Painswick: Introduction

PAINSWICK

The former market town of Painswick, 3 miles north of Stroud and 6 south-east of Gloucester, lies in a large parish which included the outlying settlements of Edge, west of the town, Sheepscombe and Slad, to the east, and the suburban development of Stroud at Beeches Green and Uplands. The cloth industry was the foundation of the town's prosperity and the availability of good building stone ensured that the marks of that prosperity survived in 1972 when town and parish were rich in 17th-and 18th-century houses. Difficulty of access meant that new industry was not readily attracted to the town after the decline of the cloth industry, so that from the mid 19th century Painswick became a favoured residential area for retired people and the professional classes working in Stroud, Gloucester, and Cheltenham.

The ancient parish of Painswick, comprising 6,105 a., (fn. 1) measured 3½ miles from east to west and 4½ miles from north to south at its widest points. The north-western boundary was marked by a road, possibly of Roman origin, which followed the crest of the Cotswolds and has been called Seven Leaze Lane since 1825, (fn. 2) and the north-eastern boundary followed old field boundaries; in the peninsulated part south of the town the parish was bounded on the west by the Painswick stream (or Wick water) (fn. 3) and on the east by the Slad brook, both of which enter the river Frome which formed the short southern boundary. A small detached area of Painswick was transferred to Cranham parish in 1882. In 1894 194 a. were taken from Painswick to form the civil parish of Uplands (within Stroud urban district) which in 1901 had 1,480 inhabitants. A further 342 a. of Painswick, with approximately 60 inhabitants, were transferred to Stroud urban district in 1936. In 1958 Painswick received two parcels of land east of the Slad brook, one from Bisley-with-Lypiatt containing 307 a. and one from Miserden containing 481 a., which increased the population of the parish by c. 160 people. (fn. 4) In 1972 the area of the parish was 6,385 a., but the following account deals with the ancient parish as constituted before 1882.

In the valleys of the Painswick stream and the Wash, Slad, and Sheepscombe brooks, Marlstone and Upper Lias clay are exposed, but the town and most of the settlements in the parish stand on Midford Sand. Scott's Quarr, Painswick, Longridge, and Wickridge hills are formed of the Inferior Oolite. (fn. 5) With the exception of an area at the southern end of the parish most of the parish lies above the 300-ft. contour on ground rising from the streams to the summits of the hills mentioned above, which are all, except for Wickridge hill, above 800 ft. Painswick hill, also called Kimsbury hill (fn. 6) and Painswick Beacon, at the northern boundary of the parish, is the site of a large Iron Age encampment, (fn. 7) which has been traditionally associated with Earl Godwin and was occupied by royalist forces after the unsuccessful siege of Gloucester in 1643. West of the camp stands King Charles's Stone, on which the king is supposed to have rested. (fn. 8) The land of the parish has been used primarily for pasture since the 18th century (fn. 9) but had several open fields, inclosed by the mid 19th century. (fn. 10) The quarries of the parish have been used extensively to supply local needs, (fn. 11) as has the woodland, said to measure 5 leagues by 2 leagues in 1086. (fn. 12) Tenants were free to use any wood on their holdings for household needs (fn. 13) but in 1613 the lord of the manor was granted the right to inclose one third of the common woods in order to improve their quality. (fn. 14) In 1854 the woodland measured 409 a. (fn. 15) and had increased to 500 a. by 1901. (fn. 16)

Of the routes connecting Painswick town with other important local centres the road which runs from north-west to south-east through the parish was an ancient route connecting Painswick with Gloucester, Bisley, and Cirencester. East of the town the road was formerly used for transporting cloth and continued to be used as far as Cirencester during the 18th century (fn. 17) but later ended at Bull's Cross a mile south-east of the town. North-west of the town it was turnpiked in 1726 as part of the main Stroud-Gloucester road. (fn. 18) The earliest route from Painswick to Stroud followed the road to Bisley as far as Bull's Cross and then joined an ancient ridgeway over the summit of Wickridge hill to Stroud. (fn. 19) The building of New Street by the early 15th century (fn. 20) and the growing commercial importance of Stroud had the result that a more direct route along an ancient road called Wick Street (fn. 21) largely superseded the old route, which, however, continued in use until the end of the 18th century. (fn. 22) The route along Wick Street was turnpiked in 1726 when it formed part of the Stroud- Gloucester road. (fn. 23) The route was too hilly for carriage traffic, (fn. 24) so that a new road linking Stroud and Gloucester through Pitchcombe and Horsepools and bypassing Painswick town was built in 1818. (fn. 25) In 1819 a road was built from Painswick to link with the new route at Pitchcombe thus replacing the Wick Street route to Stroud. (fn. 26) Painswick town was situated on a little used route between Stroud and Cheltenham through Cranham, but, as a result of the growing importance of Cheltenham, (fn. 27) a new road linking Stroud with Cheltenham was built along the Slad valley in 1800; (fn. 28) in 1820, however, the road through the town again became the main route when a new road was built from Prinknash corner through Shurdington to Cheltenham. (fn. 29) Plans to build a bypass for Painswick town were shelved during the 1930s (fn. 30) and the Stroud-Cheltenham road, part of the Bath-Cheltenham trunk road, continued to be the main thoroughfare of the town in 1972.

