The Cinderford Bridge gale was granted in 1833 to J. Cowmeadow and others.  A description by Buddle c1833 survives in which the ‘Bridge Level Colliery’ is described as being galed to Messrs. Cowmeadow & partners.  It was drained by a free level and coal in the Hill Delf vein was won by means of two pits, although at the time only one was at work.  The gale had a width of only 35 yards but its length was unlimited.  To the land it was cut off by the old level which was the original crop working.
By 1838 the gale was held by Moses Teague, probably in conjunction with the Cinderford Iron Works further north, but whether any coal was won is uncertain.  Teague died in February 1840 and by March 1841 the concern was bought by James Cowmeadow who was also working Addis Hill Colliery, and had an interest in Tormentor Colliery.
In September 1842 Cowmeadow was applying to enclose one and a half acres of ground on which to store timber and erect pay and other offices, stables, smiths, carpenters and other workshops.  Cowmeadow, to support his need for the buildings, pointed out that the pay office was necessary as following the act which forbade the practice of paying colliers in public houses or beer shops, and which also stopped the employment of women in mines, he had to have a paying out point.  The sketch map which he supplied to the Crown delineating the area of ground he required also marked on ‘Cinderford Bridge Pit (now being sunk down to the coal’.  This suggests that before this date little work was done on the gale, certainly coal was not being won previously from this point.
As well as Cinderford Bridge Cowmeadow owned the Celestial Colliery, the two being worked in conjunction.  Celestial was granted in June 1843 to Cowmeadow to continue the Cinderford Bridge Colliery in the Coleford High Delf vein south-westward as far as the north-east boundary of the Findall Mine Level.
By April 1848 James Cowmeadow had died and the Crown was pressing his widow, Elizabeth, for the payment of rent arrears.  She pointed out that they owed her £10 for a pit which was sunk on the gale by her late husband close to the proposed site of St. Johns church, c1842-3.  This had been done at the request of the Crown to discover if any coal had been worked under the site of the new building.  The Deputy Surveyor was not content with just sinking a shaft near to the site and had a heading driven a short distance.  Once it was ascertained that no coal had in fact been worked and thus the church would not subside the shaft was filled up.  According to Elizabeth Cowmeadow the fact that a heading had been driven made the sum due closer to £20!
The gale was disposed of to a Mr. Wagstaff some time prior to May 1854 in which month he applied to build a broad gauge siding off the South Wales Railways Forest of Dean Branch.  This was to curve off the branch in a south-easterly direction, over the end of the pond which once served Soudley ironworks, and then split into two sidings before crossing a remaining portion of the tramroad on the level and reaching the pit.  This proposal soon brought a complaint from Mr. Crawshay who claimed ownership of the mill (Cinderford Mill) below the pond.  He was worried that by putting and embankment across the end of the pond the works of the Cinderford Iron Co. would be liable to inundation.
The mill building and wheel had formerly been connected with old workings on Cinderford Bridge and were used for drying coal.  A lease and license to convert the building into a corn mill was granted to a Thomas Brace in 1819.  The pond was made by the Cinderford Iron Co. circa 1826 by constucting a dam about a quarter of a mile below one existing in 1818.  The mill was purchased by Moses Teague and subsequently by the Cinderford Iron Co.; not by Crawshay alone.  At this time the mill had two sets of stones of about four feet diameter.
By June 1856 the Cinderford Iron Co. and Wagstaff had come to an agreement over the siding and it may be presumed that it was built soon afterwards.  Correspondance fron Wagstaff at this time is on paper headed ‘Cinderford Collieries Office’ at 36, Cannon Street, London.
Problems with Cinderford Mill arose again in September 1857 when the mill building, which by this time belonged to the Crown. and the mill house, which still belonged to the Iron Co. were damaged by subsidence from Cinderford Bridge.  This led to Wagstaff appearing in Court as the defendant in an action brought by Allaway on behalf of the Iron Co..  He had been sued for the damage to the buildings caused by his underground workings.  The Court found in favour of the Iron Co.
Wagstaff was not only having problems with the Iron Co. as in 1858 his pump broke which stopped him winning coal.  He stated that he had spent about £28,000 on the works and made an attempt to get the Crown to reduce his arrears of dead rent.  On the 3 April 1858 it was reported to the Crown that the baliffs were in at Cinderford Bridge.  This worried the Crown as they were owed the sum of £115.  A sale of plant and equipment was due to be held on the 6 April and the notice of sale read:-
‘Sale of railway plant, engine, machinery of Cinderford and Bilson Green Collieries’.  Included were ’19 Adams and Cos. Registered Railway Coal Trucks, Muck Waggon, 22 Coal Trams, 40 Pit Carts; 3 Working Pit Engines (complete), 5 Weighing Machines; Wire Guides and Ropes, large and Small Crabs; Ropes and Chains; Railway Plates, Pullies, Working Tools; New and Old Iron; Blacksmiths Forges and Stock; 4 Sets of Harness; Horse Cloths and other valuable Effects.’
