Bream
BREAM is a village and tithing in the civil parish of Newland, and in 1854 was formed into an ecclesiastical parish from the mother parish of Newland and West Dean township: it is 4 miles north-west from Lydney station on the South Wales railway, 4½ miles south-east from Coleford, 8 mies south-east from Monmouth and 15 south from Ross, in the Western division of the county, hundred of St. Briavels, and union and county court district of Monmouth, rural deanery of South Forest, archdeaconry of Gloucester and diocese of Gloucester and Bristol.
The church of St. James was partially rebuilt in 1861, and consists of chancel, nave and north aisle, with organ and 1 bell. The register dates from the year 1680. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of the bishop of the diocese, and held by the Rev. John Frederick Gosling, M.A. of Balliol College Oxford. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists.
South of the village are some very interesting ancient Roman mines, called Scowles, one part being known as the Devil’s Chapel.
The Crown is lord of the manor and owns all the land. The soil is light gravelly; subsoil, sandstone, limestone and iron ore. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The population of the tithing in 1871 was 907; and of the rest of the parish 1.519, making a total of 2,426
Parish Clerk, Thomas Batten.
POST & MONEY ORDER OFFICE & Savings Bank. – Richard Tilsley Heighway, postmaster. Letters are received through Lydney, arrive at 7.10 a.m. & 1 p.m.; dispatched at 3.30 p.m. & 6.15 p.m.
INSURANCE AGENT. – Staffordshire Fire, E Thomas
Here are National schools for boys and girls, built in 1862, for about 300: Mr. H. Poole, master; Miss Mann, girls’ mistress; Miss Durnell, infants’ mistress.
RESIDENTS
Bradshaw Rev. George Dixon M.A. [curate]
Gosling Rev. John Frederick, M.A. Vicarage
COMMERCIAL
Ames James, blacksmith
Ames Thomas, grocer
Batten Thomas, shoe maker
Billy Thomas, beer retailer
Bream Grove Iron Ore Co. (Richard Watkins, manager)
Ebbw Vale Coal Co. Oakwood valley
Heighway Richard Tilsley, grocer, linen draper & postmaster
Flour Mill Colliery (Arthur James Price, proprietor; William Griffiths, Manager), Oakwood valley
Hewlett George, grocer & linen draper
Hewlett Jane (Mrs.), New Inn
Hewlett Rachel (Mrs.), farmer
Hewlett Thomas, farmer
James Wm. Mine agent, Blisters house
Jenkins Samuel, colliery proprietor, Knockley Tump
Jones Charles, wheelwright
Morgan Edward, plumber & glazier
Morse James, farmer & grocer
Morse Thomas, Rising Sun
Price Charles, butcher
Princess Royal Colliery Co. (William Griffith, manager)
Shingles John, iron ore merchant
Smith George, stone mer. Woodlands
Smith Richard, Swan
Smith William, grocer & butcher
Watkins Ellen (Mrs.), grocer
Watkins Richard, colliery manager
Wilden George Hathaway, butcher
Wilden Richard, beer retailer
Williams Joseph, stone merchant, Knockley quarries
Wintour George, Cross Keys