Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England.

[1] The town came into existence in the 19th century, following the rapid expansion of the Forest of Dean Coalfield and the construction of Cinderford Ironworks.

Its origins can be seen in the style and layout of the town, with long rows of identical terraced housing similar to those found in the mining villages of the South Wales Valleys.

The decline of the coal industry in the 1950s and 1960s significantly affected the town, as most of the male population was employed in mining.

The name reflects the site of early ironmaking which created deposits of cinders (clinker), sometimes in large mounds.

[3] Following the construction of Cinderford Ironworks in the late 1700s, and the opening of large mines nearby,[4] the town was laid out on a fairly conventional urban plan.

[3] Trafalgar colliery which was in production in 1860, was the only large mine in the coalfield run by free miners in the later 19th century.

[3] There were still many smaller collieries in the Forest of Dean, employing 84.5 per cent of the adult male population in the Cinderford area, until the industry declined in the 1960s.

Police proceedings followed, and 13 colliers and labourers appeared before magistrates at Littledean a week later, charged with ill-treating and killing the bears, and assaulting the Frenchmen.

The parish church of St Stephen's covers the central town and northern parts of Cinderford.

The parish church of St John the Evangelist covers the south of Cinderford, Ruspidge and Soudley.