| Pillowell | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Pillowell Location within Gloucestershire | |
| OS grid reference | SO627064 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Pillowell is a small English village in Gloucestershire, on the south-eastern edge of the Forest of Dean. Once a mining village, much of it now lies in a conservation area.
Pillowell's coordinates are 51.75° N 02.55° W. It rose to be a mining village, directly east of Whitecroft and directly west of Yorkley. Much of it lies in a conservation area. [1] Its current population is about 250 in a housing stock of 101. The village has a place of worship: a late 19th-century Methodist chapel.
Pillowell Community Primary School, founded in the 19th century, [2] briefly became known nationally in 1973, when its pupils under their music teacher Mrs Davies, sang "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" as the signature tune for Winifred Foley's A Child of the Forest, when it was serialized on BBC Woman's Hour. [3] The poet F. W. Harvey (1888–1957) spent the last part of his life in the village. [4]
According to the conservation-area documents, the earliest inhabitants may have been squatters on the edge of the royal Forest of Dean. In 1787, when the area still belonged to Newland parish, there were ten dwellings on Crown land, near the well that gave the settlement its name. Stronger growth came in the mid-19th century with the development of deep mining.
A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1835, when there were around 30 cottages. The building is now in residential use. A larger chapel opened on a new site in 1885. A large school for the area opened in 1877, with places for 400 children. Average attendance was 281 in 1889 and 501 in 1901. However, the roll in 1992 was down to 61. The Swan opened as a beerhouse in the Bream Road before 1891. A Co-operative store was open by the early 20th century.
Coal mining throughout the Forest of Dean began to decline in the 1930s. The Princess Royal Colliery finally closed in 1962. A spiral brick chute and parts of a mineral railway bridge remain. [5]
The Pillowell Silver Band is a competing band which performs at fetes, concerts and contests throughout the year. It has enjoyed many great conductors over the years, including T. J. Powell. The long-serving conductor, Clive Lewis, led it up from the fourth section of the national championships, and along with Alan Beddis and Fred Watkins, taught many of the children in the local village schools to play. In 2004 it was runner-up in the National 4th Section Championships of Great Britain, beaten by a single point for the title, and in 2015 it won the fourth section regional finals in Torquay under the bands current conductor, Ian Whitburn. In 2015 the band competed again at the national finals, finishing 8th in the country. In 2017 it gained promotion from the fourth section to the third. In 2020 the band pulled out of the Area Contest due to the Covid-19 pandemic and as a result is now competing in the fourth section.
Haxby is a town and civil parish in the City of York district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 8,754, reducing to 8,428 at the 2011 Census.
Sandhurst is a town and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest borough in Berkshire, England. It is in the south eastern corner of Berkshire, and is situated 32 miles (51 km) west-southwest of central London, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north west of Camberley and 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Bracknell. Sandhurst is known worldwide as the location of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Despite its close proximity to Camberley, Sandhurst is also home to a large and well-known out-of-town mercantile development. The site is named "The Meadows" and has a Tesco Extra hypermarket and a Marks & Spencer, two of the largest in the country. A large Next clothing and homeware store is open on the site of the old Homebase.
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 north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.
Camborne is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove.
Laxey is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Man. Its name derives from the Old Norse Laxa meaning 'Salmon River'. Its key distinguishing features are its three working vintage railways and the largest working waterwheel in the world. It is also the location of King Orry's Grave.
Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census.
New Mills is a town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Stockport and 13 miles (21 km) from Manchester at the confluence of the River Goyt and Sett. It is close to the border with Cheshire and above the Torrs, a 70 feet (21 m) deep gorge cut through carboniferous sandstone, on the north-western edge of the Peak District national park.
Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. In 2011, it had a population of 4,780.
Blidworth is a village and civil parish approximately five miles east of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 4,457. Its history can be traced back to the 10th century, although many of the current houses were built in the first half of the 20th century to provide housing for workers at Blidworth Colliery (1926–1989). These are mainly in estates north of Dale Lane, known as New Blidworth. The area around Main Street, west of Beck Lane and including the church, is Old Blidworth, containing some of the oldest buildings. Blidworth Bottoms is a hamlet about 0.5 km south of Old Blidworth.
Weardale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, England. Large parts of Weardale fall within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – the second-largest AONB in England and Wales. The upper dale is surrounded by high fells and heather grouse moors. The River Wear flows through Weardale before reaching Bishop Auckland and then Durham, meeting the sea at Sunderland.
May Hill is a prominent English hill between Gloucester and Ross-on-Wye. Its summit, on the western edge of Gloucestershire and its northern slopes in Herefordshire, is distinguishable by a clump of trees on its summit, which forms an official Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is reached by three public footpaths, two as parts of the Gloucestershire Way and Wysis Way.
Rudgeway is a village in South Gloucestershire in south west England, located between Alveston and Almondsbury on the A38 trunk road. It lies west of Earthcott, Latteridge, Iron Acton and Yate on the B4059 road.
Ynyshir is a village and community located in the Rhondda Valley, within Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. The name of the village means "long island" in Welsh and takes its name from a farm in the area, falling within the historic parishes of Ystradyfodwg and Llanwynno (Llanwonno). The community of Ynyshir lies between the small adjoining village of Wattstown and the larger town of neighbouring Porth.
Minera is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It adjoins the village of Coedpoeth.
Dolphinholme is a historic village in Lancashire, North West England.
Chipping is a village and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England, within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its grid reference is SD6243, and the nearest substantial settlement is Longridge, nearly 4 mi (6.4 km) to the south. In the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,046, falling slightly to 1,043 at the 2011 census. The village has won several best-kept village competitions over the years. The village also won the village section of the Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom competition in 2009, picking up RHS Tourism and Gold achievement awards in the process.
Lydbrook is a civil parish in the Forest of Dean, a local government district in the English county of Gloucestershire and is located in the Wye Valley. It is on the north west edge of the Forest of Dean's present legal boundary proper. It comprises the districts of Lower Lydbrook, Upper Lydbrook, Joys Green and Worrall Hill. It has a mile and a half long high street, reputed to be the longest high street of any village in England.
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.
Winifred Mary Foley was an English writer. She is known best for an autobiographical account of her childhood in the Forest of Dean: A Child in the Forest (1974).
Steyning Methodist Church is a Methodist place of worship serving Steyning and surrounding villages in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. Built for a Wesleyan Methodist congregation who had outgrown an earlier chapel nearby, the Gothic Revival building opened in 1878 and has since been extended. The flint and yellow brick church is set back from Steyning's ancient High Street and is within the village conservation area. It is one of nine churches in the Worthing Methodist Circuit.
