AWRE is a parish on the west bank of the navigable river Severn, with a station one-and-a-quarter miles south-west from the village, on the South Wales section of the Great Western railway, three-and-a-half miles south-east from Newnham, 7 south from Westbury, 15 south from Gloucester and 128 from London, in the Forest of Dean division of the county, hundred of Bledisloe, Westbury-on-Severn union, Newnham county court district and petty sessional division, rural deanery of North Forest, archdeaconry of Gloucester and diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. The Great Western railway has a line for goods and mineral traffic from Awre to the Forest of Dean. The parish is governed by a local board of 9 members, formed Sept. 11, 1863, under the "Local Government Act of 1863:" the offices are in Blakeney. The church of St. Andrew is an ancient building of stone in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells: the east and west windows are stained: the church was restored in 1875 under the direction of Mr. Waller, architect, of Gloucester, principally through the munificence of the late Henry Crawshay esq. who gave £2,200 towards the expenses, which amounted to £2,500: there are 350 sittings: in the churchyard is a venerable yew tree. The register, including Blakeney, dates from the year 1558. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value from tithe rent-charge £230, including 8 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Haberdashers' Company, who are likewise the owners of the great tithes, and held since 1877 by the Rev. William Richard Savage M. A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. There are charities amounting to £16. 10s. yearly, arising from land and house left by various benefactors in the years 1670, 1745, 1771, 1791, 1825, 1831, and 1883. In 1883 Miss M. Barber left the interest of £900 to be distributed yearly to the poor. Oaklands Park is the seat of Mrs. Crawshay: the mansion is a fine building of forest stone standing on an eminence from which extensive views of the surrounding country can be obtained. The trustees of Sir Thomas Rich's charities and some other charities, commonly termed "the Gloucester trustees," are lords of the manor. Part of the manor of Ruddle is in this parish. The chief landowners are the Crown, Mrs. Wait, the trustees of Sir Thomas Rich's charities, and Russell James Kerr, es. J. P. of The Haie, Newnham. The soil is sand and loam; subsoil, brick earth and limestone. The chief crops are grass, wheat and roots. The area of the centre parish is 4,093 acres of land and 1,860 of water, tidal water and foreshore; rateable value, with Blakeney, £11,009; the population of the two parishes and Local Board district in 1891 was 1,148.Parish Clerk, Walter Cadogan.
POST OFFICE - Henry Cadogan, sub-postmaster. Letters through Newnham arrive at 7.30 a.m. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.
National School (mixed) built about 1864 for 60 children; average attendance 37. John Derham, master; Mrs. S. A. Derham, sewing mistress.
Railway Station, Frederick Ruxton, station master.
(Marked thus * have their letters delivered direct from Newnham.)
BIRD Henry Ross
* BELTON Miss, Hawfield
CONQUEST Joseph
* CRAWSHAY Mrs. Oaklands park
GAY Thomas James, The Cottage
JONES Mrs. Edward Owen, Underdean
MORSE Capt. Thos. R., Bray's court
PRICE Mrs.
SAVAGE Rev. Wm. Richard., M. A., Vicarage
* TEESDALE Mrs., Kingland house
* WAIT Mrs. New house
Commercial:-
AWRE Elizabeth (Mrs.), farmer
BABER Francis, Hall farm
BENNETT James, farmer, Little Box farm
CADOGAN Henry, farmer, & Post office
CADOGAN Walter, fishery owner
CLARKE James, farm bailiff to Captain Morse
COPE Geo. Chas. Wltr., master mariner
DALLY John, shopkeeper
EBBORN Francis Chas., frmr., Northington farm
GOODE Jonathan, barge owner, Hamstalls
JENNER Chas., frmr. New House farm
JENNER Oliver, farmer, Guy hall farm
MITCHELL Edwin, farmer, Field house
PIERCE Samuel, Red Hart P. H., & farmer
TROTT John, farmer, Box farm
TURLEY Henry, blacksmith
VIRGO George, jobbing gardener