LONGNEY
LONGNEY, lying on the left bank of the Severn 5
miles south-west of Gloucester, is a secluded and
predominantly agricultural parish. Since the 12th
century there has been neither resident lord of the
manor nor resident rector; there is no large house,
and no railway-line or main road enters the parish.
It extended over 1,558 a. excluding foreshore and
tidal water, to which the 1½ a. of Lapperditch and
Crib at the southern end, formerly a detached part
of Standish, was added in 1884, (fn. 1) and the enlarged
area is the subject of the account here printed.
The parish is long and narrow, the western
boundary following the Severn for nearly 4 miles.
The soil is mostly clay, with a gravel terrace (fn. 2)
running down the spine of the parish where the
ground rises at three points to 50 ft. To the east the
land falls, (fn. 3) and the eastern strip is mainly alluvial
meadow land. The lie of the land and the nature of
the soil suggest that the course of the Severn was
formerly down the east side of the parish; (fn. 4) the
former bed of the river apparently remained at least
marshy in the Saxon period when Longney received
its name, signifying a long island. (fn. 5) A network of
ditches drains the alluvial meadow land, the water
being carried to the Severn by two larger channels or
droves (fn. 6) through gaps in the ridge of higher land.
The need to look after the watercourses gave rise
to the parochial or manorial office of pool-reeve, and
the two pool-reeves were also responsible (fn. 7) for the
cribs used to reinforce the river bank at places where
the flowing tide tends to undercut the bank. A new
wall was named between 1287 and 1300 to locate
land in South field, (fn. 8) and the sea-walls of Longney
that were said to be out of repair in 1540 (fn. 9) were either
the river bank with its cribs or the 3-ft. bank of
earth and stones that runs at a variable distance
from the river to prevent flooding by the highest
tides. The earth bank was recorded c. 1553 when
some land was described as being outside the walls. (fn. 10)
The land outside the walls was later protected by a
similar earth bank built immediately beside the
river, presumably before 1768 when the river was
said to have broken down the inner bank and overflowed much land. (fn. 11) In 1569 the river wall or bank,
20 ft. deep at low water, contained eight cribs each
made from eight great timber trees and 120 young
trees of 30 years' growth. The tenants of the manor
then agreed to repair and maintain the walls in
return for certain privileges, (fn. 12) but the agreement
was later held to have been annulled by a grant of
the manor in 1591. (fn. 13) In 1798 the lords of the manor
were responsible for the repair of the two cribs that
were not then in a state of decay and also of the
'sconce' or sluice at the mouth of one of the main
water-courses. (fn. 14)
The river provided a livelihood for Longney
inhabitants as sailors in the earlier 17th century. (fn. 15)
A fishery belonged to the manor in the 11th century, (fn. 16) and a kiddle or fishing-weir on the same
estate was destroyed by the king's order shortly
before 1535. (fn. 17) A small house called the weir house
was recorded c. 1553. (fn. 18) Pershore Abbey, to which
fisheries in Longney were granted in the 12th
century, allowed its tenants there to use them in the
early 13th century, (fn. 19) but retained the nominal
lordship of fisheries in 1539. (fn. 20) The fishing in the
Severn at Longney that had formerly belonged to
Great Malvern Priory as lord of the manor and to
Pershore Abbey was granted by the Crown to Cecily
Pickerell in 1563. (fn. 21) A small estate in Longney in
1384 included a fishery in the Severn, (fn. 22) and four
free fisheries in Longney formed part of two freehold
estates in 1556 and 1557. (fn. 23) In 1798 the lords of the
manor were said to have lost their fishery in the
Severn many years before, (fn. 24) but in 1968 they let the
fishing to one of their tenants. (fn. 25)
The clayey land on the west side of the parish,
beside the river, formerly lay in open fields that were
finally inclosed by a parliamentary award in 1815.
