The central point in Clearwell is the Cross which was erected in the 14th century; it was called the High Cross in 1624 and the Upper Cross in 1705 suggesting a second cross elsewhere. 

The source of water from which the village name derives (although it was originally known as Wellington and then Clowerwell) is a clear spring which emerges in the village at the well (picture below) and then flows down into the Valley Brook and ultimately the River Wye. The well was constructed in about 1860 by the Dunravens and was renovated by the Parish Council in 2005.

There were houses in the village by 1300 and by 1349 there were 23 but most of them were replaced in the late 18th and 19th century, some however remained. Stank Farm was built in the 17th century as was Stock Farm (now Tudor Cottage and Tudor Farmhouse Hotel) and The Wyndham Arms Hotel. Although there is no evidence of any stocks being in the vicinity of Stock Farm (Tudor Cottage), it is believed that there was hangman’s gallows in the grounds of the Wyndham Hotel!

In 1830 the Chapel of Ease was built but it was replaced by a new church built in 1863 by the Countess of Dunraven, owner of the Clearwell estate. The new church was designed in the high Victorian style by John Middleton of Cheltenham and is built of dark Forest sandstone with Bath stone dressings. The Countess also built a school in 1859 to replace one built in 1847, and a cottage hospital in 1869. The recreation ground was laid out before 1934 and later in that decade Col. Vereker of Clearwell Court organised unemployed men in building an open-air swimming pool there.  

Clearwell Court (or Castle as it is now known) is an ancient mansion built of Forest stone standing in 90 acres on what is believed to have been the site of a Roman villa. The original castle was pulled down and the present one built in 1740 by Thomas Wyndham. It survived a fire in 1929 and was repaired by Major Vereker. Water for the castle was supplied from a pump house opposite the bottom of the driveway which also had a drinking fountain for dogs (one of the few in the country), one for horses and a brass cup and chain for weary travellers.

In the early 19th and 20th centuries the village was inhabited mainly by small freeholders, often engaged in village crafts or mining and quarrying. Nail making was a trade carried on throughout the 19th century, employing six men in 1851 – in the same year there was also a tannery.

Clearwell today (including the outlying areas) has 418 registered electors. There are three hotels – The Wyndham Arms, The Tudor Farmhouse and The Lambsquay as well as two public houses – The Butchers Arms and The Lamb. The recreation ground is well used informally and by the cricket team and for the annual Clearwell Olympics in September. Regrettably there are no retail facilities; the last one, the Post Office, having closed in 2006.

The Church of England school provides quality education in a caring and happy environment.   Mrs Chris El-Shawk has taught at the school for 17 years and was appointed Head Teacher in 2006; she is supported by a highly motivated team of teachers and support staff. The school was the first in the county to be awarded the Diana, Princess of Wales Anti Bullying Award. A new nursery was opened in 2007 in partnership with Ellwood Nursery for children aged 2 – 5 years and the school has strong links with secondary schools including Lakers, Whitecross and Monmouth Comprehensive.

The Memorial Hall was renovated in 2006 and is used by a variety of organisations, including the Parish Council for every third meeting, and for village social events.

From the start Crown and Court shaped the history of Newland. As the name suggests, NEW land is a late development. Neighbouring villages, Staunton and St Briavels were well established with fine stone Romanesque churches long before Robert of Wakering built a church on the hillside above the Blackbrook and Redbrook valleys in the second decade of the thirteenth century.  

The name, Nova Terra referred to the clearings made in the forest for new cultivation, incursions into the large tracts of land owned by the Crown, which apart from a value in minerals, food supply and timber, offered the king his major occupation, the recreation of the hunt.

These were achieved as much by stealth as officially, but King John in financial distress had ordered his chief forester, Hugh de Neville, “to make our profit by selling woods and demising assarts”. Licensed scattered settlement at Highmeadow, Ashridge, Redbrook and Clearwell emerged, and most significantly for Newland one called “Welinton”, (“the farmstead by the willows”-Spout Farm) where a moated “manor house” was later built to survive until the 18th Century

The essential factor for these hamlets was the swathe of newly available wide fertile fields that stretched from Highmeadow around the hillsides down to the Valley Brook, and these were the Nova Terra, the new lands. But while the name was adopted for the parish, the village that evolved around the church was known for centuries as “Churchend.” The church builder, Robert of Wakering, King John’s “beloved clerk” was the trusted agent of Hugh de Neville. The church probably reflected his master’s policy, who substantially improved the castle at St Briavels, the administrative centre for the Constable of the forest, and a manor was created in Newland to be held with the castle as part of a royal estate.  

Early rectors were royal appointees, as though the office was a royal plum bestowed on men of substance. William Gifford, for example, was later Archbishop of York. King Edward 1’s favours caused dismay when he granted the rector, John of London, a sudden bounty of tithe revenue charged on 2000 acres of ascertained illegal assarts from various forest parishes, but dismay turned to outrage when Edward then transferred the church in total, with all its revenues to the Bishop of Llandaff in 1305. The Newland tithe barn was raided, forest clergy hampered and harassed. The Bishop’s men and were in turn, themselves, summoned to court. However, the King’s will prevailed. No doubt the chantry altar dedicated to King Edward’s service in the church heard fulsome and grateful prayer, and there is no doubt that these enrichments provided the means to rebuild the church to its present large dimensions.

