Large parts of the parish of Lydney were organised as an estate, which had been managed by the Bathurst family since 1723.

[1] In 1775, David Tanner from Tintern was granted a lease of the Upper Forge, on the northern borders of Lydney.

The tramway ran parallel to Pidcock's Canal as it followed the course of the Newerne Valley,[1] crossing it twice on drawbridges.

[3] The canal started at the Upper Forge, and ran close to the Newerne stream, also called The Lyd.

Ordnance Survey maps for the period show weirs and sluices at the downstream ends of the ponds, and the central one at Middle Forge appears to feed the canal.

The 1880 map shows two channels below the Lower Mill, one clearly joining the bottom of The Lyd, before it discharges into the Lydney Canal, and the other running from the reservoir on the upstream side of the works to a wide basin near the Lydney Canal, but with no obvious connection between them.

Halfway along this section is a small branch which ends just to the south of Station Road Cottages.