Alderley | |
---|---|
Location within Gloucestershire | |
Population | 351 [1] |
OS grid reference | ST768908 |
Civil parish |
|
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Wotton-under-Edge |
Postcode district | GL12 |
Dialling code | 01453 |
Police | Gloucestershire |
Fire | Gloucestershire |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Alderley (also previously known as Alderleigh [3] ) is a village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, about fourteen miles southwest of Stroud and two miles south of Wotton-under-Edge. It is situated on the Cotswold Way near to the villages of Hillesley and Tresham and lies underneath Winner Hill between two brooks, the Ozleworth and Kilcott. [4]
The village has an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is referred to as Alrelie [5] meaning "Woodland clearing where alders grow" (from OE alor + lēah). [6] Records show that the village is located in the hundred of Grimboldestou with a total population of sixteen (16) households [notes 1] (7 villagers, 5 smallholders, 4 slaves) whilst also boasting 2 lord's plough teams, 7 men's plough teams, 12 acres of meadows and 1 mill; in 1066 the Lord of the Estate was the Saxon thegn Wigot of Wallingford, whereas in 1086 it was the wealthy Norman landowner Miles Crispin. [7]
In a later 1309 document the village is referred to as Alreleye, and in a 1345 document as Alrely. [8]
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the village contained a number of woolen mills, [4] and in Samuel Rudder's A New History of Gloucestershire published in 1779 he states that Alderley had been home to the clothing industry for hundreds of years. [9]
In A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis published in 1831, Alderley is described thus:
As part of the local government changes of the early 1970s, Alderley was the only parish of Sodbury Rural District not to form part of the newly-created district of Northavon in the county of Avon, instead joining Stroud district in Gloucestershire. [10]
The village contains several interesting buildings:
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)