Hucclecote

HUCCLECOTE

Hucclecote, which was formerly a hamlet in the ancient parish of Churchdown, lies ESE. of Gloucester. (fn. 1) Its main settlement grew up 4.25 km. from the city's central crossroads on Ermin Street, the Roman road between Gloucester and Cirencester. Hucclecote maintained its own poor by the later 17th century and was regarded as a separate civil parish by the mid 19th. (fn. 2) Its development has been greatly influenced by the course of Ermin Street through its middle and by the proximity of Gloucester. From the late 1890s many houses were built for people working in the city (fn. 3) but parts of Hucclecote still retained a predominantly rural character in the 1980s.

Hucclecote formed the south part of Churchdown parish and was an irregularly shaped area defined in 1807 by hedges and watercourses. In the north the hamlet took in the summit of Churchdown or Chosen Hill and on the north-west it included a peninsula containing Elmbridge and bounded on the south-west by the Horsbere brook. (fn. 4) In 1066 Hucclecote and Churchdown were distinct manors belonging to St. Oswald's church, Gloucester, and later they were part of the archbishop of York's barony of Churchdown. (fn. 5) The existence of separate rectory estates for Hucclecote and Churchdown (fn. 6) suggests that the churches or chapels in both places were once equal in status. Churchdown church, which was in Hucclecote on the top of Churchdown Hill, (fn. 7) became the parish church and Hucclecote chapel was abandoned after 1289. (fn. 8) Elmbridge, which was another manor of the Churchdown barony, (fn. 9) evidently paid its tithes to the Churchdown rectory estate. (fn. 10)

After 1844 some minor alterations in the boundary between Hucclecote and Churchdown were made, the most substantial being east of Churchdown Hill, and in the early 1880s Hucclecote contained 1,437 a. (fn. 11) In 1935 Hucclecote lost 42 a. on the top of Churchdown Hill to Churchdown and 199 a. at Elmbridge to the new civil parish of Longlevens. In 1967 Gloucester took from Hucclecote 419 a. in the south-west, including the old village and most of the built-up area, and the parish was left with 853 a. (345 ha.), including a small area in the north-west taken from Barnwood. (fn. 12) The following account deals with Hucclecote as constituted in the early 19th century, save for that part transferred to Churchdown in 1935. Those aspects of its history from the late 1890s connected with Gloucester's suburban growth are discussed above with the general history of the city.

Most of Hucclecote lies at over 30 m. on the Lower Lias clay, on which there are patches of gravel or sand; in the north-west at Elmbridge the land falls to 15 m. The land is generally flat, save in the north where the slopes of Churchdown Hill, an outlier of the Cotswolds rising to 154 m., are formed by successive strata of Marlstone and the Upper Lias. (fn. 13) Quarrying on the hill had started by 1453. (fn. 14) Drainage was principally by two streams flowing north-westwards across the hamlet, in the centre the Horsbere brook, presumably that called Huccle brook in 1486, (fn. 15) and in the south the Wotton brook. Woodland, once a dominant feature, measured a league by ½ league in 1086. (fn. 16) Cowsley wood, recorded in 1399, was in the south-east between Ermin Street and the Wotton brook (fn. 17) and was the principal wooded area in the mid 15th century when it was managed for the archbishop of York with other woods belonging to Churchdown barony. The archbishop may then have had a warren on the upper slopes of Churchdown Hill, (fn. 18) where a warren for coneys and a lodge were recorded in 1622. (fn. 19) The land of the hamlet was suited to pasture and the inclosure of its open fields was completed by 1727. (fn. 20)

Hucclecote village, the principal settlement in the hamlet, grew up on Ermin Street. The road, which linked Gloucester with Oxford and London, (fn. 21) was a turnpike through Hucclecote between 1698 and 1718 and between 1723 and 1871. (fn. 22) Two lanes ran northwards from it. (fn. 23) In the east Churchdown Lane, possibly that called Court Lane in 1451 and Green Street in 1598, ran east of Churchdown Hill, having crossed the Horsbere brook by a wooden bridge called Mill bridge in 1451. (fn. 24) North of the crossing the course of the lane was moved eastwards during the construction in the mid 1960s of a bypass road for Hucclecote. Further west Larkhay Road, called Lark Lane in 1591, (fn. 25) was presumably once part of a common way between the village and the hilltop church, crossing the brook at Pitt Mill, apparently by a bridge in 1486. (fn. 26) A ford below Pitt Mill was replaced in 1886 by a bridge provided largely at the expense of the owner of Zoons Court, a nearby farmstead. (fn. 27) Green Lane, which ran southwards from Ermin Street to a settlement called Wood Hucclecote, crossed the Wotton brook by a wooden bridge known as Pill bridge in 1424. (fn. 28) The main road from Gloucester to Cheltenham, which ran across the distant north-western peninsula of Elmbridge (fn. 29) and in 1480 linked Gloucester with Winchcombe, (fn. 30) was a turnpike between 1756 and 1871. (fn. 31) A tramway ran beside the road between 1811 and 1861, (fn. 32) and to the south-east a railway was opened in 1840 as part of a line between Gloucester and Birmingham. (fn. 33)