Plans for a railway link between Stroud and Painswick were proposed by the commercial interests in the town in 1866 and £5,000 was left for the purpose by Frederick Gyde (d. 1872). (fn. 31) Various schemes for a line following the Painswick valley to a station at the bottom of Stammages Lane, 600 yd. south of the town, were drawn up and an Act of Parliament secured (fn. 32) before the plan was finally abandoned in 1906 and the money used for other essential services. (fn. 33) In 1972 the town had regular bus services to Gloucester, Stroud, and Cheltenham.

A park was established at Painswick by the end of the 13th century (fn. 34) in the north-eastern part of the parish and a lodge, later used as the manor-house, was built there in the 14th century. (fn. 35) The park was the scene of a number of incidents between the lords of Painswick and Berkeley retainers during the 14th century. (fn. 36) Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn hunted the park in 1535 (fn. 37) and it was the high quality of the sport at Painswick which attracted Sir William Kingston, then the lessee of the park, to the manor. (fn. 38) A park was recorded at Ebworth from the 18th century (fn. 39) and the grounds of Painswick House, the chief residence of the parish, (fn. 40) were laid out as a small park in the 19th.

By 1086 when the parish was called Wick (fn. 41) some nucleated settlement had probably occurred along the line of the street comprising Bisley Street and Gloucester Street, which was later called High Street or Barnet Street. (fn. 42) A church was built south of the street by the end of the 11th century, (fn. 43) and the incorporation of Pain son of John's name into that of the settlement by 1237 (fn. 44) suggests that he was the builder of a castle or hall on a site, called Castle Hall or Hale from the 16th century, (fn. 45) to the south of the church and commanding the southern approach to the town. A market was granted in 1253 (fn. 46) and seven burgages, probably in Bisley Street, were recorded in 1324. (fn. 47) The market was held in a square at the south-west angle of Bisley Street on the site of Friday Street, (fn. 48) known as Bell Street in the later 19th century, (fn. 49) and near to the Cross. A 17th-century shop, Thorne, incorporates two pillars which may have formed part of the market hall. The cutting of New Street, so called in 1429, and the erection of burgages there (fn. 50) enlarged the town so that by the end of the 15th century 31 burgages were recorded. (fn. 51) The street moved the focal point of the town westwards to the north-west corner of the churchyard where a building called the town hall or stock house was built in the earlier 17th century. (fn. 52) The building incorporated a blind-house (fn. 53) and was also used for a school. (fn. 54) A workhouse was later built behind the town hall (fn. 55) but both buildings were demolished in 1840 (fn. 56) and the land used for a public garden, (fn. 57) later dedicated as a war memorial. A new town hall was built in 1840 opposite the site, on the north side of Victoria Street, (fn. 58) and was still in use for meetings in 1972.

Victoria Street, called Pig Street in the 19th century, (fn. 59) followed the north boundary of the churchyard from New Street to St. Mary's Street, an ancient street (fn. 60) linking the church and market-place. Tibbiwell Street, the continuation of Bisley Street south-east of the town, led to St. Tabitha's well, an important source of water recorded from the 17th century. (fn. 61) The road continued to a crossing of the Painswick stream, and the growing importance of the cloth industry encouraged development on the west slope of the Painswick valley along that route and along Vicarage Street (fn. 62) from the 17th century. Some houses were built at Ham Butts, (fn. 63) west of the town, and on Gloucester Street by the end of the 17th century when development within the town was maintained by in-filling the old market-square between Friday Street and St. Mary's Street; building a court, called King's Court in the 18th century (fn. 64) and later called George Court, (fn. 65) behind Victoria Street; and by building some cottages against the churchyard wall. By the end of the 18th century there was no space available for new building within the old town, and Ham Butts and Gloucester Street were largely rebuilt about that time. Development continued north and west of the town during the 19th century and into the 20th when a considerable amount of building was also done south of the town.

