Alderley, Gloucestershire

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Alderley
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Alderley
Location within Gloucestershire
Population351  [1]
OS grid reference ST768908
Civil parish
  • Alderley
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
List of places
UK
England
Gloucestershire
51°36′58″N2°20′06″W / 51.616°N 2.335°W / 51.616; -2.335

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]

Contents

History

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:

ALDERLEY, a parish in the upper division of GRUMBALD'S ASH, county of GLOUCESTER, 2 miles (S.S.E.) from Wotton under Edge, containing 235 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Gloucester, rated in the king's books at £ 11. 4. 7., and in the patronage of Mr. and Mrs. Hale. The village is situated on a hill between two streams, which unite and fall into the LOWER AVON. Cornua ammonis and other fossils are found here. Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice in the reign of Charles II., born here 1 November 1609, lies interred in the church.

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]

Architecture

St Kenelm's Church Church and school, Alderley - geograph.org.uk - 1650933.jpg
St Kenelm's Church

The village contains several interesting buildings:

References

  1. (Census, 2001) "Parish population 2011" . Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  2. "Location of South Cotswolds". parliament.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  3. "DServe Archive Catalog Show". ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 Edmund Heward (1972), Matthew Hale, p. 13, ISBN   9780709135524 , retrieved 14 March 2011
  5. "Alderley". Domesday Book . The National Archives. 1086. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  6. A. D. Mills (2003), "Alderley", A Dictionary of British Place-Names, Oxford University Press, retrieved 16 March 2011
  7. "Alderley | Domesday Book". Domesdaymap.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  8. "Access to Archives". The National Archives. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Environment, Great Britain Department of the; Office, Great Britain Welsh (1974). Local Government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 28. ISBN   978-0-11-750847-7.

Notes

  1. In the Domesday Book, "population" is counted in heads of families, so the actual population was probably up to five times larger