The Docks and the Pier, at Lydney.

Lydney Docks

The Black Dwarf - final voyage.

Dean Forest Guardian, 30 April 1942

"At 2 a.m. on Tuesday (high water at Lydney Dock) the SS. "Black Dwarf" left its home port on her last voyage. A small Bristol tugboat left with her in tow en route for Newport, where she is to be broken up for scrap. As she is the last of the boats regularly sailing from Lydney, the occasion had a certain melancholy interest for local people. Built at Glasgow in 1866, she had a length of 81 ft 5 ins., a breadth of 18 ft 5 ins and carried a dead weight of 110 tons. She had been the property of Jones and Son since 1890. Regular inward and outward traffic between Bristol and Lydney has been carried out for many years even before the dock was constructed in 1813. Messrs. Jones and Son succeeded John Davies and Co. in 1871 and bought a smart sloop (the "Industry") which had been built at Chepstow. With this they organised a weekly trip to Bristol. By the time the "Dwarf" arrived traffic had increased very much, and down to the outbreak of the last war a thousand tons of tinplate were carried every month. All this trade has gone. Tinplates made in Lydney are nearly all sold for home consumption, while other traffic is carried by road or rail".

Martha Ann Colman added (May 2012): "... My mother was Mary Jones of Rodley Manor, Lydney. She was a niece of William Jones. I was told the Black Dwarf, The Forester and The Industry were vessels which belonged to the family. Thank you for portraying the excellent old photograph of Lydney Docks".

Valerie Hall added (June 2023): "'... I seem to remember being told a relative of mine called John? Camm was on the Black Dwarf? After my aunt Ethel Parry's funeral in Lydney I went around the church yard and found a grave which I think was his and I think mentioned the Black Dwarf. My cousin Anne and my auntie traced our Family back to John Camm who married Hannah Atkins in 1787. I think at some time the. Camms also ran the pub The Stepaside Inn."

Thanks also to Steve Cooper.

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