Settlement in the hamlet was scattered and the names Noke and Wood Hucclecote given to two clusters of houses indicate the once wooded nature of the landscape. (fn. 34) Hucclecote village grew along Ermin Street west of Churchdown Lane (fn. 35) and had a chapel at least until 1289. (fn. 36) Eight people at Hucclecote were assessed for the subsidy in 1327. (fn. 37) The village later included several farmhouses, one of which was called Garbage (later Gartage) Hall in 1824. (fn. 38) The village pound recorded from 1597 was to the south in Green Lane; (fn. 39) after it fell into ruin the site was taken into private ownership c. 1903. (fn. 40) In the later 18th century two substantial houses were built on the south side of Ermin Street for Gloucester men, Chosen House in the 1760s for the attorney James Elly (fn. 41) and Hucclecote Court further west in the early 1770s for Sir William Strachan, Bt. Part of the cost of the latter was paid by Samuel Hayward, the landowner. (fn. 42) Many cottages and villas were added to the village in the early 19th century. Several, including Chosen or Coles Villa, west of Chosen House, and Larkhay Villa (later the Cedars), north of Ermin Street, were built by John Major, a landowner, in the mid 1820s. (fn. 43) By 1807 building had begun west of the village towards Barnwood with a group of cottages, possibly an early encroachment, on the north side of the highway and a dwelling south of the Wotton brook at Dinglewell. (fn. 44) The village was given a new focus in the early 1850s by the building of a church and school in Larkhay Road. (fn. 45) From the late 1890s the size and character of the village was substantially transformed by Gloucester's suburban development, (fn. 46) and many older buildings were replaced in the 1950s and later. (fn. 47) The few 17th- and 18th-century houses remaining in 1985 included two timber-framed cottages north of Ermin Street. Another, west of Green Lane, which belonged to the rectory estate in 1598, (fn. 48) has framing that was altered at an early date. East of the village a house had been built on Ermin Street at Fair Mile, on the boundary of Hucclecote with Brockworth, by 1807. (fn. 49) In the mid 19th century one or two cottages were built next to the house, (fn. 50) which was later replaced by terraced dwellings. A farmhouse was built between the village and Fair Mile c. 1860. (fn. 51)

In the south-cast the settlement of Wood Hucclecote, where four people were assessed for the subsidy in 1327, (fn. 52) was perhaps that called Little Hucclecote in 1243. (fn. 53) It grew up south of the Wotton brook around a green, (fn. 54) recorded in 1597, (fn. 55) and in 1807 contained seven houses, including several farmhouses. (fn. 56) Some were later replaced and in 1985 the green, known as Hucclecote Green, remained largely undeveloped.

Noke, where four people were assessed for the subsidy in 1327, (fn. 57) was a loose collection of farmsteads and cottages at the foot of Churchdown Hill on lanes leading from the village to Churchdown and the hilltop church. (fn. 58) One house, presumably that occupied before 1318 by Richard of the hall, (fn. 59) was called Hall Place in 1453. (fn. 60) Noke Court, a farmstead on the Churchdown road, was part of an estate acquired by Samuel Hayward under his marriage settlement in 1751 (fn. 61) and it was included in his Wallsworth Hall estate until at least the mid 1850s. (fn. 62) The house, which was rebuilt in the 19th century, and the farm buildings were derelict in 1985. The farmhouse at Noke Farm, to the west, dates from the late 18th century and was probably that called Noke Place in 1870. (fn. 63) A house north-east of Mill bridge incorporates a timber-framed building of the 17th or 18th century and was occupied as several cottages in the mid 19th. South-west of the bridge a timber-framed house was rebuilt in brick and was converted as three cottages by 1848. (fn. 64) West of Churchdown Hill a farmstead had been built at Zoons Court by 1689. (fn. 65) Known also as the Zoons, it was part of a large estate belonging to Mary Holcomb in the late 18th century. (fn. 66) The farmhouse, which has a 17th-century south front, was remodelled in the later 19th century when a rear wing was removed. (fn. 67) It had been derelict for several years by 1985 when the farmstead included a bungalow. (fn. 68) In the early 19th century a small group of cottages was established above Zoons Court on the side of the hill, (fn. 69) where there was scattered building above Noke in the later 19th century and the early 20th. (fn. 70)