The surviving houses of medieval origin are mainly in the area of Bisley Street and Friday Street. New Hall retains 15th-century roof timbers, a pair of crucks, and a stone fire-place of the late 15th century. (fn. 66) The house was largely rebuilt in stone in the Cotswold style c. 1600 and was remodelled in 1907 when the southern range, the kitchen area, was demolished (fn. 67) to provide a garden space, and a medieval doorway was re-sited as the street entrance. On the opposite side of Bisley Street stand Wickstone, which contains a blocked 18th-century pack-horse entrance, Old Fleece, and Little Fleece, which together have the plan of a medieval inn (fn. 68) but were entirely rebuilt in the late 16th or early 17th century. No datable medieval features survive in the buildings, part of which was restored for the National Trust by Sir George Oatley in 1942. (fn. 69) To the south stands the Chur, another 16th-century house, which retains a medieval street doorway. The Gables, in the southwest angle of Friday Street, with Rudgeway, now a separate residence in George Court, forms part of a late medieval hall house and retains some original roof timbers. Both houses were rebuilt c. 1600 and decorative plaster ceilings were placed in the upper storey of the Gables. Further north on Friday Street a cruck-frame can be seen in the gable of a stone fronted cottage, which was an antique shop in 1972. The early-17th-century decorative plaster ceilings in the Gables are repeated in a 15th- or early-16thcentury house in New Street (the post office in 1972) which was formerly jettied and retains exposed timbers on its upper floor.

The extent of rebuilding and new building in the town and parish about 1600 suggests the beginning of a period of commercial prosperity which continued for almost 200 years, punctuated only by temporary set-backs caused by plague or shortterm trade recessions. The Court House, a threestoreyed, gabled building of the late 16th century had a porch added in 1604, (fn. 70) probably by John Seaman (d. 1623), chancellor of Gloucester diocese, who later added a large south wing with a crenellated bay-window. (fn. 71) The Seaman family continued to live at the house until the later 17th century. (fn. 72) The land on which the house was built was called Court Orchard (fn. 73) and its name evidently derives from the old site of the manor and not from the tradition that Charles I stayed there and held court. (fn. 74) In the later 19th century the house contained a school run by Uriah Davis, a local antiquary, (fn. 75) and has been used as a school intermittently from that time. A north wing was added in traditional style in the 1930s, and from c. 1950 the building was used as a school for mentally handicapped children until purchased by Mr. J. Collett in 1961. (fn. 76) Castle Hale, south of the Court House, was built on the site of a medieval building, and was the home of the Rogers family in the early 17th century; (fn. 77) William Rogers extended the building in 1653 (fn. 78) and the house was occupied by William Rogers, who had an estate of 58 a. in the parish in 1694. (fn. 79) The house subsequently passed to the Baylis family; (fn. 80) in the early 19th century it was the residence of William Baylis, and later of his son-in-law Charles Baker, (fn. 81) an architect and surveyor, who remodelled the south and west fronts in classical style. (fn. 82) Later in the century the house was occupied by the vicar of Painswick (fn. 83) and from the 1890s was the residence of W. St. Clair Baddeley, (fn. 84) an archaeologist and author of a history of Painswick. The house was damaged by fire in 1893 (fn. 85) and in the mid 20th century was completely refitted as separate apartments. (fn. 86)

Among a number of smaller houses and cottages built in the east part of the town during the late 16th and 17th centuries were Southfield House in Vicarage Street, a small gabled residence, and the New Inn, at the corner of St. Mary's Street and Tibbiwell Street. The inn was converted for use as a police station in 1910 (fn. 87) and afterwards the adjoining malt-house was demolished (fn. 88) to make way for new public baths. (fn. 89) Rebuilding later in the 17th century included the shops at the Cross and the south end of Friday Street and Yew Tree House in Vicarage Street, said to have been built by one of the Loveday family. (fn. 90) Most of the 17th-century building in New Street and Bisley Street was overlaid during the 18th or early 19th century when much rebuilding was done. The Packer family of clothiers owned a 17th-century gabled house at the south end of New Street (fn. 91) to which a long twostoreyed east wing facing the churchyard was added in the early 18th century. The house, called Hazlebury House since 1887, (fn. 92) contains a number of the decorated stone fireplaces of the 18th century (fn. 93) which are a feature of several houses in the town, and the fenestration of the east front was altered in the early 19th century. To the north is the Falcon inn, built in 1711, (fn. 94) and remodelled in the early 19th century; it became the chief inn of the town (fn. 95) and a meeting-place for the manor court. (fn. 96) Behind the inn an 18th-century bowling green is preserved. A group of houses north of the inn include Rossway, a 19th-century house built on earlier foundations, and a pair of bay-fronted early-19th-century houses erected for members of the Horlick family of clothiers (fn. 97) who also owned Hambutts House in Edge Road. (fn. 98) Further north stands the Beacon, built in the 1760s, a three-storeyed, Palladian mansion with a balustraded parapet. The central bay, of three windows with arched and pointed pediments, has been brought forward with a blind balustrade at first-floor level. The house, which has a richly decorated interior, has been attributed to Wood the younger of Bath and was built for the Wood family of clothiers. (fn. 99) It was the residence of Edward Wood Mason (d. 1883), a millowner, for most of the 19th century. (fn. 100) Another late-18thcentury classical mansion, Prospect House, later called Gwynfa, (fn. 101) was built in Hale Lane and was the residence of Mrs. F. S. Williams (fn. 102) in the early 20th century when it was enlarged, possibly by P. R. Morley Horder. (fn. 103) The house has been used as a hotel since the 1930s. (fn. 104)

