Place:


Minchinhampton  Gloucestershire

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Minchinhampton like this:

MINCHINGHAMPTON, a town, a parish, and a subdistrict, in Stroud district, Gloucester. The town stands on a gentle declivity, near the Thames and Severn canal, 1 mile S of Brimscombe r. station, and 3¾ SE of Stroud; was given, by William the Conqueror, to the nunnery of Caen; took thence the first part of its name, by corruption of Monachyn, signifying a nun; passed to the Windsors and the Sheppards; figured long as a place of considerable importance, but has latterly declined; consists chiefly of four streets at right angles to one another, but is irregularly built, and contains many houses so dilapidated as to be uninhabitable; and has a post office‡ under Stroud, a police station, a church, a Baptist chapel, endowed schools for boys, a national school, almshouses for 8 aged women, school endowments to the amount of £184, and charities £118. ...


The church was built, in the time of Henry III., by the nuns of Caen; was partially rebuilt in 1842; is decorated English and cruciform, withcentral octagonal tower; and contains several curious brasses. A weekly market is held on Tuesday; fairs, for horses, cattle, and sheep, are held on Trinity Monday, and 27 Oct.; woollen cloth manufacture is carried on; and there are a few maltings in the neighbourhood, and a brewery at Forwood.—The parish includes the town division, and the tythings of Chalford and Rodborough, comprising the hamlets of Box, Forwood, Holcombe, Littleworth, Theescombe, Amberley, St. Cloe, Chalford, Hyde, Burley, Brimscombe, and Cowcombe, also part of the chapelry of Nailsworth; and all forms part of the parliamentary borough of Stroud. Acres, 4,895. Real property, with the rest of Nailsworth, £17,888; of which £139 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851,4,469; in 1861,4,147. Houses, 1,004. The decrease of pop. was caused by the removal of families to London and other large towns. The manor belongs to H. D. Ricardo, Esq. A large common, on the W side of the town, was given to the inhabitants, in the time of Henry VIII., by Dame Alice Hampton; and comprised originally about 1,000 acres; but has been diminished, by successive encroachments, to little more than 500 acres. A remarkable entrenchment is on the common; extends nearly 3 miles, from Littleworth, to a valley on the opposite side of the town, called Woeful Lane Bottom; and is conjectured to have been the scene of a great overthrow of the Danes,-possibly the much disputed site of the battle of Ethandune in 879. A petrifying spring is near Chalford. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £433.* Patron, H. D. Ricardo, Esq. The p. curacy of Brimscombe and the rectories of Rodborough and Amberley are separate benefices. Chapels for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists and a national school are in Brimscombe.—The sub-district is conterminate with the parish.

Minchinhampton through time

Minchinhampton is now part of Stroud district. Click here for graphs and data of how Stroud has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Minchinhampton itself, go to Units and Statistics.

How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Minchinhampton, in Stroud and Gloucestershire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/10997

Date accessed: 28th March 2024


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