Pillowell

Pillowell
Pillowell
Pillowell shown within Gloucestershire
OS grid reference SO627064
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Police Gloucestershire
Fire Gloucestershire
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK Parliament

Pillowell is a small village in Gloucestershire, England, on the south-eastern edge of the Forest of Dean.

Description

Pillowell's coordinates are 51.75° N 02.55° W. It lies 0.6 miles to the east of Whitecroft and 0.6 miles to west of Yorkley, and was established as a mining village.

Its current population stands at about 250, with a housing stock of 101. There is a late 19th-century Methodist chapel. Much of the village lies within a conservation area.[1]

The village school is called Pillowell Community Primary School. Founded in the 19th century,[2] it briefly became nationally known in 1973, when the children, under their music teacher Mrs Davies, sang "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" as the signature tune for the Forest of Dean chronicler 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]

History

Pillowell Methodist Church

According to the conservation area documentation, 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. Major 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 in 281 in 1889 and 501 in 1901. However, the roll in 1992 was down to 61. The Swan opened as a beer house in the Bream Road before 1891. A Co-operative store had opened 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]

Pillowell Silver Band

Pillowell Silver Band hall

The Pillowell Silver Band are a 4th Section nationally contesting band, which performs at various fetes, concerts and contests throughout the year. It is conducted by Ian Whitburn. In 2004, the band were runners-up in the National 4th Section Championships of Great Britain, narrowly beaten by a 1-point margin for the title. In 2015 the band will again compete in the National Finals of the Brass Band Championships having been crowned as West of England Champions in March.

References

  1. ↑ Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  3. ↑ Winifred Foley: Introduction. In: A Child of the Forest (London: Futura, 1977), p. 10. ISBN 0-86007-491-9.
  4. ↑ Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  5. ↑ Retrieved 19 October 2010.
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