A small settlement had grown up at Elmbridge (formerly Telbridge or Elbridge), (fn. 71) east of the Horsbere brook on the Gloucester-Cheltenham road, by the mid 12th century when it included a chapel. (fn. 72) A bridgewright living there in the early 13th century (fn. 73) was evidently responsible for maintaining bridges there by virtue of the land he held. (fn. 74) In 1327 only three people at Elmbridge were assessed for the subsidy, (fn. 75) and by the later 18th century the settlement comprised only the ancient manor house of Elmbridge Court, south-east of the road. (fn. 76) A cottage north of the road was the only other dwelling at Elmbridge in the mid 19th century. (fn. 77)

In 1801 Hucclecote's population was 234. By 1831, following the building of many new houses, it had risen to 465, but in the mid 19th century it fell a little and in 1871 was 429. In 1891, when the village was becoming primarily a dormitory of Gloucester, 459 people lived in Hucclecote. (fn. 78)

As a village with much passing road traffic Hucclecote had several inns. A man was brewing and selling ale there in 1451, (fn. 79) and inns were recorded from 1598 (fn. 80) with names that included the Fiery Beacon in 1638 (fn. 81) and the General Wood in 1726. (fn. 82) The latter may have had an outdoor bowling alley (fn. 83) and was possibly the inn called the Royal Oak in 1841. (fn. 84) Further east the Wagon and Horses, recorded in 1767, (fn. 85) was evidently kept by one of three victuallers licensed in the hamlet in 1755. (fn. 86) At Fair Mile the Victoria inn had opened by 1846 (fn. 87) and at Elmbridge there was a beer retailer in 1863. (fn. 88) The Royal Oak, which in 1957 changed premises, and the Wagon and Horses and Victoria, both rebuilt c. 1900, (fn. 89) survived in 1985.

The antiquary Richard Furney (1694–1753), archdeacon of Surrey and a native of Gloucester, became a landowner in Hucclecote where he died. (fn. 90) The poet Sydney Dobell (1824–74) lived for a time at Noke Place. (fn. 91)

MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.

An estate of 4 hides in Hucclecote was among the lands of the minster of St. Oswald, Gloucester, that were held in 1066 by Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, and in 1086 by the archbishop of York. (fn. 92) Known as HUCCLECOTE manor, the estate was retained by the archbishop of York as a member of the barony of Churchdown until 1545 when the manors of the barony were exchanged with the Crown. (fn. 93) In 1552 the barony was granted to Sir Thomas Chamberlayne (fn. 94) (d. 1580), whose eldest son John succeeded to the manors of Churchdown and Hucclecote. John had been knighted by 1607 and had died without issue (fn. 95) by 1622 leaving both manors encumbered with debts, (fn. 96) for which his brother Edmund Chamberlayne was imprisoned in the Fleet. (fn. 97) After Edmund's death in 1634 both manors descended, evidently with Maugersbury manor in Stow-on-the-Wold, in the Chamberlayne family. (fn. 98) In 1875 Henry Ingles Chamberlayne sold his lands in Churchdown and Hucclecote to Joseph Lovegrove, a Gloucester solicitor. (fn. 99) On Lovegrove's death in 1883 the manorial rights passed to trustees, including his brother-in-law Frederick Smithe, vicar of Churchdown, after whose death in 1900 they were sold to John Handcock Selwyn-Payne of Badgeworth Court. (fn. 100) A later owner John Jones apparently relinquished the remaining manorial rights in 1935. (fn. 101)

In 1327 John Browning held 2 ploughlands and 20 a. of meadow at Noke from the archbishop of York by knight service. (fn. 102) The estate was probably that called NOKE manor, part of which was held by Thomas Kemyll (fl. 1434) and by Thomas Feld (d. c. 1511). The latter's son and heir Giles was a minor and the estate has not been traced after 1515. (fn. 103)

St. Margaret's Hospital at Wotton acquired land in Hucclecote and Elmbridge in the 13th century and the early 14th. (fn. 104) In the mid 17th century the hospital's possessions included c. 3 a. in Hucclecote, (fn. 105) which were exchanged under an inclosure Act of 1726 for a close of 3 a. (fn. 106) The close was retained by the Gloucester municipal charity trustees in 1848. (fn. 107)