Between the fields and the meadow land on the east
side of the parish, (fn. 26) the central ridge of land was
mostly given over to orchards (fn. 27) until the mid 20th
century. Fine plantations of fruit-trees were mentioned in the early 18th century, (fn. 28) and later writers
commented on the great quantity and good quality
of cider produced in Longney. The parish gave its
name to the Longney Russet, an esteemed variety of
cider-apple originating and grown best there. (fn. 29)
Apart from the orchards, which were being reduced
in extent, there was no woodland in the 20th century.
Nicholas atte Grove in 1327 (fn. 30) may have taken his
name from one of the woods just across the parish
boundary, but in 1465 an estate of 66 a. in Longney
included 6 a. of wood. (fn. 31)
The central ridge of land is also where nearly all
the houses of the parish are built, for the presence
of gravel and the slightly higher position provide
comparatively dry sites in a watery landscape. The
houses do not form a compact village, but are strung
out over nearly 3 miles along a winding country road,
with a few minor conglomerations. The nodal point
of the settlement is towards the southern end, where
Manor Farm, (fn. 32) the church - scene of a miracle
attributed to St. Wulfstan - and the former
vicarage, (fn. 33) the school, (fn. 34) the parish pound, (fn. 35) and
Bellamy's Farm (fn. 36) are included in a loose group of
houses near the junction between the spinal road
and another road leading to Hardwicke. East of the
junction the road to Hardwicke formed a wide
track called High Green, narrowed at inclosure in
1815, where there were a few cottages until the late
19th century. (fn. 37) Along the road south of the junction
the houses include Box Tree Cottage, a 17th-century
timber-framed building with a thatched roof, and a
timber-framed, L-shaped house north of Bellamy's
Farm, but most are brick houses of the late 18th
century and later.
North of the church and lining the east side of
the road is the most concentrated group of houses,
comprising Churchend. (fn. 38) Most of them were built
of brick in the 19th century, among them the
Congregational chapel built in 1839, (fn. 39) but the houses
there were more numerous in the 18th century than
in 1968. (fn. 40) Ellis's Farm, at the north end of Churchend, incorporates a timber-framed range but was
largely rebuilt and enlarged in the late 18th or early
19th century. Churchend Farm and Tolsey Cottage
are two-storied and timber-framed, both rough-cast
and built on a plan which recurs in the parish of a
long rectangle with a central chimney.
North of Churchend the houses are more or less
scattered along the road. Some small groups are
indicated by hamlet names, but a high proportion
of the houses in the northern part of the parish have
been demolished since the mid 19th century and
their sites left empty. There were 119 houses in the
parish in 1851, 73 in 1931. (fn. 41) At Castle-end, a name
recorded in the mid 16th century (fn. 42) and presumably
used because the hillock there had the appearance
of an earthwork, the farm-house is brick and tilehung but apparently retains the timber frame of a
long rectangular building. North-west of Castle-end
is a small group of houses near a bridge over one of
the larger watercourses, crossed by a ford in the
later 13th century. (fn. 43) The settlement is called Bowlane, the bend in the road having replaced a more
direct route that existed in the 18th century. (fn. 44) The
houses there include a thatched and timber-framed
house of three bays of which the two intermediate
trusses are made of large crucks; near-by there was
once an ancient cross. (fn. 45) The farm-house at Downings, a short way north of Bowlane, incorporates a
17th-century timber-framed building of one story
with a gabled attic; Downings may be the Downend
of 1650. (fn. 46) North again, Yewtree Farm has a 17thcentury timber-framed and gabled building to which
a brick farm-house was added in the late 18th
century, and the gabled cottage opposite is timberframed and thatched.
Hill Farm represents a house that belonged in the
14th century to people called Hathemere, (fn. 47) and,
apart from Hill Farm, Hathemeresend recorded in
1379 (fn. 48) may have included Wicksgreen and Downsend, near where the road leaves Longney parish:
Wicksgreen may be the green recorded in 1646
beside the house of William Wick, (fn. 49) and Wicksgreen
Farm is a timber-framed, rectangular house of one
story with an attic, while Downsend, where a house
was demolished after 1924, (fn. 50) was presumably named
from the house called Downes in 1684. (fn. 51) A lane
leads from near Wicksgreen to Bridgemacot, (fn. 52) which
stands nevertheless on the ridge of higher ground.