The 18th-century rebuilding of Bisley Street is marked by an encroachment of five feet upon the street at the southern end of its east side, presumably to add depth to the front rooms of the houses which were built upon 17th-century rear portions. Byfield House, a 17th-century house with a wool-barn behind, was rebuilt in the early 18th century and a front drawing room was later redecorated in Adam style; in the 1840s it was the home of the Revd. William Knight, (fn. 105) of a clothing family. (fn. 106) Similar though less rich remodelling took place in Cambray and Brockley House further down the street, the original line of which is visible in the gable-end of the lowest house. A small 18th-century house on the opposite side of Bisley Street with a richly carved ashlar front may have been the residence of the Bryan family of masons. (fn. 107) Other small mid-18th-century houses include Loveday's House in St. Mary's Street, used as the vicarage in 1972, and Dover House in Vicarage Lane, which differs from other houses of the same period in having an interior almost entirely panelled with wood. (fn. 108) The Golden Heart inn in Tibbiwell Street was recorded as an inn from 1781 (fn. 109) and contains a carved stone entrance (fn. 110) of that period but is mainly an earlier house.

The north end of New Street and most of Gloucester Street were rebuilt in the late 18th or early 19th century. A space was cut in the east side of New Street giving access to an assembly room, built in the early 19th century, behind the Bell Inn in Friday Street. (fn. 111) The inn, recorded from c. 1740 (fn. 112) and demolished by bombing in 1941, was presumably an important social centre for the town, being near the market-place, but the assembly rooms, completed c. 1830, apparently fell into disuse soon afterwards because of the decline of trade. The assembly rooms, together with the malt-house to the north, were later purchased by Mr. Burdock, a building contractor, whose firm continued to occupy the site in 1972. (fn. 113) Other building in New Street included the Baptist chapel, Cotswold House (formerly three cottages), some shops, and some larger houses, most of which had been converted for use as shops by 1972. In Gloucester Street a Congregational chapel was built in 1803 on the site of an earlier chapel, and a school and manse were added later. (fn. 114) Falkland House, on the west side of the street opposite the chapel, was formerly the New Inn (fn. 115) and incorporates a 17th-century cottage and an 18th-century assembly room. The inn had closed by 1879 (fn. 116) and the house was used as a convalescent and training home for a few years in the late 19th century (fn. 117) before being converted for use as a residence, which it remained in 1972. A few 17thcentury buildings and some 18th-century cottages, mostly at the north end of the street or on the lane to Painswick House, remain in that part of the town but most of the building, including the Star inn which closed in 1970, (fn. 118) dates from the 19th century. Development in the early 20th century included an estate east of the road where the Gyde alms-houses and orphanage (fn. 119) were also built, and in the 1960s an estate was built west of the street and leading through to Ham Butts.

Scattered cottages were built north of the town near the Cheltenham road in the earlier 19th century. Three cottages there were later converted as a residence called Washwell House, the home of Alice and Harriett Wemyss, benefactors of the town (both d. 1928), (fn. 120) and later of their cousin W. H. Dickinson, Lord Dickinson of Painswick (d. 1943), who was made a peer in 1930 for his work for peace and international understanding. (fn. 121) In the same area are a turnpike-house, (fn. 122) the Bunch of Grapes, a beerhouse in 1891 (fn. 123) which was later used as a residence, and, east of the road, a cottage used until c. 1890 for housing children awaiting emigration to Canada; the cottage then became a convalescent home for the Alexandra Children's Hospital for Hip Disease, which it remained until the First World War. (fn. 124)

Several houses in the east part of the town, including some in Victoria Street, were rebuilt in the earlier 19th century when new building on Vicarage Street included a pair of weavers' cottages on the corner with Bisley Street and a larger group at the north end of the road, where a vicarage, later called Verlands, was built in 1872. (fn. 125) Many of the older cottages in Vicarage Street were restored in the late 19th century. (fn. 126)

Some building had taken place south of the town in the 18th century including Fairview, Lullingworth which was attached to a small estate and was restored and extended in the traditional Cotswold style by P. R. Morley Horder c. 1900, (fn. 127) and a group of cottages, later enlarged and called Whitehall, which were used by the St. Mary's Home for mentally retarded women from the late 19th century. (fn. 128) The National school was built north of Whitehall in 1847, (fn. 129) and later there was fairly steady development, mainly middle-class housing, south of the town.

