The village, once known as Dyddanhamme, is one of the most heavily documented Saxon villages in Britain and has been home to a grand manor of some kind since at least the 6th century AD. The Saxon structure was owned by the Abbot of Bath, who retained some of the documents on what was then an important location until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The current Tidenham Manor, built in 2005 in the Palladian style,[2] overlooks the river and is adjacent to the Normanparish church of St Mary’s and St Peter’s.[3]
Miss Grace's Lane is a natural cave system approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long and is the second-longest cave in the Forest of Dean area.[6]
Located as it is between the Wye and Severn the area has always been important as a site for crossing these rivers. Historically ferries crossed the River Severn from Beachley to Aust and now this route is followed by the Severn Bridge one of whose piers stands on the Beachley peninsula although the bridge itself begins in Wales. From Roman times the River Wye has been bridged between Tutshill and Chepstow.
The area was previously served by Tidenham railway station on the Wye Valley Railway. The railway, which once ran from Chepstow through Tintern up the Wye Valley, and joined the mainline near Tidenham, was closed in 1959 and was later the centre of several failed attempts to re-open it. In 2021 the route, known as the Wye Valley Greenway and including a 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) tunnel, was opened for walkers and cyclists.[7][8]
Governance
An electoral ward in the same name exists. The population and area of the ward is identical to the parish quoted above.
