Coordinates: 51°49′21″N 2°29′56″W / 51.8225°N 2.4989°W
| Cinderford | |
![]() Facade of the Baptist Chapel |
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![]() Baptist Church, side |
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![]() Cinderford
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| Population | 8,116 (2001 Census) |
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| OS grid reference | |
| District | Forest of Dean |
| Shire county | Gloucestershire |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Dialling code | 01594 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | Great Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | Forest of Dean |
| List of places: UK • England • Gloucestershire | |
Cinderford is a small town in Gloucestershire, England, with a population of 8,116 people (United Kingdom Census 2001). 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 expansion of the local coal mines. There is a visual clue to Cinderford's origins in that the style and layout of the town, with long rows of identical terraced housing, very similar to many of the South Wales Valleys towns that also grew up from the coal mining industry. When the mines here 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 doing as well economically as the older towns in the west of the Forest, and unemployment in the town is quite low.
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Cinderford has three primary schools, St. White's 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. Also the private junior School of St Anthony's.
Cinderford has a single, relatively small secondary school on Causeway Road, currently called Heywood Community School: a Sports College but previously known as Heywood Community 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 1980s it changed its name from double view to Heywood Community school. The school offers education to GCSE level, but Further Education at A-level or equivalent is offered at a high standard.
There is no Further Education 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.
When Woolworth's closed, the town suffered. Bom dia opened to sell the same products as Woolworth's.[1]
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 a regular bus service to Gloucester and Coleford, the bus station was dismantled in the late 1980s and no longer exists. Details of local bus destinations from Cinderford can be found here.[2]
The closest airports are in Staverton (between Gloucester and Cheltenham) and in Bristol.
Cinderford has no known cycle lanes.
Freeminer Brewery is a brewery based at Steam Mills.[3] It produces of range of traditional ales. The Freeminer name comes from the ancient right to mine coal in the Royal Forest of Dean.
Cinderford and its surrounding area is notable for its large amount of bands, it is also home to Soundspace a practice space and recording studio on the Heywood Leisure Centre Site.
Some of the bands formed in Cinderford include: The Rayguns, Dr Pinheads Travelling Show, Joe & The Sluts, Twist The Knife.
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