An aura of prosperity was at Churchend from the start, initially derived from agriculture and iron ore, it was compounded later with coal, tanning and even shipping. Wealthy family estates developed about the Nova Terra and their patronage nurtured the development of the village. Robert and Joan Greyndour founded and endowed a valued chantry school (15th Century), then after the reformation an ex-pupil, Edward Bell, re-endowed the village with a Grammar School. In 1615 William Jones, on his death bed, entrusted the Haberdashers company with a stupendous £5000 for the parish of Newland, “for the poor there”. The school house building and the William Jones almshouses survive and importantly define this moment in history, and many hope that the four hundred year contribution to village life made by the Jones almshouse will be allowed to continue.

The village prospered throughout the Middle Ages; archives provide us with names of the early inhabitants and it impresses how many topographical names current until the last century go back to those mediaeval residents. From the 15th Century an unofficial market was set up in the churchyard, seizing the opportunity presented by large congregations gathered there on feast days. The clergy protested that the butchers sold their meat during the service. Court records inform of a community where a wife was sold for sixpence in a pub, a couple was burnt as witches, and a successful case was prosecuted against a woman who had slandered a ghost.The village, as seen now, came into focus in the 18th Century, often described as “like a cathedral close”. It was transformed by the Probyn family whose prestige was established when Edmund Probyn was knighted then made Chief Baron of the Exchequer. From the late 17th Century onwards the Probyn family rebuilt at Spout Farm, the Ostrich, the old village shop, the Dark (Dower) House and probably the Tan House. The village was radically transformed when they cleared the hillside south west of the church, of lanes and cottages to build the 18th Century mansion and garden outlook, (Newland House, later sadly altered.) At that time Newland was published as “one of finest villages in county” and inhabitants and visitors alike standing in the huge churchyard agree that remarkably little has happened since to dispel that view.

Newland today has 112 registered electors. There is one public house – The Ostrich, and no shops. The village does however boast The Cathedral of the Forest, a fine 11th Century church. The Burial Path from Coleford terminates in the village and was used to bring coffins for burial in the churchyard.

The Village Room hosts village activities and the Parish Council holds every third meeting there. 

Although now an apparently sleepy village, Redbrook has a long and important industrial heritage; the youngest village in the Parish, Redbrook was world renowned for producing exceptionally fine, thinly rolled tin. The Tinworks, however, were a relatively late addition to the industrial heartland that grew up alongside the river. One of Redbrook’s most famous features is Offa’s Dyke which clings to the ridge above the village and was constructed for defensive purposes in the 8th Century – a fascinating avenue of Yew trees follows the ridge across the top of Highbury Hill indicating early ecclesiastical presence – the land being at one time under the Abbey at Tintern.

Milling was Redbrook’s earliest industry, Redbrook Mill was working in 1348; in 1352 references to Redbrook Street were made – other mills followed, however it was the 17th Century which saw the beginning of the copper and tin industries. Located at the bottom of the valley, dominated by two powerful brooks Redbrook became a natural choice for processing the copper and tin brought up the River Wye on trows – the famous flat bottomed boats. Mines in Cornwall provided the raw materials and the groves on Highbury Hill provided the trees for charcoal to heat the furnaces. In 1692 the copper works arrived and by 1800 had been replaced by the tinworks. The village grew and houses were built for the workers, more than 20 tiny cottages lines the track to the tinplate works with at least 5 public houses, 2 breweries and a chapel to serve the residents. 

The 19th Century saw many of Redbrook’s familiar buildings arrive. The Village Hall was built through a subscription system and was the Workman’s Institute, the school and church provided independence; previously villagers had to walk to Newland, and the school was held in the chapel on ‘chapel steps’. The first decades of the 19th Century saw the opening of the brewery from which Brewery terrace gets its name. This, known as Burgham’s Brewery used spring water which was piped through the River Wye from Penallt. A ferry linked the two villages before the bridge and footbridge were constructed at the end of the 19th Century and the middle of the 20th Century respectively.

The early 19th Century boathouse, which many residents will remember as a virtual ruin sited on what is now the Millennium Green was taken down and is currently in the care of a local resident.. This was still in use at the beginning of the 20th Century. A famous etching from the mid 19th Century shows the tinworks and the boathouse from the other side of the river – the most interesting is the boat in the foreground which is a paddle steamer carrying well-to-do tourists through this industrial heartland.

When the Tinworks finally closed in the 1960’s Redbrook industry came to an end. The closure was followed by the demolition of most of the buildings associated with the works, the final clearance of the land and the building of Tinmans Green obliterated all but the name.  The Millennium Green is regularly used for formal events and as an informal recreation area overlooking the River Wye.

The Church of England school has a Christian foundation which it seeks to promote by providing high quality education for all its pupils. It's ethos is underpinned by Christian values, which by experience provide a basis for life long learning. The school aims to develop an independent, confident child with a caring attitude by giving him or her as broad a curriculum as possible, treating each child as an individual and building on their strengths and weaknesses to prepare them for adult life and the world beyond and to encourage understanding and respect for others through a strong sense of Christian values.  The Village Hall is well used by local organisations, including the Parish Council for every third meeting, and for village events. 

Redbrook has 301 registered electors.  There is one public house – The Bell, and the village stores and Post Office.