Kelly's Directory of Clearwell - 1894
CLEARWELL is a village and tithing, formed April 18, 1836 into an ecclesiastical parish from the civil parish of Newland: it is on the road from Coleford to Chepstow, 2 1/2 miles south from Coleford station on the Severn and Wye and Severn Bridge and Great Western railways, and 6 miles south-east from Monmouth, in the Forest of Dean division of the county, hundred of St. Briavels, county court district of Monmouth, union of Monmouth, petty sessional division of Coleford, rural deanery of South Forest, archdeaconry of Gloucester and diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. This place was formerly called "Clowerwall." and at one time "Wellington," and takes its name from the beautiful spring which supplies the village, and which has never been known to fail. The church of St. Peter, erected through the munificence of the late Dowager Countess of Dunraven, and consecrated April 5th, 1866, is a building of local red sandstone, with Bath stone dressings, in the French Gothic style of the 13th century, consisting of chancel, cleristoried nave of four bays, aisles, south porch, organ chamber and vestry on the north side, and a tower with a spire at the south-west angle containing a clock and 4 bells: the chancel has a credence table, sedilia, and richly ornamented reredos, the latter being a memorial to Capt. the Hon. Windham Henry Wyndham Quin, Grenadier Guards, who died 24th October, 1865, erected by his widow: the stained east window was placed to the memory of Countess of Dunraven: the pulpit is enriched with symbolical panels and medallion heads of Evangelists and Prophets, the ground work being exquisitely diapered: the lower stage of the tower serves as a baptistery: the font consists of an octagonal basin on a shaft of polished red granite: there are 390 sittings. The register dates from the year 1830. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £225 including 10 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, and held since 1837 by the Rev. Howard Lewis Parry M.A. of St. Peter's College, Cambridge. Here is a Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1852. There is a Cemetery, three-quarters of an acre in extent, with a mortuary chapel erected in 1867, upon the site of the old church, from designs by Mr. J. Middleton, architect. The beautiful village cross, restored in 1876, is supposed to be of the 14th century. The Scowls, or old mines (considered to be Roman) at Dean Pool, in this parish, are very interesting. Clearwell Court, the residence of Henry Ellis Collins esq. is an ancient stone building, in a park of 95 acres, and commands extensive views of the surrounding country. The Crown is lord of the manor. Henry Ellis Collins Esq., is the principal landowner. The soil is loamy and gravelly; subsoil clayey, sandstone and limestone. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and roots. The population of the parish in 1891 was 999. Parish Clerk, John Richards.
POST OFFICE - William Yarworth, sub-postmaster. Letters through Coleford are delivered at 6.30 a.m.: dispatched at 7 p.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Coleford. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.
National Schools (mixed & infants) built, with master's residence, in 1858, chiefly by the late Dowager Countess of Dunraven & enlarged in 1867, for 150 children: average attendance, 80 mixed and 28 infants; George Henry Dickason, master; Miss Agnes Davidson, infants' mistress.
BENTLEY Rev. Charles Edward M.A. (curate)
COLLINS Henry Ellis, Clearwell court
COOPER Arthur Purton, Perry grove
COOPER Miss, Perry grove
FRYER Wm. Henry, Rose bank
LANGHAM The Misses, Mill end
PARRY Rev. Howard Lewis M.A. Vicrge.
PARRY Rev. Howard Lewis, jun. B.A. (curate)
ROBERTS William, Perry grove
WHITE Miss, Perry grove
COMMERCIAL
BROWN William, bootmaker
CLARKE Martin, farmer, Stow
DAVISON William, land agent to H. E. Collins esq.
EDWARDS George, beer retailer
FOX Henry, shopkeeper
FOX James, market gardener
GLEESON John, head gardener to H. E. Collins esq
HARRIS James, beer retailer
JONES Edmund, carpenter
KEYSE Charles, Ore Pool inn
KNIGHT Chas., farmer, Stow green
MATTHEWS Richard, shopkeeper
MEREDITH Thomas, grocer & baker
MILES Henry, farmer, Cowdell
MILES Hubert, draper
MILES James, farmer, Noxon
MILES John, farmer, Longney farm
MILES John, jun. farmer, Platwell
MILES Thomas, blacksmith
MORGAN William, nail maker
NEWTON William, gamekeeper to H. E. Collins esq
NICHOLS James, Butcher's Arms P.H.
POWELL David, farmer
REES Alfred, stone merchant
REES Sarah (Mrs.), grocer
RICHARDS John, shoe maker
RICHARDS Mary (Miss), dress maker
SIMMONS William, farmer, Platwell
TEAGUE Jas. M. frmr, Trowgreen farm
THOMAS Geo., farmer, Scatterford frm
WALKER Alice (Mrs.), Wyndham Arms P.H.
WILLIAMS Henry John, beer retailer
MORGAN Eliza (Mrs.), shopkeeper
YARWORTH William, butcher & grocer, Post office
YORK Thomas, blacksmith