There were several estates at Elmbridge in the 13th century, including one belonging in the 1230s to John of Elmbridge, described as lord of Elmbridge, and his wife Alice. (fn. 108) Land at Elmbridge and Brickhampton in Churchdown, held c. 1270 by Geoffrey de Longchamp from Churchdown barony as ⅓ knight's fee, (fn. 109) formed the estate later known as the manor of ELBRIDGE or ELMBRIDGE, which also included land in Down Hatherley and Innsworth. (fn. 110) That estate probably passed to William de Gardinis (fl. 1299), a landowner at Matson, from whom land at Elmbridge was held by St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Gloucester, (fn. 111) and by Walter of Gloucester (d. c. 1311). Walter's estate, comprising a capital messuage and 35 a., was held by the yearly service of ½ mark and passed to his son Walter, a minor. (fn. 112) The hospital acquired land there piecemeal in the 13th century and the early 14th and exchanged some of it with Thomas de la Mare in 1347. (fn. 113)

Elmbridge manor passed to the de la Mare family and was held jointly by Robert de la Mare (d. 1382) and his wife Maud who survived him. (fn. 114) In 1394 Maud's daughter William de la Mare and son-in-law John Roach quitclaimed their rights in the estate to Roger Pirton. (fn. 115) He or another Roger Pirton did homage for the manor in 1426 and died in 1453, having granted it to feoffees. His widow Elizabeth married John Bradston (fn. 116) and in 1455 they granted the manor for the term of her life to William Nottingham, (fn. 117) to whom Walter Grey and his wife Margaret quitclaimed rights in it in 1467. (fn. 118) Nottingham held the manor with other feoffees, including John Dodyng to whom Thomas Aleyn and his wife quitclaimed an interest in it in 1457. (fn. 119) Nottingham, a lawyer and a former M.P. for Gloucester and for the county, was knighted and appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer. He died in 1483 having granted Elmbridge manor and other estates to trustees, from whom they were bought in 1487 by Richard Poole, husband of his widow Elizabeth. (fn. 120) After Poole's death in 1517 Elmbridge manor descended with Sapperton, from the mid 16th century together with Pirton manor in Churchdown, (fn. 121) and in 1622 Henry Poole sold Elmbridge and Pirton to Elizabeth Craven, widow of Sir William Craven. (fn. 122) Both manors passed to her son William, who was created Lord Craven in 1627 and earl of Craven in 1665. After his death in 1697 over 200 a. descended with Elmbridge Court and the Craven barony to William Craven (d. 1791). (fn. 123) Elmbridge Court passed to his second son Henry Augustus Berkeley Craven (fn. 124) (d. 1836), who was succeeded by a younger brother Richard Keppel Craven. After Richard's death in 1851 (fn. 125) the Elmbridge Court estate, which including Pirton manor comprised 759 a., reverted to the representative of the main line, William Craven, earl of Craven. (fn. 126) In 1853 he sold the estate, (fn. 127) and Francis Leyborne-Popham, of Littlecote in Ramsbury (Wilts.), the owner in 1870, was succeeded at his death in 1880 by his son Francis William Leyborne-Popham. (fn. 128) Elmbridge Court and 240 a. were bought, probably in 1890, by Frederick Harvey (d. 1908), a cattle breeder and horse dealer. (fn. 129) By 1937 Elmbridge Court had been purchased by Colborne Estates Ltd. and new houses had been built on part of its land. (fn. 130) Government offices were also built there in the mid 20th century. (fn. 131)

Elmbridge Court, which was on an ancient moated site, (fn. 132) was occupied as a farmhouse by 1478. (fn. 133) The house was possibly partly rebuilt in the 16th century or the early 17th, and in 1652 had several outbuildings, all within the moat and including two milkhouses above which were six lodging rooms and three corn lofts. (fn. 134) By 1769 outbuildings had been erected beyond the moat. (fn. 135) Following additions and remodelling by Frederick Harvey in 1896, (fn. 136) the house was mainly of brick and retained a central range with two cross wings. (fn. 137) It was demolished with the farm buildings c. 1960 when the site was included in a new housing estate. (fn. 138)

