A trip to Stonehouse, Chalford and Wotton-under-Edge

This is what you might call a very occasional series. In 2021’s summer issue I had an article themed ‘A Cotswold Triangle’ in which I concocted a triangular tour around Gloucestershire. I returned with Part 2 in the February 2023 issue, but this time in Worcestershire. And here I am, back in Gloucestershire for Part 3. The points of my imaginary triangle will be Stonehouse (top left), Chalford (top right) and Wotton-under-Edge (down the bottom somewhere). I’m hoping there’ll be nothing Bermuda about this.

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I start not in Stonehouse, but Stroud, a bit to the east, where I meet our esteemed editor for coffee and biccies in the Subscription Rooms. Although my inaugural Cotswold Life article was published almost a decade ago, this is the first time we’ve actually met, indeed the first time we’ve even spoken. I fancy that means things have been going pretty smoothly. Stroud is the first of several hilly towns I shall visit; take the top of the High Street where I fancy a toboggan might come in handy on an icy day. I like Stroud. It’s one of those nook and cranny places where I couldn’t find the things my research had highlighted but discovered other ‘stuff’ instead that more than compensated. That’s the delight of exploring a town. The four-sided clock tower was an easy spot, finished in 1921 and named ‘Sims Clock’ after the chap, William Thomas Sims, who made the bequest that enabled it to be built. It’s also known as the ‘Four Clocks’ for obvious reasons and I was told is a meeting place.

Stroud’s clock tower, which was finished in 1921 Off the High Street is ‘The Shambles’, one of Stroud’s oldest areas. The Old Town Hall here dates from the late-1500s and there is a blue plaque here commemorating one John Canton (1718-72), a Georgian physicist who ‘attended the school formerly held in this building’. Born in the town, Canton was also a schoolmaster, Fellow of the Royal Society and quite the inventor. Opposite is the Church Hall which sports another blue plaque, this one recalling John Wesley (1703-91), the Methodist founder who ‘preached from a butcher’s block 26 June 1742’, ‘Shambles’ of course betraying that this was once the site of butchers’ stalls or a meat market. The church that’s referred to is splendid St Laurence’s which sits at the end maintaining a watchful eye on everything. Stroud has much heritage to celebrate and does it well with colourful information boards.

There’s plenty of water in Chalford where the Frome offers good fishing Passing Brimscombe and Thrupp where I’m excited to spot a football club representing the two communities, I arrive at Chalford at my triangle’s north-eastern tip. I’m in the Golden Valley south-east of Stroud, where both the Golden Valley rail line and the River Frome cut through. Now, this is a steep village with handsome buildings, once home to master-weavers, clinging on to the hillside. It’s unexpectedly picturesque as though the landscape has become semi-Alpine. Where did I put that toboggan? It was those same master-weavers whose broadcloth benefited Stroud’s economy. Huguenot weavers were here and some of the original mills from an 18th-century halcyon period are still here creating an atmosphere for those of us who follow. St Mary’s Mill House is described as ‘sternly Classical’; I reached it via a manually-operated level crossing of the Golden Valley line. Christ Church is on the main street, dates to 1724, but was refashioned by those pesky Victorian restorers. There’s a sculpture over the south door, fashioned by the splendidly-named John Thomas who also did some work on Sir Charles Barry’s Houses of Parliament.

Mural celebrating Nailsworth’s heritage: ‘Flowing water and weaving cloth’ You never know what lies in store. Heading down the eastern side of my triangle, Nailsworth-bound, I was confronted with a road closure, diversion, and some breathless mountain driving, including the occasional bit of uphill reversing with threatening stone walls either side; not for the faint hearted. I finally make Nailsworth and throw in another footie thought, for the local side, Forest Green Rovers FC, was officially recognised as the world’s first vegan football club in 2017. With food now on my mind, plus my narrow escape from Himalayan rallying prescribing a sit down, I ventured into a café which put me in mind of ‘Acorn Antiques’ and ‘Mrs Overall’. It was a delight. A mural celebrates Nailsworth’s heritage of ‘flowing water and weaving cloth’; these places share a proud commonality. The present Town Clock was completed in 1952 as a war memorial whilst Nailsworth’s Fountain had been erected 90 years previously to commemorate the work of William Smith who ‘secured for the first time an abundant supply of pure drinking water for the town’ as ‘at that time cholera outbreaks were common’. Nailsworth Town Hall meanwhile is of 1868 vintage and is of the Italianate style.

