ENGLISH BICKNOR is a village and parish, bounded on the West by the river Wye, which here divides the county from Herefordshire, 2 miles east from Lydbrook station on the Ross and Monmouth section of the Great Western Railway, 3 north from Coleford and 8 east from Monmouth, in the Forest of Dean division of the county, hundred of St. Briavels, union and county court district of Monmouth, petty sessional division of Coleford, rural deanery of South Forest, archdeaconry of Gloucester and diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. The church of the Virgin Mary is a building of stone in the Norman and later styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, south porch and a low embattled western tower, containing 5 bells and a clock; the stained east window of the south aisle is a memorial to Henry and Mary Ann Davies; in the north aisle are two ancient monuments with recumbent figures, the date of which is unknown; there are sittings for 350 persons. The register dates from 1561. The living is a rectory, average tithe rent charge £297, net yearly value £210, including 25 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Rev. Frederick James Aldrich Illake, M. A. rector of Welsh Bicknor, Ross, and held since 1877 by the Rev. George Hustler M. A. of University College, Oxford. Adjoining the churchyard is an almshouse, erected in 1858 in memory of Mrs. Lucy Machen, with 6 rooms for 6 aged persons, and endowed with £2,000 Consols. The poor have the right of cutting fuel from 10 acres of copse. Bicknor Court, the residence and property of Charles Edward Machen esq. is a building of stone, standing on an eminence and is surrounded with trees. Eastbach Court, a building of stone, is now unoccupied. The Crown is lord of the manor. Charles Edward Machen esq. is principal landowner. The soil is clay and gravel; subsoil, sandstone and limestone. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and roots. The area is 2,366 acres; rateable value, £3,438; the population in 1891 was 623.Parish Clerk, William Lerigo.
POST OFFICE: William Lerigo, sub postmaster. Letters from Coleford are delivered at 7.45 a.m. ; dispatched at 5.55 p.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Lydbrook. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.
National School (mixed), built, with house, about 1838 & enlarged in 1873, for 120 children; average attendance 84; Samuel Morgan, master.
Steward of the Crown Manor, Philip Baylis esq.
BEAK Chas. George, The Sterts ho.
BURY Mrs., Bicknor house
HOUGH Charles Cooper, Braceland blg
HUSTLER Rev. George M. A. Rectory
JAMES Oliver, Bicknor Cottage
MACHEN Charles Edward, Bicknor crt
TERRETT George
TERRETT Miss
COMMERCIAL
ADDIS James, butcher
BIRD William, farmer, Carter's piece
FLETCHER Charles, farmer, Joyford
GUNTER George, farmer, Sterts & Blackthorns farm
GUNTER John, farmer, Court farm
GUNTER Thomas, farmer, Eastbach Court farm
HOBBS George, blacksmith
IVINS Thomas Daniel, farmer, Carter's Piece & Dry Slade farms
LERIGO William, carpenter, Post Office
LANE Tracy Daniel, miller (water), Joyford mill
MATHEWS John, farmer
SHEPHERD James, farm bailiff to Rev. J. P. Aldrich Blake, Stowefield
TOOBY Francis John, farmer, Cowmeadow farm
TOOBY Walter Charles, butcher
VOYCE William, farmer, Gate farm
WORGAN John, haulier