The rectory of Hucclecote, which included the tithes of Hucclecote, Wood Hucclecote, and Noke, belonged to St. Oswald's Priory, Gloucester, and under a lease of 1498 was farmed by John Lewis. (fn. 139) In 1542 it was settled with the priory's other rectories on the dean and chapter of Bristol cathedral, (fn. 140) who treated it as part of the rectory of Churchdown. (fn. 141) The farmer of Churchdown rectory granted a lease of a house in Hucclecote and of the Hucclecote, Wood Hucclecote, and Noke tithes in 1598 to Richard Bishop (fn. 142) and a lease of the Elmbridge tithes in 1768 to John Allen, whose right to take milk tithes was confirmed in 1773. (fn. 143) The dean and chapter of Bristol retained the freehold of the Hucclecote house in 1858. (fn. 144) The tithes from the Hucclecote land inclosed under the Act of 1726 were commuted for a rent charge of 2s. 6d. an acre. The hamlet's other tithes were commuted with those of Churchdown in 1840 when Edmund Hopkinson of Edgeworth, Thomas Dancey, and Joanna Matthews held them under the dean and chapter. (fn. 145) Land near Wood Hucclecote owned by St. Oswald's Priory in 1316 (fn. 146) was presumably held with a tenement called the New House in 1498. (fn. 147) Although said to be in Hucclecote, (fn. 148) the house stood in Upton St. Leonards to the south. (fn. 149)

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

In 1086 there were 2 ploughteams on the demesne of the archbishop of York's Hucclecote estate. (fn. 150) That estate was later administered with the archbishop's lands in Churchdown and by 1399 the demesne had been leased, with customary tenants, including several in Hucclecote, holding small shares known as pennyland. (fn. 151) The vineyard belonging to the archbishop in the later 12th century (fn. 152) was at Noke and by 1506 had become a pasture. (fn. 153) In 1538 the Churchdown estate was leased for 21 years to six husbandmen, including three Hucclecote men, (fn. 154) and in the mid 17th century the Hucclecote demesne was held by a tenant for £10 a year. (fn. 155) Elmbridge comprised 2 ploughlands in 1220. (fn. 156) The demesne of Elmbridge manor was leased with Elmbridge Court as one farm by 1478, (fn. 157) and in 1630 was extended at 218 a. (fn. 158)

In 1086 there were 11 villani and 5 bordars working 11 teams on the archbishop's Hucclecote estate. (fn. 159) By 1399 the archbishop had commuted the labour services of the customary tenants holding yardlands, half-yardlands, and fardels on his Churchdown estate but he could still require them to perform bedrips and make hay in Meanham, his meadow by the Severn on the north side of Gloucester. (fn. 160) The customary tenants, several of whom held mondaylands in Hucclecote, also owed pannage and heriots and until the mid 16th century needed the lord's licence to live elsewhere. (fn. 161) In the later Middle Ages the archbishop's Churchdown estate also included a few free tenants in Hucclecote, (fn. 162) who c. 1552 owed 24s. 9d. in assized rents while the customary tenants there owed £17 17s. 4d. (fn. 163) In the late 16th century the lord of the manor denied the claim of tenants to inherit copyholds, (fn. 164) and in 1637 most tenancies in Hucclecote and Noke were leaseholds, of which 11, including the demesne, were on fixed rents and another 16 were described in 1644 as fee farms. (fn. 165) Both fee-farm and copyhold tenure persisted in Hucclecote until after the First World War. (fn. 166) The tenants on Elmbridge manor in 1630 comprised one leaseholder for lives with 10¾ a., one tenant at will with 6 a., and four copyholders with 38 a. including a former mondayland, 19¾ a., 14 a., and 6 a. respectively. (fn. 167)

In the 13th century the settlements of Hucclecote, Wood Hucclecote, and Noke shared open fields, (fn. 168) and in 1340 a third of the arable on the archbishop's estate was left fallow each year. (fn. 169) In 1442 part of a field on Churchdown Hill called the Breach (fn. 170) may have been taken into cultivation recently. In the early 18th century eight areas of open field remained in the main part of Hucclecote. (fn. 171) One, Outhill, was on Churchdown Hill and another, Pittmill field, lay north of the Horsbere brook. There were five fields beside Ermin Street. To the north Brook and Windmill fields, respectively east and west of the village, extended to the Horsbere brook. To the south Cowsley and Huckley fields, respectively east and west of Green Lane, reached to the Wotton brook, and Foxall covered a small area between Ermin Street and the stream on the west side of the hamlet. South of the Wotton brook Lillys field, recorded from 1432, (fn. 172) may have once included Goose Acre, a small area of land to the east, (fn. 173) and probably originated as a fragment of a field shared with neighbouring Barnwood. (fn. 174) The low-lying land in Hucclecote was unsuited to arable farming and in 1442 part of Cowsley field was called watery land. There were then many small closes of pasture and meadow. (fn. 175) With the exception of Hucclecote Green no permanent common pastures have been identified in the main part of the hamlet. (fn. 176) After the harvest the open fields were grazed by the tenants' cattle and pigs and in 1451 two haywards were appointed to deal with offenders pasturing sheep in the stubble. The commoning of sheep was stinted at 40 to the yardland in 1486. In 1516 pulses were growing in one field. (fn. 177) At Elmbridge, where open-field land was recorded from the 13th century, (fn. 178) the manorial demesne was evidently inclosed shortly before 1489 when the commoners pulled down several hedges and pastured sheep and oxen among crops growing on it. (fn. 179) In 1630 Elmbridge manor included part of Gunsmoor, a meadow north-east of the Horsbere brook at Innsworth, in which some of Gloucester's hamlets also shared. Elmbridge Court farm comprised 218 a. mostly in large meadows and pasture closes (fn. 180) and was given over mainly to dairying. (fn. 181) In 1699 it was leased to a grazier. (fn. 182) An unusual feature of local husbandry was the vineyard owned by Nathaniel Matthews near the Zoons in 1733. (fn. 183)

