Cinderford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cinderford | |
  Cinderford shown within Gloucestershire |
|
| Population | 8,116 (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | Forest of Dean |
| Shire county | Gloucestershire |
| Region | South West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | Great Western |
| European Parliament | South West England |
| List of places: UK • England • Gloucestershire | |
Cinderford is a small town in Gloucestershire, England, with a population of 8,116 people (2001 census). The town lies on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean. The town only came into existence in the 19th Century, due to the rapid expansions of the coal mines. There is a visual clue to Cinderford's origins in that the style and layout of the town (long rows of identical terraced housing) is very similar to many of the South Wales Valleys towns that also grew up on the back of coal mining. When the mines closed in the 1950s, Cinderford suffered worse than Coleford, the other main town of the Forest, because it had few other industries to fall back on. Today Cinderford has some light and heavy industry, but generally the town is not doing as well economically as the older towns in the west of the Forest, and unemployment in the town is quite high.
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[edit] Education in Cinderford
[edit] Primary Education
Cinderford has two Primary Schools, St. Whites Primary School based on St. Whites Road, and Forest View Primary School based on Latimer Road. Forest View Primary School is an amalgamation of the Latimer Junior School and the Bilson Infants' School (formerly on Station Street), on the Latimer Road campus of the former.
[edit] Secondary Education
Cinderford has a single, relatively small Secondary School on Causeway Road, currently called Heywood Community School a Sports College but previously known as The Heywood School. The School existed as Double View Secondary Modern School on a previous campus, on Woodville Road, but moved to the Causeway Road campus, in the early-mid 1970s. Up until 1979 it was split between the two sites, in the mid 1980's it changed its name from double view to The Heywood school. The School offers education to GCSE level, but Further Education at A-level or equivalent is not offered.
[edit] Tertiary Education
There is no Further or Higher Education presence in Cinderford, but a rumoured link with the University of the West of England (UWE) has been suggested as the force behind a planned campus as part of the Northern Arc Re-generation project, to revitalise former brownfield land in the Steam-Mills area, which extends towards Nailbridge from the northern edge of Cinderford.
[edit] Transport in Cinderford
Cinderford's High Street and Belle Vue Road lie on the A4151, which links with the A48 (Gloucester-Chepstow road) to the east.
In former times, Cinderford had a railway station, but this was axed as part of the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
Cinderford is served by an irregular bus service to Gloucester and Coleford, the bus station was dismantled in the late 1980s and no longer exists.
The closest airports are in Staverton (between Gloucester and Cheltenham) and in Bristol.
Cinderford has no known cycle lanes.
[edit] Freeminer brewery
Freeminer Brewery is a brewery based at Steam Mills[1].
It produces of range of traditional ales.
The Freeminer name comes from the ancient right to mine coal in the Royal Forest of Dean.
[edit] Cinderford Sports Clubs
[edit] Local Gyms in Cinderford
- Dolphins Fitness Centre
- Heywood Leisure Centre
[edit] Notable public figures from Cinderford
- Jimmy Young, Sir
- James Atkins lead singer with the pop band EMF
- Zac Foley bassist with the pop band EMF
- Derry Brownson keyboards and samples with the pop band EMF
- Mark Decloedt drummer with the pop band EMF
- Ross Hawkins, BBC News Correspondent, is an alumnus of The Heywood School