The house called Haynehill (fn. 53) or Hannills seems to
have been near Bridgemacot. (fn. 54)
A few houses were built near the river, close to
the 3-ft. bank built to prevent flooding. Doodings,
near the north end of the parish, was the name c.
1553 of a freehold (fn. 55) that was presumably called
after William Dooding who in the earlier 15th
century settled his house in Longney on his daughter
Joan Aspley; (fn. 56) the house stood just outside a corner
in the bank, (fn. 57) where in 1968 there were the remains
of a farm-yard, a decayed timber-framed building of
two stories, used to store hay, and a disused byre.
A mile downstream the small settlement at Waterend
had provided a surname by 1327 (fn. 58) and may be
indicated by the name of Ellis Bythewater, who had
½ yardland in Longney in 1221. (fn. 59) Two tenants of the
manor lived at Waterend in 1569, (fn. 60) and in 1780 there
were three houses just within the flood-bank. (fn. 61) In
1968 there was a large brick farm-house of the early
19th century, with two cottages near-by. Small
cottages by the river in the northern corner of the
parish and by the mouth of the watercourse running
west from Bowlane (fn. 62) were demolished or derelict by
1968. Near the southern boundary a house, a pair of
cottages, and at Longney Crib a row of four cottages
which was partly derelict in 1968, were built in the
later 19th century.
Longney once had a relatively large population.
In 1327 the sum assessed on 24 inhabitants was
higher than the sum for any other township in the
hundred except Frampton. (fn. 63) The figure of 70
muster-men in 1542 was above average; (fn. 64) there were
c. 130 communicants in 1551 (fn. 65) and 48 households
in 1563. (fn. 66) A slowly rising population is indicated
by the figures of 150 communicants in 1603, (fn. 67) 70
families in 1650, (fn. 68) and 169 conformists in 1676. (fn. 69) In
1672 39 houses were assessed for hearth tax, none of
the exempt houses being entered in the return. (fn. 70)
The population fell from c. 260 in the early 18th
century (fn. 71) to c. 180 in 1735; (fn. 72) the fall was possibly
the result of an epidemic disease in 1719. (fn. 73) By c.
1775 a rise had begun (fn. 74) which continued sharply
between 1801, when there were 314 inhabitants, and
1851, when there were 504. Numbers then fell
equally sharply until 1891, notwithstanding the
transfer of 27 people to the parish in 1884; in 1871
the decrease was attributed to the demolition of
houses, which is as likely to have been a result as a
cause of the decrease. After 1891 the fall was gentler,
from 344 to 248 in 1961. (fn. 75)
Two unlicensed alehouses were presented in
1664, (fn. 76) and in 1838 there were three beershops. (fn. 77)
One of the beer-retailers recorded from 1856 kept
the New Inn, a small 19th-century brick building
standing apart at the southern end of the parish,
which was called the 'Plate of Elvers' in 1968. The
Bowlane Inn, north of the timber-framed cottage
there mentioned above, was a beerhouse called
Jefferis Cottage in 1880 and was closed c. 1924. (fn. 78)
The social history of Longney is characterized by
the unchallenged predominance of yeoman farmers,
either small freeholders or tenants of the corporate
bodies that have owned most of the land from the
12th century until the 20th, with little interruption.
In 1682-3 no one from Longney was summoned by
the heralds. (fn. 79) In 1672 the largest house had 5
hearths; it was the home of William Heywood, (fn. 80)
whose family had a customary estate in the early
16th century (fn. 81) and a freehold estate in the early
18th. (fn. 82) Among other yeoman families the Bullocks,
Stephenses, and Wymans held land in the 16th
century (fn. 83) and in the 19th; (fn. 84) the Ellises, Brownings,
and Longneys were long-resident families (fn. 85) that
were still represented in the parish in 1968. Until
the mid 20th century there were few residents who
were not part of the working population, but in
1968 many went to work elsewhere. (fn. 86)