Hucclecote was inclosed under an Act of 1726 by agreement between the 29 landholders, not all of them freeholders, sharing in the 436 a. of remaining open-field land. Their allotments were described in a deed of 1727 and ten comprised 5 a. or less and another thirteen 20 a. or less. The principal beneficiary, with 93 a., was Nathaniel Matthews. (fn. 184) In 1831 there were in the hamlet 12 farmers employing a total of 63 labourers and 5 employing none. (fn. 185) The largest farms were Elmbridge Court and Zoons Court, with 230 a. and 216 a. respectively in 1861. (fn. 186) Smallholdings remained a significant feature in Hucclecote in the late 19th century and the early 20th: in 1896 a total of 33 agricultural occupiers was returned and in 1926 a total of 29, of whom 24 had less than 50 a. and 9 less than 5 a. (fn. 187) The largest farms in the 1930s still centred on Elmbridge Court and Zoons Court. (fn. 188)

Hucclecote had a large area of arable land in 1840, (fn. 189) but permanent grassland, which covered at least 571 a. in 1866, was predominant and became even more significant in the late 19th century as cereal and other arable cultivation declined. (fn. 190) In 1905 the amounts of permanent grass and arable were 1,175 a. and 175 a. respectively. (fn. 191) More cattle, sheep, and pigs were raised and dairying assumed greater significance in local farming; the number of milk cows returned was 44 in 1866 and 118 in 1896. (fn. 192) In the early 20th century arable farming continued to decline and the number of pigs reared fell, but more sheep and poultry were introduced and were returned at 586 and 3,265 respectively in 1926. (fn. 193) Hucclecote's inhabitants included in 1863 a farmer who was also a butcher, in 1889 dealers in cattle and pigs and a dairyman, and in 1906 a poultry farmer. (fn. 194) The area of orchards, which in 1840 covered 70 a. mostly around the village and green, had increased to at least 95 a. by 1896 and to 135 a. by 1933. (fn. 195) The needs of Gloucester encouraged market gardening, and in Hucclecote five market gardens were recorded in 1885 (fn. 196) and at least 11 a. were so used in 1896. (fn. 197) A nursery including greenhouses was laid out on 16 a. north of Ermin Street in or before 1858. (fn. 198) The area of farmland declined in the 20th century as land was taken for building and in the 1960s and early 1970s for main roads. The area of orchards was more than halved between 1956 and 1970 and the nursery closed c. 1964. (fn. 199) Three or four outlying farms remained in 1985 when farming was mixed.

There were several mills on the Horsbere brook. That from which Mill bridge, on the road between Hucclecote and Churchdown, was named apparently belonged in 1320 to St. Margaret's Hospital at Wotton. It probably stood downstream from the bridge (fn. 200) but no other mention of it has been found. The millward living at Noke in 1327 (fn. 201) may have worked it or Pitt Mill, recorded from 1399 on a site downstream and north of the village. (fn. 202) Pitt Mill, called Horsemans Mill in 1840 (fn. 203) and presumably the mill belonging to the archbishop of York in 1086 and 1340, (fn. 204) was always a corn mill. It may have been burnt in 1634, allegedly in divine punishment on the miller for sabbath breaking. (fn. 205) With a windmill built nearby before 1610, (fn. 206) it was bought in 1675 by Nicholas Lane, a Gloucester apothecary, and in 1713 by Richard Harding, a Tetbury mercer. (fn. 207) The water mill, which in 1840 belonged to John Matthews, (fn. 208) was acquired by Gloucester corporation in 1856 during the construction of waterworks at the brook's source. (fn. 209) The corporation sold the mill in 1861 to Joshua Dowdeswell (fn. 210) of Noke Court farm, but the reduction in the stream's flow sometimes made milling impossible. The mill, which was unoccupied in 1881, was not worked after the early 1920s. The leat was filled in c. 1958 and the buildings, comprising a brick mill and a mill house with some timber framing, fell into ruins and were demolished after 1971. (fn. 211)