The Bilson Green Colliery mentioned was the Old Leather Pit.
The debt for which a distress order had been issued was, however, paid and as a result the sale did not proceed.  The debt to the Crown on the other hand was not settled and it continued to grow until in June 1859 it had reached £149.  This was broken down as follows:-
On the Cinderford Bridge Gale £105.   0. 0
On the Celestial Steam Coal Gale  1. 10. 0
On the Richard Whites Gale 37. 10. 0
On the Whites Delight Gale 5.  0. 0

It would appear that Wagstaff may have gained an interest in the last two gales mentioned around 1855 but details are unknown.  The only property on which goods were available for sale as distress was at Cinderford Bridge.
A sale was arranged for 30 August 1860 at ‘Bridge End Colliery’ where there was ‘one engine, two boilers, crab etc. etc.’ and at the ‘Garden Pit’, south of Cinderford Bridge Pit, was ‘one engine, one boiler etc. etc.’  The sale, however, was abandoned when Wagstaff deposited his bond with the Gaveller.  It was also stated at this time that Wagstaff was about to lease the Moseley Green New Engine gale on Moseley Green from a Mr. Corbett.
Wagstaffs financial problems were coming to a head.  In August 1862 it was reported that in January 1858 Messrs. Child & Co. lent Wagstaff £1000 secured against his properties.  In January 1861 Wagstaff was adjudged a bankrupt and on the 29 August 1861 an order for the sale of his properties was issued.  It was pointed out that the total purchase monies, which did not exceed £900, did not even pay off the capital of the debt.
The next period in the history of the gale is rather hazy.  It is likely that the sale went through and that the purchaser was a Mr. John Vincent.  In August 1862 there was a renewal of a lease to a Peter Plumley.  By August 1876 Vincent wished to surrender the gale if it could not be disposed off.  A schedule of the machinery was given which included;-
Winding Engine; single cylinder horizontal of 60h.p.  The cylinder was 16" diameter by 5' stroke.  It had a 10' flywheel and two 8' diameter flat wire rope drums working first motion.
Pumping Engine; details as per the winding engine but with a 4' spur wheel and an 8' cog wheel with crank motion connected by rod to a ‘T’ bob.
The engines were stated to have been erected about 1855 and in work for about five years.  Both were in a fair state of repair.
Boilers; Three egg-ended, two 29’x5' other 27’x5' - all in a good state of preservation.
Pit Framing; Single pit headframing with 9' sheaf.  A single deck cage in iron and wood.  Two 31/2 “ flat wire ropes, one 100 yards in length, the other 140 yards.  Round 11/4 “ wrought iron pit guides.  A counter balance wheel 9” in diameter.  150 yards of tram plate (underground) of about 24lbs per yard.
The pit framing and the cage were reported as rotten.
Colliery Sidings; old GWR broad gauge laid without sleepers.  A broad gauge 24 ton weighing machine by Pooley’s.  A switch and crossing.  The siding consisted of about 4 chains double road and 1ch. 50 links of single.
The weighing machine was apparently ‘much out of repair’.
Buildings; Carpenters shop, blacksmiths shop, offices and engine house, all of which had a slated roof.
These buildings, which were mostly under one roof were in a dilapidated condition.  The office was being used by a person named Marfell as a dwelling house.  The range of buildings eventually became known as Wagstaff House and were probably built under a Crown license dated 11 August 1854 when Wagstaff applied for an area of land to build a dwelling house with stables and offices.
It was observed that there were no trams or tools belonging to the colliery as they had been disposed off some years before.  The shoots for tipping small coal into railway wagons had rotted away although the walls themselves were still in good condition.
The sale appears not to have been arranged as both Cinderford Bridge and the Celestial Steam Coal gales were forfeited to the Crown in February 1878.
The gale was re-granted on 11 June 1906 to a Henry Fox and nine others.  They had originally applied for the re-grant in February 1878 immediately after the forfeiture.  On 14 July 1906 they assigned the gale to William Llewellyn Davies and P. Evans.  It would appear that Evans assigned his interest to a Hugh Harries.  In February 1914 they were granted a reduction in the dead rent from £20 to £10 per year on the grounds that the gale was mostly covered by houses and that it contained large quantities of water.  Some work was probably being carried out at this time using a pit sunk opposite the Forge Hammer Inn at the end of Victoria Street, they had, however, recently had to pay heavily for surface damage caused by subsidence.
In April 1918 there was a conveyance from Hugh Harries to James Harries who in November 1919 also gained the interest of William L. Davies in the concern.  Whether much work was now done on the gale is unknown and it was surrendered on 11 June 1926.  The deputy gaveller decided that it would not be re-advertised due to the amount of housing on the surface above but despite the fact that no advertisement appeared in the local press a Charles Jenkins put in his application.  He held the gale until surrendering it on 23 February 1929.
There were 891 applications for a re-grant of the gale in May 1929.