One or two 17th-century houses on Edge Road near Ham Butts (fn. 130) were rebuilt in the early 19th century when some industrial buildings were also put up. (fn. 131) Housing for the professional classes on private estates was provided further west in the early and mid 20th century. In the town itself bombing in 1941 destroyed part of Friday Street which was rebuilt in the 1950s. About that time the White Horse in Vicarage Road, where a malt-house was recorded from 1808, (fn. 132) was demolished to make an entrance for a council estate built behind Vicarage Street. (fn. 133)

Eight keepers of victualling houses were recorded in the parish in 1601. (fn. 134) Apart from the inns mentioned above others in the town were the George, recorded from 1682 (fn. 135) until 1781; the Red Lion, recorded from 1781 (fn. 136) until 1891 when it was amalgamated with the Royal Oak which took over the premises; (fn. 137) the Lamb, which was recorded in 1763 (fn. 138) and 1781 (fn. 139) and probably occupied the site of the medieval inn in Bisley Street; (fn. 140) and the Fleece inn in Friday Street, presumably destroyed by bombing in 1941. (fn. 141) The public houses serving the outlying settlements are described below. Unidentified inns recorded in the parish in 1781 were the Swan, the Green Dragon, the Light Horse, the White Hart, and the Ten Bells. (fn. 142) The vestry undertook to reduce the burden of the poor-rates in 1786 by asking for a reduction in the number of alehouses in Painswick from 13 to 5 (fn. 143) but in 1838 the parish had 8 public houses and 26 beer-shops. (fn. 144) In 1891 16 alehouses and 6 beer-shops were recorded. (fn. 145)

A burial board was established and a cemetery laid out on Painswick hill in 1863 for inhabitants of Edge and Spoonbed tithings. (fn. 146) In 1860 the Painswick Gas Light & Coke Co. was formed with a works at a site by Painswick Mill south of the town. (fn. 147) A proposal in 1860 to light the town was rejected, (fn. 148) and in 1881 the trustees under the will of Frederick Gyde took the initiative, as they did with other services, and made a grant for lighting the town; in 1896 Vicarage Street was lighted, but by oil-lamps. (fn. 149) The gas company ceased operations in 1910 (fn. 150) but was apparently revived before being taken over by the Stroud company in 1931. (fn. 151) In 1881, as part of a general attempt to enhance the residential amenities of the town, the Gyde trustees financed the demolition of some cottages standing by the west wall of the churchyard in order to improve the aspect of the square by the church. Other help with the provision of services given by the trust included grants of £3,000 to the Stroud Water Co. towards a town water supply and £5,000 to the R.D.C. for a drainage system in 1907, the building of the public baths in 1924, and annual contributions towards scavenging the town and the upkeep of the churchyard. (fn. 152) A fire-engine was purchased by subscribers and a volunteer fire-brigade established in 1896. (fn. 153) Electricity was brought to the town during the 1930s by the West Gloucestershire Power Co. (fn. 154)

Several benefit societies were established in Painswick in the early 19th century, (fn. 155) and in 1818 a savings bank, probably occupying the site of the present Cup House tea-rooms in Bisley Street, was founded for Painswick and neighbouring parishes. (fn. 156) A lying-in charity was established in 1833 (fn. 157) and some convalescent homes, a few of which are mentioned above, were attracted to the town in the late 19th century. A 'coffee tavern' with a readingroom was established in New Street in 1879. (fn. 158) In 1906 some cottages at the south end of Bisley Street were demolished and replaced by the Painswick Working Men's Club and Institute, later the Painswick Institute, built at the expense of Mrs. F. S. Williams, of Gwynfa. Mrs. Williams also gave land behind Bisley Street for use as a recreation ground. (fn. 159) Sports societies, including rugby, cricket, and bowls, have flourished since the late 19th century, (fn. 160) and in 1891 a golf-course was laid out on Painswick hill and a golf-club founded. (fn. 161) A dramatic society flourished from 1923 until 1962 when, on the death of Miss Lucy Hyett, it was disbanded. (fn. 162) A new society was later formed, however, and presented plays in the Institute in 1972. A choral society and brass band flourished in the early 20th century and an operatic society was recorded in 1962. (fn. 163)