A mill had been built at Elmbridge by the early 13th century. (fn. 212) In 1236 John of Elmbridge and his wife Alice granted it to Walter, son of Walter of Banbury. (fn. 213) The mill, which has not been found recorded after 1347, (fn. 214) evidently stood upstream from the Cheltenham road. (fn. 215) Withygun Mill, mentioned in 1320 and 1480, (fn. 216) was apparently some way below the road where a meadow of the same name, once part of Down Hatherley manor, was included in the Elmbridge estate in 1574. (fn. 217)

The inhabitants of Hucclecote included a smith in 1545, (fn. 218) and a smith, a tailor, a cordwainer, and a weaver in 1608. (fn. 219) Gravel working had started by 1819 (fn. 220) and important brick and tile works had been established at Fair Mile by 1856. (fn. 221) In 1831 trade supported 13 families compared with 77 supported by agriculture. (fn. 222) The village had a blacksmith's shop in 1840, (fn. 223) and in 1856 the basic village trades of carpenter, cooper, shoemaker, and tailor were also represented. Those of blacksmith and bootmaker continued until after the First World War. Two shops were open in 1870. (fn. 224)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Frankpledge jurisdiction over Hucclecote and Elmbridge was exercised by the court held at Churchdown by the lords of the barony of Churchdown. That court, in which the Hucclecote and Churchdown homages made their presentments separately, also acted as the court baron for Hucclecote manor, and court rolls, including one for a court of survey in 1426, survive for many years in the periods 1423–57, 1486–7, 1497–1549, and 1590–1600. The maintenance of watercourses, roads and lanes, and bridges was an important part of its business. The Hucclecote homage in 1516 elected a constable. (fn. 225) In the 18th century and the early 19th the court sometimes met in one of Hucclecote's inns. (fn. 226) Court rolls for Elmbridge manor, which had its own court, survive for 1442, when the rental was renewed, and for several years in the period 1457–89 when its work included the maintenance of watercourses and rights of way. In 1489 it dealt with the destruction of hedges and forcible pasturing of sheep and oxen among crops growing on the demesne. (fn. 227) There are also court rolls for 1664–1702 and estreat rolls for 1664 and 1684–5. (fn. 228) The tenants of the Hucclecote rectory estate in the early 16th century owed suit to Parton manor court in Churchdown. (fn. 229)

Hucclecote hamlet had its own churchwarden, one of two for Churchdown parish, (fn. 230) and his account for 1684 has survived. (fn. 231) The hamlet maintained its own poor and highways by the 1670s, and in 1675 was involved in a settlement dispute with Churchdown. (fn. 232) Expenditure on poor relief rose from £52 in 1783 to £110 in 1803 and £398 in 1813. The number of persons receiving regular help was 9 in 1803 and 34 in 1813. (fn. 233) Annual expenditure fell after 1813 and averaged £204 in the late 1820s and early 1830s. (fn. 234) Hucclecote joined the new Gloucester poor-law union in 1835. (fn. 235) Later it was in Gloucester rural district, and that part not absorbed by Gloucester city in 1967 (fn. 236) was included in Tewkesbury district in 1974.

CHURCH.

There was a chapel at Hucclecote in 1289. It was under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of York and evidently originated as a chapel of the minster (later priory) of St. Oswald, Gloucester. (fn. 237) It presumably served the settlements at Hucclecote, Wood Hucclecote, and Noke, the tithes of which belonged to the priory's Hucclecote rectory estate (fn. 238) granted in 1542 to the dean and chapter of Bristol cathedral. (fn. 239) No record of the chapel has been found after 1289 and Hucclecote probably became part of Churchdown parish soon afterwards. (fn. 240) A chapel at Elmbridge, one of several built in the priory's liberty in the mid 12th century, has not been traced. (fn. 241) Later Elmbridge evidently paid its tithes to the rectory of Churchdown. (fn. 242)

A church was built at Hucclecote in 1850. The cost was borne by voluntary contributions and by grants from, among others, the Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Church Building Association, the Revd. S. W. Warneford, and the dean and chapter of Bristol, and the site was given by Edmund Hopkinson. (fn. 243) In 1851 the church was assigned those parts of Hucclecote south of the Horsbere brook and at Noke as a district chapelry. (fn. 244) A house was acquired for the living, which was otherwise poorly endowed and in 1856 was worth £32. The living was called a perpetual curacy (fn. 245) (later a vicarage) and has remained in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 246) In 1862 Chosen Villa was purchased for the vicar's residence, and another house bought for the same purpose in 1952 was similarly replaced after 1968. (fn. 247)

