West Dean Rural District was a rural district in Gloucestershire, England from 1894 to 1974. It included a number of civil parishes, including, confusingly, one called West Dean, and gained further territory in 1935.
It was formed from the part of the Monmouth rural sanitary district that was in Gloucestershire (the rest, in Monmouthshire becoming part of Monmouth Rural District).
It consisted of the following civil parishes; with the population in 1961:
- English Bicknor; 457
- Coleford (1935–1974); 3,546
- Lydbrook (1935–1974); 2,465
- Newland; 963
- Staunton; 206
- West Dean; 9,939
Coleford parish, gained in 1935, was previously an urban district. The parish of Lydbrook was a new creation; it had previously formed part of the East Dean civil parish and was transferred from the East Dean and United Parishes Rural District.
The district was abolished in 1974 when its former area became part of the Forest of Dean district, under the Local Government Act 1972.
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—Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)
“Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week.”
—William Dean Howells (1837–1920)
“[They] hired a large house as a receptacle for gentlewomen, who either had no fortunes, or so little that it would not support them. For these they made the most comfortable institution [and] provided [them] with all conveniences for rural amusements, a library, musical instruments, and implements for various works.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)