The settlement at Edge, often called the Edge, in the western part of the parish is situated in a sheltered declivity beneath Seven Leaze Lane. The oldest part of the village, built around a green on a route to Gloucester, (fn. 164) consists of farm-houses and cottages dating from the 17th century. Edge Hill Farm, at the east end of the green, a small rubble and stone farm-house with a central chimney stack and a gabled central rear extension containing the staircase, is dated 1604 and has some contemporary out-buildings. By the green are Edge House, dating from the 17th century but enlarged and remodelled during the early 19th, and a few cottages, some with 17th-century features but mostly rebuilt during the 18th century. A Congregational chapel was built on the north side of the green in 1856 (fn. 165) but since the building of the new Stroud-Gloucester road in 1818 the village has developed to the north-west towards Horsepools, a watering hole recorded in 1430. (fn. 166) A church and school and some large houses, including the vicarage used until 1925, (fn. 167) were built during the 19th century along the new road, and there was further development in the 1930s and the 1960s when Edge proved an attractive site to professional people working in Stroud and Gloucester. North of the old village is Edge Farm, a 17th-century farmhouse with later additions, and further east Back Edge, a three storeyed, gabled house, built in the mid 17th century on to a smaller 16th-century house. Back Edge was used as a farm-house for a number of generations by the Herbert family, descendants of which occupied an 18th-century cottage west of the house in 1972. (fn. 168) Weaving was also done at Back Edge, (fn. 169) probably for the mills on the near-by Wash brook. (fn. 170) A dramatic society was formed at the Edge in the mid 20th century (fn. 171) and a wooden village hall erected at the south side of the green.

A settlement evidently existed at Sheepscombe by 1263 when rents were owed from there. (fn. 172) The village stands ENE. of Painswick town in a valley below the ancient estate of Ebworth Park. (fn. 173) The early settlement presumably consisted of scattered farms but a number of the 52 houses recorded in Sheepscombe tithing in 1672 (fn. 174) were evidently in the present village, which contains some buildings dating from the late 17th or early 18th century at its northern end. From the 18th century until the mid 19th the village developed as a weaving settlement around the mills on the Sheepscombe brook, (fn. 175) and encroachments were made on the commons, particularly at Jack's Green south of the old village on the higher slopes of the valley, (fn. 176) near a small 18thcentury residence called Sheepscombe House. In 1820 a church was built at the Green, (fn. 177) midway between the old village and Jack's Green. Most of the cottages date from the prosperous years of the cloth trade and the decline of that industry was marked by a fall in the population of Sheepscombe tithing from 803 people in 1831 to 510 people in 1861. (fn. 178) Since the late 19th century some residential development has taken place southwards along the road to Bull's Cross in the direction of a 17th-century farm-house called Beech Farm. A brass band was established in the village c. 1900, and a cricket team continued to represent the village in 1972. (fn. 179) Three public houses have been recorded in the village; the Butcher's Arms which remained in use in 1972, the Crown inn which stood opposite (fn. 180) and closed c. 1900, (fn. 181) and the Plough, recorded at Jack's Green from 1920 (fn. 182) and closed in 1968. (fn. 183)

The village of Slad originated at Steanbridge, an important crossing of the Slad brook, recorded in 1353, (fn. 184) when it carried the Painswick-Cirencester road, near the site of a Roman villa. (fn. 185) In 1778 Painswick and Bisley parishes agreed to share the cost of rebuilding the bridge. (fn. 186) The oldest part of Slad is situated on the slopes of the valley south of the bridge and east of the Stroud-Cheltenham road. The principal residence is Steanbridge House, the home for many years of the Townsend family, (fn. 187) which had a large estate, mainly in the adjoining part of Miserden, in the 19th century. (fn. 188) It is a 16thor early-17th-century gabled clothier's house, refitted in the 18th century and enlarged in the early 19th by a classical south wing incorporating a staircase lighted by a glass dome. The house and Rosebank, an L-shaped rubble house formed out of three 17th-century cottages with wooden- and stonemullioned windows, are the oldest surviving buildings but other cottages, largely rebuilt as weavers' cottages in the 18th or 19th century, retain 17th-century features. Some cottages were built on the waste during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, (fn. 189) and the building of the Stroud-Cheltenham road in 1800 encouraged development. By 1820 there were four or five cottages on the west side of the road, (fn. 190) and the church (fn. 191) and school (fn. 192) were built at the south end of the village on that side of the road in the 1830s. A public house, called the Woolpack, was built opposite at about that period. A Congregational chapel was built 500 yds. north of the church in 1867 (fn. 193) and scattered houses have been built along the main road since the late 19th century, usually for people working in Stroud. The village was the scene for Cider with Rosie, an autobiographical evocation of a rural childhood by Laurie Lee, who had a residence in the village in 1972. About ½ mile south of the village is the Star inn, recorded from 1781. (fn. 194) A number of houses are scattered along the road linking Slad with the suburbs of Stroud. They include a small 17thcentury farm-house with later additions, but they were mostly built in the 19th century for professional people working in Stroud.