The church, which was dedicated in 1851 to ST. PHILIP AND ST. JAMES, (fn. 248) was built of stone in a 13th-century style to a design by John Jacques & Son of Gloucester. It comprised chancel with north vestry and nave with south porch and west bellcot. (fn. 249) In 1886 the easternmost bay of the nave was adapted to accommodate the choir, the floor being raised and a low stone screen built to divide it from the rest of the nave. A north aisle with an arcade of five bays was added to the nave in 1911 (fn. 250) and the vestry was enlarged in 1927. (fn. 251) A set of plate made in 1849 by John Keith was acquired for the church. (fn. 252)

NONCONFORMITY.

In 1790 a house in Hucclecote was registered for nonconformist worship and in 1817 the ministers of the Baptist and Independent churches in Gloucester each registered a building in the village. Other houses there were registered in 1820 and 1831, the latter by a preacher from the Gloucester Independent church. (fn. 253)

Wesleyan Methodists in Hucclecote used buildings registered in 1834 and 1842, the latter being the house of Richard Colwell, a local preacher. (fn. 254) In 1848 the Wesleyans built a chapel to a plain classical design of John Jacques. (fn. 255) Paid for largely by William Wingate, the builder, (fn. 256) it was on the south side of Ermin Street (fn. 257) and for a few years was the only permanent place of worship in the village. In 1851, after several Wesleyan Reformers had recently left the meeting, (fn. 258) it had Sunday afternoon and evening congregations of 40 or more. (fn. 259) With the growth of the village the meeting flourished and in 1915 a resident minister was appointed. (fn. 260) The chapel, which had become unsafe as well as too small, was replaced in 1929 by a new church, built further east, in the later Carisbrooke Road, to a design of William Leah. The older chapel was demolished, and the site, including a cemetery, was retained. (fn. 261) By 1981 membership of the Hucclecote Methodist church had risen to 220 and the congregation had out-grown the accommodation. (fn. 262)

EDUCATION.

Hucclecote had at least two schools in 1819. One, begun that year, was a day and boarding school teaching 19 children in 1833 and remained open until 1841 or later. In 1833 there were two other day schools in Hucclecote where children were educated at the parents' expense; one begun in 1832 taught 10 girls and the other 5 children. (fn. 263)

In 1852 a small National school was built north of the churchyard on land given by Edmund Hopkinson. (fn. 264) Its income from voluntary sources (fn. 265) became insufficient and in 1880 a school board was compulsorily formed to run it. The board had five members representing Anglicans and Wesleyan Methodists. (fn. 266) The building continued to be used for an Anglican Sunday school (fn. 267) and in 1888 the Wesleyans erected their own Sunday school south of Ermin Street. (fn. 268) The board school, which in 1885 had an average attendance of 55, (fn. 269) later held some classes in the Wesleyans' building and was moved in 1900 to a new building north of the former National school. (fn. 270) In 1904, under the county council, it had an average attendance of 98. (fn. 271) Later the Anglican and Wesleyan Sunday schools were sometimes used for classes (fn. 272) and in 1938 the day school's average attendance was 108. (fn. 273) It became an infants' school on the opening in 1957 of a school in Hillview Road (fn. 274) and was renamed Larkhay infants' school in 1966. (fn. 275) Between 1967 and 1974 it was run by the city education authority. (fn. 276) In 1982 it was closed, the children were transferred to Hillview school, and the building was used by the county council for an information technology centre. (fn. 277)

CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.

Hucclecote benefited from the eleemosynary charities established for Churchdown ancient parish (fn. 278) and some time before 1905 was assigned by Churchdown two fifths of the income from those of Giles Cox and William Stansby. (fn. 279) Hucclecote's share of the Cox charity, valued at £3–4 in 1885, (fn. 280) was distributed under a Scheme of 1892 by a coal, drapery, and boot club (fn. 281) and was received directly from the charity's trustees from 1915, when it was £6 5s. (fn. 282) On the division of the charity in 1957 a separate Hucclecote charity was formed. In 1971 its income of £6 was paid to needy students and apprentices. (fn. 283) Until 1936 Hucclecote regularly received £1 4s. from the Stansby apprenticing charity. (fn. 284) In 1971 Hucclecote continued to benefit from Richard Holford's Churchdown charity. (fn. 285)

A charitable trust established for Hucclecote in 1944 as a memorial to George Kingscote (d. 1942) provided £14 for the poor at Christmas. (fn. 286)