Pillowell is a village in the Forest of Dean less than a mile south-west of Yorkley. Originally it belonged to the parish of Newland and was Crown woodland. It is suggested that the first occupants were squatters who illegally built homes in the Forest. By 1787 ten such dwellings were in existance, close to a nearby well.
It was once a mining village and now has a modest population of about 250. A Primitive Methodist Chapel was built in 1835 for the 30 cottages that were then in existance. A school for about 400 pupils was built in 1877 and, in 1885, a new larger chapel was constructed on a new site.