Parkend is a village, located at the foot of the Cannop Valley, in the Royal Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England, and has a history dating back to the early 17th century.

It was designed and built in 1822,[6] together with the village school, by Henry Poole;[7] a local priest who raised most of the money through public subscription and his own generosity.

[14] During the summer, regular Sunday car boot sales are held on the recreation field, the profits from which go to support the Memorial Hall.

Facilities include a visitor centre, large car park, two viewing hides, two way-marked walks, and a picnic area.

Birdlife regularly seen in the reserve includes great spotted woodpecker, Eurasian nuthatch, northern goshawk and common buzzard.

[15] In 1942, nest boxes were erected, in the hope that pied flycatchers would control oak leafroller moths, which were defoliating trees.

The railway in Parkend began life in 1810, as a horse-drawn tramroad, owned and operated by the Severn and Wye Railway Co. By 1874, the line had been converted to run standard gauge steam locomotives and the station was built in 1875 to enable the company to also run passenger services alongside its freight operations.

[17] The line was bought by the Dean Forest Railway, based at Norchard, and Parkend was officially re-opened on Friday 19 May 2006 by the Princess Royal.

The earliest evidence of human activity in Parkend comes from a hoard of over 1,000 Roman coins, found in the village in 1852, and dating from around AD 300.

In 1612 James I built a charcoal-fired blast furnace and forge at ‘Parke End’, bringing with it the first real settlement, however, ‘The King’s Ironworks’ proved horrendously inefficient and it closed in 1674.

The need for improved transport links was instrumental in the construction of a horse-drawn tramroad by the Severn & Wye Railway Co in 1810, connecting the village with the docks at Lydney.

[25] In 1825, the lower pond at Cannop and a 1½ mile leat were constructed to provide a constant supply of water to a waterwheel at Parkend Ironworks.

This proved to be unsatisfactory and 1868 the company also added a broad-gauge steam railway line, but both were removed and replaced with standard gauge tracks by 1874.

Just a few years before, these two businesses alone had been employing 500 people between them, but even this was overshadowed by the closure of the Parkend coal pits in 1880, which went into voluntary liquidation with the loss of 700 jobs.

Matters were made worse as the local mines were now finding it difficult to access coal easily, and some had been worked out completely.

The line was bought by the Dean Forest Railway Preservation Society and Parkend station was officially re-opened by princess Anne on 19 May 2006.