COLEFORD, Gloucestershire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"COLEFORD, a market town and district parish in the parish of Newland, hundred of St. Briavel's in the county of Gloucester, 4 miles E. of Monmouth. It is situated in Dean Forest, near Offa's Dyke and was the scene, in 1643, of a skirmish between Lord Herbert and a party of Roundheads, in which the latter were dispersed. The town is small, but well built, with a market-house and schools. It is one of the polling-places for the county, and a potty sessions town. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the collieries and iron-mines.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £160, in the patronage of the bishop. The old church was destroyed in the Civil War, and not rebuilt till the time of Queen Anne. The present church is a stone edifice, with tower, dedicated to St. John. The Independents, Baptists, and Wesleyans have places of worship, and there are several schools. The market day is Friday. Fairs for cattle and wool are held on the 20th June and the last Friday in August."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]