My family are Merrick from Red Marley too. Have a feeling we may be related?

Regards
Ceri

My standpoint & reasoning for (I thought) clarifying the thread is:

I had/have NO idea where in the world Maureen, the original poster, is located or her degree of local knowledge. In the few months I've been using your excellent forum I've read new posts from researchers from all over the country if not the world, some of whom clearly don't know the Forest geography as well as you or even I do, hence apparently "silly" mistakes are made for understandable reasons. In this instance I assumed Maureen wasn't a local, and that eitherway her question was entirely reasonable.
I suspected she might be about to make the same mistakes I've made when researching Redmarley, as I said it was a problematic surprise to my research when I found there was a Red Marley's Ghost as t'were...

It therefore seemed only right & proper for me to try and help you all to guide Maureen & any other potential Redmarley researchers past a possible stumbling point. I have already learnt this forum to be a hugely useful & important source of reference in it's own right, largely down to the great efforts of yourself and the other "senior" contributors. This fact, added to my personal belief in accuracy especially in a genealogy forum seen worldwide, made me think it reasonable to try & clarify the point; as a researcher of the "popular" Jones surname in the main I've learnt just how easy it is to follow false trails despite everyone's best efforts.

I tried hard to post with tact & diplomacy, sorry again if I've still managed to buck the trend. Please keep up the great work, we're all truly gratefull.

Cheers, Jefff

Really don't want to open a hornet's nest, but

To all intents Redmarley and Redmarley d'Abitot are one and the same, so long as the context is Gloucestershire / Forest of Dean :-)

however, I agree that there are two distinct places - Redmarley nr Stourport and "our" Redmarley near Newent.

If you caught a bus or took a taxi from Gloucester and asked for Redmarley , I'm 100% sure where you would be taken.

And in a similar way , I can see the possible challenge of search via Ancestry for a relative born in Redmarley - again context will help resolve conflicts ( I hope !)

regards
S

Presumably because of it's rich and long history, I have found various excellent and strongly recommended free-to-view internet resources regarding the village and it's ancient church St Bartholomew's, such as:

1. Incredibly extensive, seemingly complete & hugely interesting Parish Church Records transcriptions dating from 1542 right through to 1812 !. As a researcher of the Brace & Merrick families I've found this enormously fruitful as I hope others will too. The "D'Abitot" family line is still surviving within these records five centuries after their first Normans ancestors !.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wrag44/redmarley/redmarley.htm

2. Extensive Parish Church references including more recent memorial transcriptions are available at Wishful Thinking's Genuki:
http://www.wishful-thinking.org.uk/genuki/GLS/RedmarleydAbitot/contents.html

3. 19th Century Census Transcriptions are available at Gloucestershire Genuki:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/RedmarleydAbitot/index.html

Finally:
"It was usual for a witch to undergo 'trial by water', for it was believed that,as a form of baptism, the water would reject a disciple of the devil. The thumbs were tied crosswise to the opposite big toes, and the woman thrown into the pool. If she floated it was conclusive proof she was a witch, if she sank, she was innocent. The last recorded 'Trial by Water' was at Red Marley D'Abitot, a Worcestershire village before its transfer to Gloucestershire. William Lygon, the first Earl Beauchamp, was riding through his constituency in the 1820s, when he came upon a throng of excited rustics, and learnt that they were putting an alleged witch through the ordeal by water'. His horrified protest was resented and they were at great pains to assure him that everything was in proper order and according to traditional rules. Only by his prompt and unflinching assertion of authority as a County Justice was he able to save the wretched victim who, a few minutes later, would have demonstrated her innocence by drowning."
http://www.worcesterpeopleandplaces.com/articles/20050630211108.asp

Many thanks to all associated with the above referenced websites !

map

http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&...

Redmarley D'Abitot is a civil parish and village in the Forest of Dean district, Gloucestershire, England.
In addition to the village of Redmarley, the civil parish also includes the settlements of Lowbands, Haw Cross,
Playley Green, Kings Green and Durbridge. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 705.

1870's gazateer
REDMARLEY-D'ABITOT, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in Newent district; the village and the parish in Worcestershire, but most of the sub-district in Gloucestershire. The village stands 1 mile N of the river Leadon, at the boundary with Gloucestershire, and 5¾ S W by S of Ledbury r. station; and has a post-office, of the name of Redmarley, under Gloucester. The parish comprises 3, 778 acres.

Although now in Gloucestershire, Redmarley was in Worcestershire until 1931.

Often referred to by locals by its shorten name as Redmarley.

Photo of the village church - St Bartholomew

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/368540

Map

http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&...

However, while searching the internet I "discovered" another, different, Redmarley !. This is in Worcestershire just SW of Stourport on Severn.
The fact that until the 1930s "our" Redmarley was also part of Worcestershire, now Glos, can only perhaps add to the possible confusion. So while I'm not suggesting this or any other website is in error or should reconsider their use of the name Redmarley, I must urge researchers to be aware there are indeed two Redmarleys... which one is the "ghost" I do not know...