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Cinderford

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.

Primary Education

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.

Secondary Education

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 standered

Tertiary Education

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.

Shops

When Woolworth's closed, the town suffered. Bom dia opened to sell the same products as Woolworth's.^[1]

Transport in Cinderford

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

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 Sports Clubs

Cinderford R.F.C.

Cinderford Town Football Club

Cinderford and District Swimming Club

Local Gyms in Cinderford

Dolphins Fitness Centre

Heywood Leisure Centre

Notable public figures from Cinderford

Jimmy Young ex BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 disc jockey and Knight of the realm

James Atkin lead singer with the pop band EMF

Zac Foley bassist with the pop band EMF

Derry Brownson keyboards and samples with the pop band EMF

Mark Decloedt drummer with the pop band EMF

Ross Hawkins, BBC News correspondent, is an alumnus of The Heywood School, Cinderford, but from nearby Soudley.

Dave Bird Current footballer with League One Cheltenham Town