The development of Stroud town north-westwards into the ancient parish of Painswick around the area called Beeches Green, formerly Beech Ash Green, (fn. 195) began in the late 18th century on an estate called the Hill which was owned by the Webb family for c. 200 years. The chief house of the estate, a substantial gabled building of the earlier 17th century, was built by Thomas Webb (fn. 196) and later became the residence of leading Stroud businessmen such as James Dallaway (d. 1787), (fn. 197) various members of the Holbrow family, (fn. 198) and Henry Holloway who lived there in 1879. (fn. 199) During the 19th century the house was enlarged and remodelled with the entrance front facing south-east and in 1972 it was used by Peter Falconer and Partners, a firm of architects, who built a south wing on to the house in 1963 to incorporate a drawing-office and Masonic Temple. (fn. 200) In the late 18th and 19th centuries a number of Stroud businessmen built houses in the area: Far Hill, to the south, was built by Benjamin Grazebrook, whose son Joseph lived there until his death in 1843; (fn. 201) Willow House, built by Robert Hodges c. 1800 and owned by the Revd. John Williams between 1813 and 1856, was used as a police station from 1858, new court rooms and offices being added on the west in 1886; (fn. 202) Badbrook House, demolished in 1967, (fn. 203) was built in 1794 on the other side of the road by Thomas Holbrow (d. 1833); (fn. 204) the Grange, formerly called Trumpetts and later Lower Grange, was owned and occupied by George Wathen, an attorney, from 1804 until his death in 1847; (fn. 205) Upper Grange was a 17th century cottage which was greatly enlarged in the early 19th century when it was the home of Rowles Scudamore (d. 1821); (fn. 206) West Grange, built in 1866 to the designs of Benjamin Bucknall, (fn. 207) was a guest-house in 1972 when a riding-school and a carriage museum had buildings in the garden. A convent and Catholic church were built on the west side of Merrywalks in the mid 19th century, (fn. 208) and some offices and houses in the mid 20th.

In the area known as Uplands, north-east of Beeches Green, there were anciently a copyhold estate called the Birches, (fn. 209) a name which survived in a 19th-century house, and a freehold estate at Peghouse, recorded in the 15th century. (fn. 210) By the early 19th century there was also an estate based on Uplands House owned by the Hogg family, (fn. 211) and in 1865 most of it was bought by John Sutton, a clothmerchant, who put it up for sale as building lots. (fn. 212) The populous settlement of brick houses that resulted (fn. 213) was further expanded c. 1890 (fn. 214) and justified the creation of Uplands civil parish within the Stroud U.D. in 1894. (fn. 215) A chapel was built in 1910, (fn. 216) and a new council estate laid out near Folly Lane in the 1920s. (fn. 217) A memorial garden to H. S. Park and others who died in the First World War was given to Stroud in 1927. (fn. 218) In the early 1970s further building was in progress in the area.

South of Painswick town where Wick Street crosses the Painswick stream is a small, mainly 19thcentury, weaving settlement (fn. 219) called the Cross Hands from the public house recorded there from 1856. (fn. 220) South-east of the Cross Hands stands the Sheephouse, possibly a part of the former chantry lands; (fn. 221) it is a 17th-century gabled house extended southwards in the mid 18th century by a new wing which was heightened later in the century, probably by a branch of the Palling family which resided there. (fn. 222) Among the out-buildings is a square, gabled pigeonhouse also dating from the 17th century. On Wick Street itself stand Well Farm, a later-17th-century gabled house, and further south Wick Street House, a three-storey, gabled house built in 1633 by George Fletcher, (fn. 223) to which has been added a modern wing similar to that at the Court House. Further south stand Wick Street Farm (formerly called Brownshill), Brownshill Court, (fn. 224) Hawkwood College (formerly the Grove), (fn. 225) and the Homestall (formerly the Culls). (fn. 226) The last is a 17th-century house with later additions, which was the home of W. J. Stanton, M.P. for Stroud 1880-5, (fn. 227) and later of Sir Frank Nelson, M.P. for Stroud 1924-31. (fn. 228) Among the smaller houses are two west of Wick Street which retain the names of early copyholds which became part of the Brownshill estate: (fn. 229) Pincott's is a 17th-century farm-house with a later upper storey, and Hammond's Farm (fn. 230) is a Gothic farm-house built in 1854 to the design of Francis Niblett. (fn. 231) At the summit of Wickridge hill, east of Wick Street, stands Worgan's Farm, a small 19thcentury farm-house.

Much of the area north of the town and west of the Cheltenham Road is known as Holcombe. Fragments of 13th-century pottery have been found at Holcombe Farm, (fn. 232) an early-18th-century farm-house (fn. 233) which was formerly part of the customary holding of the Collins family. (fn. 234) Further north is Holcombe House, called Holcombe Manor from 1926, (fn. 235) a substantial, three-storeyed, gabled house dating from the early 17th century and extended to designs by Detmar Blow in 1925. (fn. 236) In 1795 it was part of the estate of Joseph Pinfold who also owned the 18thcentury Upper Holcombe Farm, (fn. 237) which was being restored in 1972. Also being restored was the nearby Yew Tree House, a 19th-century building with a cellar which is said to have been used for illegal cock-fighting. (fn. 238) Hill Farm, south of Holcombe, is a small Cotswold-style farm-house dating from the 17th century with 19th-century additions, and Spoonbed Farm, at the north end of the parish, retains 17th-century stone-mullioned windows but was substantially rebuilt in 1771 when a west wing was added. (fn. 239)

