 November 1549) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester and Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert. On his father's death on 15 April 1526, he succeeded as the ...

. There is evidence of a small castle motte close to the church, and earthworks close to the castle suggest either a deserted medieval village or field boundaries. A separate ancient field system exists close to Hewelsfield Court. The village was designated a Conservation Area in 1990.

Church of St. Mary Magdalen

The parish church of St. Mary Magdalen has a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

nave; an Early English chancel (restored in the 19th century); and a north transept enlarged in the 16th century. The churchyard is circular in form, which is often taken to suggest a pagan site or Celtic foundation.

Hewelsfield Common

The area known as Hewelsfield Common, west of the village and sloping down to the River Wye, was occupied and developed in a piecemeal fashion by squatters in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Later in the 19th century, encouraged partly by the opening of the

Wye Valley Railway The Wye Valley Railway was a standard gauge railway that ran for nearly along the Lower Wye Valley between the towns of Chepstow and Monmouth, crossing several times between Wales and England. Opened on 1 November 1876, it was leased to, and ...

on the Monmouthshire side of the river in 1876, private residents and retired people settled in the area and enlarged the cottages or built new houses.

Village Community Shop

Hewelsfield, together with Brockweir, is served by the Brockweir and Hewelsfield Village Shop and Café, a non-profit making community enterprise, staffed by volunteers from the local community.

Listed buildings in Hewelsfield

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s in the village of Hewelsfield are listed in the tables below, with links to the relevant

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

list entry. Listed buildings in the village Brockweir are given in the Wikipedia article on

Brockweir Brockweir is a village in Hewelsfield and Brockweir civil parish, in the Forest of Dean District of Gloucestershire, England. The civil parish also includes the separate village of Hewelsfield. The village is located on the eastern bank of th ...

. For the purposes of the tables, 'Hewelsfield' is taken to include all buildings in the Civil Parish of Hewelsfield and Brockweir to the east of

Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Offa) is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from AD 757 until 796, who is traditionally believed to ha ...

; 'Brockweir' is taken to include all buildings in the Civil Parish of Hewelsfield and Brockweir to the west of Offa's Dyke.

References

External links

Photographs of Hewelsfield Parish ChurchHewelsfield and Brockweir Parish CouncilBrockweir and Hewelsfield Village Shop and Café
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean