Sedbury

---

title: "Sedbury" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-gloucestershire", "tidenham", "chepstow"] description: "Village in Gloucestershire, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-gloucestershire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedbury" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Gloucestershire, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
country	England
coordinates
official_name	Sedbury
static_image_name	Sedbury.jpg
static_image_caption	The stone marking the southern end of the Offa's Dyke Path at Sedbury, with the Severn Bridge in the background
post_town	CHEPSTOW
postcode_district	NP16
postcode_area	NP
dial_code	01291
os_grid_reference	ST546931
population	3535
shire_district	Forest of Dean
shire_county	Gloucestershire
region	South West England
::

|country = England |coordinates = |official_name= Sedbury |static_image_name = Sedbury.jpg |static_image_width = |static_image_caption = The stone marking the southern end of the Offa's Dyke Path at Sedbury, with the Severn Bridge in the background |constituency_westminster= |post_town= CHEPSTOW |postcode_district = NP16 |postcode_area = NP |dial_code = 01291 |os_grid_reference= ST546931 |population= 3535 |shire_district= Forest of Dean |shire_county = Gloucestershire |region= South West England Sedbury is a village in the Forest of Dean district of west Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the eastern bank of the River Wye, facing the town of Chepstow in Monmouthshire. The village is in the parish of Tidenham. It had a population of 3,535. Nearby are the villages of Tutshill, Woodcroft and Beachley.

History

Sedbury is located on the eastern (English) side of the southern end of Offa's Dyke, a defensive ditch and dyke built in the late 8th century by Anglo Saxon King Offa of Mercia to mark the border with Wales. After the Norman Conquest, the manor of Tidenham, which included Sedbury, fell within the lordship of Striguil, or Chepstow. It was transferred to Gloucestershire following the abolition of the Marcher lordships through the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542.

Until the early 19th century, Sedbury was usually known as Sudbury, a name derived from "south fortification", referring either to Offa's Dyke or a Roman settlement in Sedbury Park. The development of the village began during the First World War, when a prisoner of war camp of concrete huts was built north of the main road at what is now Grahamstown Road. Later, huts were built for Royal Engineers working to establish the National Shipyard at Beachley, and houses were constructed at Pennsylvania Farm (now Mercian Way). Development in the mid-20th century included more housing, shops, a pub and schools close to the main road. Further development was proposed in 2013.

Until the opening of the Severn Bridge nearby in 1966, ferries crossed the Severn Estuary between the villages of Beachley and Aust.

Sedbury Park

Sedbury House is a Grade II* listed Georgian building designed by Sir Robert Smirke, the architect of the British Museum. The surrounding estate was established, as Barnesville, around 1800 by Sir Henry Cosby. In 1825 it was bought by the historian and antiquary George Ormerod, who renamed it Sedbury Park, and commissioned Smirke to add classical colonnades and a portico to the existing house. Ormerod's youngest daughter, Eleanor Anne Ormerod, was born there in 1828, later becoming a renowned entomologist.

The estates were bought by the businessman and politician Samuel Marling in 1875, and his son Sir William Henry Marling made major alterations to the house around 1898. The estate included 25 farms in Tidenham, Hewelsfield and Woolaston. The house was the home of Colonel Sir Percival Marling, V.C., before he sold it in 1921. It then became a hotel, and an approved school in 1942, before being converted to a residential nursing home. In the 1930s many of the fittings and furnishings were removed from Sedbury House to the Tennessee home of Leslie Cheek, heir to the Maxwell House coffee empire.

Amenities

Sedbury is the location of Wyedean School, one of the schools attended by author J. K. Rowling, and Offa's Mead Academy.

At the top of Sedbury Cliff overlooking the Severn Estuary is one end of the Offa's Dyke Path, a waymarked long-distance footpath and National Trail, stretching to Prestatyn in North Wales, close to the Wales-England border.

References

References

1. "Custom report - Nomis - Official Labour Market Statistics".
2. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15757 Victoria County History of Gloucestershire: Tidenham]
3. link. (5 November 2013 . Retrieved 5 November 2013)
4. {{NHLE
5. [http://www.sedburypark.co.uk/sedbury_house.htm Sedbury House]
6. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15758 Tidenham at British History Online]
7. [http://www.tidenhamparishcouncil.co.uk/ppHistory.html#ppSettlers Tidenham Parish Council]{{Dead link. (December 2025)
8. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15758 British History Online: Tidenham including Lancaut: Manors and other estates]
9. "Sedbury House: The Belfry".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::