Two small settlements, known as Paradise and the Park, lie east of the Painswick-Cheltenham road. The settlement at Paradise includes some early-18th-century buildings, but generally consists of 19th-century cottages. It includes an inn on the main road, formerly called the Coach and Horses but renamed the Adam and Eve c.1844. (fn. 240) There are two substantial residences at each end of the settlement. At the northern end stands Castle Godwin, formerly called Paradise Farm, a gabled house of the later 17th century with a classical east front and suitable internal improvements added in the early 18th century when William Townsend lived there. (fn. 241) Towards the end of the 19th century the house was greatly enlarged by the building of offices to the south and west which were considerably altered to provide additional living rooms in the early 20th century for Maj.-Gen. Sir Francis Howard. (fn. 242) At the south end of the settlement is Paradise House, known as Goodhurst and Beechwood at different times in the 19th century. (fn. 243) Built by the 1770s when it was occupied by Charles Sheppard, (fn. 244) the main elevations are faced in brick with the rear and stable block in ashlar. During the late 19th century bays were added to the northeast face and additions made to the north-west. Building took place to the north of Paradise along the Cheltenham road during the 20th century. The settlement called the Park, south of Damsell's Cross, where a Cotswold-style house was built to designs by H. F. Trew c. 1940, (fn. 245) is a 19th-century settlement of weaver's cottages (fn. 246) to which some wooden cottages were subsequently added.

There are scattered houses, belonging to small estates attached to mills in the 19th century, northeast of the town. Tocknell's Court (fn. 247) and Tocknell's House, a large Cotswold-style house designed by Benjamin Bucknall c. 1860, (fn. 248) are close to the northern boundary of the parish. Olivers is a small gabled house of the earlier 17th century which was converted to a villa by the addition of a new east front in the early years of the 19th century, enlarged later in the century by the addition of a south wing, (fn. 249) and remodelled in 1922 when north and south extensions were made. The rear of the house was enlarged by Detmar Blow in 1935 (fn. 250) in the traditional Cotswold style and the house contains the work of Cotswold craftsmen of the same period, such as Peter Waals. South of Olivers stands Damsells Farm, a small 17th-century house extended eastwards in the 18th century; it apparently derives its name from the medieval estate farmed by the Damsell family in 1327. (fn. 251) The estate was probably granted out of the manor in 1376 to John Sudgrove (fn. 252) but belonged to it in 1421. (fn. 253) The estate continued to descend with the earldom of Shrewsbury (fn. 254) after the manor passed to the Lisles but was once again in the same ownership as the manor by the end of the 15th century. (fn. 255)

Among the houses near Bull's Cross a mile southeast of the town are Trillgate Farm, a small later17th-century farm-house with 18th-century additions apparently made by the Cook family of clothiers; (fn. 256) Greenhouse Court, a small 17th-century gabled house with a number of 19th-century additions in the Cotswold style, which was the home of a branch of the Croome family in the 19th century; (fn. 257) and Greenhouse Lodge, a small two-storey 18th-century house with extensive additions made to the east during the 19th century. To the south of Greenhouse Court stands a farm building with ornamental embellishments, possibly used for stabling the horses of the Hyett family who had a summer-house in a field behind. (fn. 258)

Sixty-eight people were assessed for tax at Painswick in 1327. (fn. 259) In 1551 there were said to be about 500 communicants in the parish (fn. 260) and 142 households were recorded there in 1563. (fn. 261) By 1603 the number of communicants had increased to 609 (fn. 262) and in 1650 200 families were recorded. (fn. 263) The population increased to 2,256 people by 1750 (fn. 264) and rose more rapidly until c. 1775 when c. 3,300 people were said to live in the parish. (fn. 265) In 1801 the population was 3,150 and increased sharply between 1811 and 1821 when 4,044 inhabitants were recorded. The numbers remained steady for a while but the decline of the cloth industry was accompanied by a steady fall in population until 1861 when it stood at 3,229. The suburban development of Stroud was primarily responsible for the increase to 4,019 by 1871, from which time the population of the ancient parish remained fairly stable until 1931 when there were 2,542 people living at Painswick and 1,386 living at Uplands. Excluding all those parts transferred to the Stroud U.D. the population of Painswick stood at 2,757 in 1951 and had increased to 2,844 by 1961. (fn. 266)

The achievements of many people connected with the parish are noticed elsewhere in this account. Thomas Winstone (1575-1655), a professor of physic at Gresham's College in the early 17th century, was born at Painswick, as was the naturalist Mary Roberts, author of Annals of My Village, published in 1831. (fn. 267)