East Dean, Gloucestershire


East Dean was a township, and later civil parish, in Gloucestershire, England. It was created as a township in 1844 and abolished as a civil parish in 1953. Its former area is now part of the Forest of Dean district.
The Forest of Dean was an extra-parochial area in the St Briavels hundred of Gloucestershire. It was without the usual parish structure until the West Dean and East Dean townships were formed in 1844. For poor relief, East Dean was grouped into the Westbury-on-Severn Poor Law Union and was included in the Westbury-on-Severn rural sanitary district. Following the Local Government Act 1894, East Dean became a civil parish in the East Dean and United Parishes Rural District, which was renamed East Dean Rural District in 1935.
The population of the parish was as follows:
Year18811891190119111921193119411951
Population12,62914,62214,58814,59415,01014,678WW214,152

It occupied an area of in 1881 and in 1951.
In 1935 a new civil parish of Lydbrook was created from part of its area and transferred to West Dean Rural District.
The civil parish was abolished in 1953 and split to create the new parishes of Cinderford, Drybrook and Ruspidge. Part of the former area was transferred to the existing parishes of Awre, Littledean and Mitcheldean. The area of the former parish is now within the Forest of Dean district.