LIDNEY, or LYDNEY, a market-town and parish in the hundred of BLIDESLOE, county of GLOUCESTER, 19 miles (S.W. by W.) from Gloucester, and 123 (W. by N.) from London, containing, with the chapelry of Aylburton, 1393 inhabitants, of which number, 1040 are in the town of Lidney. This place is thought by some to have been the Roman station Abona, which, however, is very doubtful. In Lidney park are the remains of a Roman villa, and two Roman camps, the largest of which is of an oblong form, about eight hundred and thirty feet in length, and three hundred and seventy in breadth, surrounded by a single ditch, except at the east end, where it is double: near the western border of this intrenchment is a Roman bath, still tolerably perfect: in other parts are traces of ancient buildings; and fragments of tesselated pavements, urns, and statues, have been found, also coins of Adrian and Antoninus, and a silver one of Galba. An old mansion, called Whitecross, was erected by Sir William Winter, Vice Admiral of England in the reign of Elizabeth; and it was fortified and garrisoned during the civil war in the reign of Charles I., by Sir John Winter, a distinguished royalist officer, who defended his house against repeated attacks of detachments from the parliamentary forces stationed at Gloucester.

The parish is bounded on the eastern side by the river Severn: a rail-road from the Severn to the Wye runs parallel with a canal from Lidney dock to the wharf, whence the former passes northward, intersects the town, and continues its course through the parish. Veins of coal have been found here, forming part of the great coal field in the Forest of Dean; but none are now worked to any extent. The market is on Wednesday: fairs are held on the 4th of May and the 8th of November. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual curacies of St. Briavell's and Huelsfield, in the archdeaconry of Hereford, and diocese of Gloucester, rated in the king's books at £24. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. Some small benefactions have been made for distribution among the poor. There are some chalybeate springs in the parish.

AYLBURTON, a chapelry in the parish of LIDNEY, hundred of BLIDESLOE, county of GLOUCESTER, 4, miles (S.W. by W.) from Blakeney, containing 353 inhabitants. The chapel is dedicated to St. Mary.