Lydney
| Lydney | |
| Gloucestershire | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Church, Lydney | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO634032 |
| Location: | 51°43’43"N, 2°31’43"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,960 (2001) |
| Post town: | Lydney |
| Postcode: | GL15 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Forest of Dean |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Forest of Dean |
Lydney is a small town in Gloucestershire, on the west bank of the River Severn, close to the edge of the Forest of Dean. The town lies on the A48 road, next to the Lydney Park gardens where are the remains of a Roman temple in honour of Nodens.
Transport
The Severn Railway Bridge crossed just north of Lydney from Purton to Sharpness on the eastern bank. Built in the 1870s, it was damaged beyond repair by a pair of oil tanker barges in 1960. The barges hit Pier 17 bringing down two bowstring girders. There have been several plans to renew the link, most recently in the late 1990s as a millennium project.
Lydney railway station, which serves the town, is located on the Gloucester to Newport Line, with connections from the town centre by the Dean Forest Railway.
The Lydney Canal was once an important harbour for shipping timber, coal and iron from the Forest of Dean. It is now a harbour for pleasure craft.
Big Society
- Lydney Town Band operates as a non-competitive training band.
- Cadets:
- 614 (Lydney) Squadron Air Training Corps
- 586 (Lydney) Sea Cadet Corps
Sport and recreation
- Lydney Cricket Club, which runs three teams in various leagues
- Football: Lydney Town FC, based at the town's recreation ground.
- Golf: Lydney Golf Club, a nine hole course off Lakeside Avenue
- Hockey: Lydney Hockey Club
- Netball: Lyndean Netball Club
- Rugby: Lydney RFC, based at Regentsholme
Lydney town has an outdoor swimming pool, the Bathurst Swimming Pool built in the 1920s, open in the summer months.
Whitecross Leisure Centre[1] is located at Whitecross School
Bathurst Park in the centre of the town (not to be confused with Lydney Park on the town's outskirts) is home to several senior and junior football and cricket teams.
Tourism
- Norchard railway station is the home of the Dean Forest Railway[2]
- Lydney Park is the site of a Romano-British Roman Temple and previously was an Iron Age hillfort. It also has gardens which are open to the public for a limited period each spring.
History
In the British Iron Age a promontory fort was established at Lydney Park and later used for iron ore mining. In the late Roman period, a Roman temple to Nodens was built on the site of the fort.
In 1588 the Vice-Admiral of England Sir William Winter was granted the manor of Lydney in recognition of his services against the Spanish Armada.[3] In 1723 - the Winter family sold their Lydney estate to the Bathurst family[3]
In 1810docks were constructed to capitalise on the town's location, close to the River Severn. The River Lyd flows through the town and into the Severn.
In 1935, the title of Viscount Bledisloe of Lydney was created and awarded to Charles Bathurst upon his retirement as Governor-General of New Zealand
On 31 August 1962, the Beatles play Lydney Town Hall[4][5]
The Lydney Murder, 1964
In 1964 the village was the site of the Lydney Murder, a significant case in the history of the use of entomology to assist criminal investigations.[6][7][8] On 28 June 1964 a body was found in woods near Bracknell. By studying the maggots found on the body, forensic entomologist Professor Keith Simpson was able to establish a date of death as around 16 June 1964. Missing persons records for that date lead the police to believe that the body was that of Peter Thomas who had gone missing from his home in Lydney. Fingerprints confirmed the identification. William Brittle, a business partner of Peter Thomas was convicted of the murder.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Lydney) |
- Information from the Royal Forest of Dean website.
- Lydney Grammar School - History site
- Whitecross School - Official site
- Dean Forest Railway
- Whitecross Leisure Centre
- 614 (Lydney) Squadron ATC
- Historic pictures of the Lydney and area.
- Lydney
- Roman-Britain.org page for Lydney Park Temple Complex
- Photos of Lydney and area on Geograph
- The Local Community