The Tolsey Clock (1897) on the corner of the High Street and Market Street in Wotton-under-Edge Wotton-under-Edge is at the bottom of my triangle. Timekeeping is important on assignments such as this, so the abundance of clocks is reassuring. Perhaps Wotton’s is the jewel, the Tolsey Clock, attached to the Tolsey building on the corner of Market Street and High Street and assuredly one of the town’s landmarks, in situ since 1897 and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. As I eyed it up with my camera a proud local began telling me all about it; I don’t blame them. Less eye-catching was the Town Hall, but only because its frontage was covered in scaffolding. I sneaked around the back to take the best picture possible of a structure that dates back to 1700 and the waning of the Stuart era. It looks old, but St Mary the Virgin manages to knock a few spots off it for being venerable. Consecrated in 1283 by the Bishop of Worcester, it’s believed that most of today’s church was completed in 1325, just a couple of years before the denouement of Edward II in a castle not that far from here (Berkeley of course). If I have a favourite collection of buildings in Wotton, though, it would be Perry and Dawes Almshouses, the oldest parts of which, including the sweet little chapel, date to 1638. It’s a place I could more than happily live.

The Parish Church of St James the Great in Dursley, whose tower had to be rebuilt in Gothic style in the early-17th century after its predecessor fell down There was a fork, one way Wotton, t’other way Dursley; you take your choice. It was the 18th-century Market Hall that I particularly wanted to see in Dursley, and it was worth the slight kink in my triangle’s western side. It stands elegantly on a dozen arches and was built in 1738 by the local bigwig whose coat of arms therefore appears on the side. According to a plaque ‘it replaced a butter cross and ruined arcade’. There’s another plaque listing the ‘tolls and dues to be payable and taken on demand in the Market House and Town of Dursley, from the 1st day of January, 1834’ which is a joy to behold. Across the road is the impressive Parish Church of St James the Great. That first plaque informs me that the tower fell down in 1699 but was rebuilt in 1707-09 after Queen Anne appears to have become personally involved in the fundraising. Dursley has some good Georgian houses to admire, a throwback to the town’s 18th-century prosperity, but there’s much new building, too, for nowhere wants to be moribund. Evidence of change – some good, some not – is a constant companion. Here, there’s a classic looking bank building; now a café. The loss of the bank is probably keenly felt; the café is popular, though.

Stonehouse Court Hotel And finally, I head up top left to Stonehouse where a bed awaits me. There are views of the Severn to my left. Berkeley Castle’s over there somewhere; Edward II, red hot pokers growing in the grounds, etc. Firstly, though, to the town which I find to be quite modern in parts, like Dursley. The building that mostly attracts my eye is the Petty Sessional Court and Police Station, quite an imposing red brick edifice in the main drag. I understand that this was built in 1890 of Stonehouse (Jefferies) brick and that the policemen and their families lived here until the mid-20th century. The bulk of it suggests that Stonehouse was a hotbed of crime, but I can’t imagine that ever having been the case.

Gloucestershire folk are ever helpful and, seeing me eyeing up for a picture, a local bod informed me that the police station had closed in 2011. And that bed? With my historian’s eye it had to be the Stonehouse Court Hotel where Elizabeth I is reputed to have stayed. It’s certainly possible. There’s a date above the front entrance of 1601 which places the building towards the end of the Virgin Queen’s reign, and round the back is classic Elizabethan E-shape. Stonehouse was kind to me as it also provided a footie match within walking distance of my hotel. I proved to be an unlucky mascot though for Stonehouse Town FC; they lost. Liking my railways, too, I was doubly spoilt as the ground lies just beyond a level crossing and nestles inside the junction of the Bristol-Gloucester line and the Golden Valley line, so I was treated to fairly regular sightings of trains and sometimes just the sounds as they made their way behind the stand where I was watching the match, but also contemplating everything else I had seen.

References

Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1974)

The Shell Guide to England (Ed. J. Hadfield, 1973)

Stroud Town Council (stroudtown.gov.uk)

Shambles Market, Stroud (shamblesmarketstroud.co.uk)

Forest Green Rovers FC (fgr.co.uk)

Visit Stroud (visitstroud.uk)

Wotton-under-Edge Town Council (wotton-under-edge.com)

Wotton-under-Edge Historical Society, Museum & Heritage Centre (wottonheritage.com)

Stonehouse Town Council (stonehousetowncouncil.gov.uk)