RANDWICK
RANDWICK lies 1½ miles north-west of Stroud on the
northern slopes of the Frome valley. It was formerly
a centre of the cottage weaving industry. The ancient
parish which contained 1,260 a. (fn. 1) was extremely
irregular in shape; it included a southern peninsula
and several detached parts in Stonehouse parish,
and a considerable area around Oxlinch in the northwest with detached parts in Standish parish. The
parish had a total of 42 detached parts, (fn. 2) resulting
from the sharing of open fields with Stonehouse and
Standish, and from the early tenurial and ecclesiastical dependence of Randwick on Standish. (fn. 3) In 1882
several detached parts in the north-west were added
to Standish and other land was received from
Stroud and Standish. In 1885 the southern peninsula and detached parts in Stonehouse, with a
population of 465 in 95 houses, were transferred to
Stonehouse, the part of Randwick at Oxlinch with
89 people in 19 houses was added to Standish, and
other parts with 12 people in 5 houses passed to
Stroud. In 1885 and 1886 small parts of the parish
within Haresfield and Moreton Valence were
absorbed by those parishes. (fn. 4) In 1894 Randwick was
extended to include parts of Stonehouse, Stroud,
and Standish containing 286 people in 66 houses,
leaving it a compact parish of 349 a. centred on
Randwick village. (fn. 5) The account here printed relates
to the area around Oxlinch and Randwick village;
the southern area of the ancient parish, including the
hamlet of Westrip, is dealt with under Stonehouse. (fn. 6)
The parish lay on both sides of a spur extending
southward into the Frome valley; the highest point,
at the south end of Standish wood, is at c. 700 ft.
The eastern slope falls steeply towards Ruscombe;
on the west the land slopes more gently to Oxlinch
which lies on relatively flat land at c. 200 ft. The
eastern slopes of the spur lie on the Upper Lias, and
the spur has a crest of Inferior Oolite; Oxlinch lies
on the Lower Lias which is overlaid as the land rises
to the spur by successive strata of Middle and Upper
Lias. (fn. 7) The quarry at Colstone Hill on the spur
provided building stone for the locality until the
mid 19th century or later. (fn. 8) Randwick wood, a part
of Standish wood, crowns the spur above Randwick
village. In 1459 the wood apparently extended to
near the main road at Randwick church. (fn. 9) In 1809 it
covered 44 a. (fn. 10) The wood, mainly beech, conceals
an ancient fortified camp, and a long barrow which
was excavated in 1883. (fn. 11)
Randwick village lies on the steep eastern slope
between the 400-ft. and 6oo-ft. contours. It was
apparently a fairly late settlement, and was not
mentioned in the Domesday survey. It was evidently settled from Standish, of which parish and
manor it formed a part; the name, meaning 'farm
on the border', (fn. 12) presumably related to its position
in Standish. There was a church there by the early
13th century, (fn. 13) but in 1267 Randwick manor had
only 9 tenants and some of them probably lived in
Oxlinch. (fn. 14) The church was built on the east side of
the road which climbs the steep hill-slope, and Long
Court on the same road further south was probably
the site of the ancient manor-house. (fn. 15) A church
house, described as a stone building with a large
central arched doorway, (fn. 16) was built west of the
church on land given by the lords of the manor in
1459; (fn. 17) it was demolished in 1782 to make way for a
workhouse (fn. 18) which was itself destroyed when the
glebe house was built in 1844. (fn. 19) The other buildings
on the road are mainly houses of reconstituted stone
built in the mid 20th century, but a few earlier
cottages survive: they include the 17th-century
Turret Cottage and its neighbour, which are of
rubble with mullioned windows with dripmoulds
and have staircase-turrets at the rear, and a cottage
of similar date opposite the church. A row of
cottages east of the road at the north of the village,
where a small housing estate was built in the mid
20th century, was pulled down in the late 19th
century. (fn. 20) The main village developed to the east of
the main road and north-east of the church; (fn. 21) it
consists mainly of stone and tiled cottages of the
18th and 19th centuries.
There was a settlement at Oxlinch, which was
partly in Standish parish, by the late 13th century, (fn. 22)
and it was perhaps the largest in Standish and
Randwick parishes in 1327 when the name was used
to designate an area which included both of them. (fn. 23)
It is a scattered settlement of timber-framed and
stone cottages and a few farm-houses. Tiledhouse
Farm, mentioned by that name in 1671, (fn. 24) is an
L-shaped timber-framed house of the 17th century,
with a plinth and gable-ends of ashlar; the south
gable-end has mullioned windows with dripmoulds,
and on the west there is a four-centred arched
wooden doorway and a projecting casement window
supported on carved brackets. Roadway Farm is a
rectangular 17th- or 18th-century house of rubble
with stone-mullioned windows with dripmoulds.
The Kings, mentioned in 1773, (fn. 25) is a stone house
with a fan-light over the door. A timber-framed
cottage on the road to Standish Park Farm is faced
with ashlar. Two timber-framed cottages at the
road-junction south of Tiledhouse Farm were
destroyed c. 1955. (fn. 26)
The road past Tiledhouse Farm was described
as the highway to Randwick in 1707; (fn. 27) in 1967 both
it and the road past Roadway Farm were unmetalled
tracks for several hundred yards before they met
Ash Lane from Randwick at the south end of
Randwick wood.
There were c. 100 communicants in Randwick in
1551, (fn. 28) and 18 households in 1563. (fn. 29) In 1650 there
were 100 families, (fn. 30) and 60 years later c. 400
inhabitants in 80 houses. (fn. 31) About 1775 the population was estimated at 650 in 140 houses, (fn. 32) and in
1801 there were 856 people. There had been a
reduction to 748 by 1811, but by 1821 the population
was c. 1,000 at which it remained until it was roughly
halved by the dismemberment of the parish in the
1880s. The population was c. 700 in the first half
of the 20th century but rose to 836 in 1961. (fn. 33)
The two settlements in the parish differed in
character: Oxlinch was a scattered, mainly agricultural community while Randwick, a nucleated
village, was inhabited mainly by cottage weavers
with apparently a strong sense of community.
Randwick village was described in the late 18th
century as 'very populous, chiefly inhabited by poor
people employed in the woollen manufacture'; (fn. 34) the
poverty with its attendant lawlessness was later
aggravated by depressions in the cloth industry, and
in 1825 the village was said to have 'recently emerged
from the poverty and degradation of past years'. (fn. 35) In
1830, however, it was resolved to petition parliament
about the distress in the parish, (fn. 36) which was still
serious in 1839. (fn. 37)
In 1599 two victualling houses in the parish were
mentioned. (fn. 38) In the early 19th century the local
gentry, concerned at the effect on the unemployed,
attempted to prevent new beerhouses from opening, (fn. 39)
but by 1839 there were seven in the parish. (fn. 40) In
1891 there were five; (fn. 41) among them were the 'Rising
Sun', near the Wesleyan chapel, which was in
existence in 1856, (fn. 42) the New Inn also in the main
village, (fn. 43) and the 'Vine Tree' on the main road. In
1967 there was only the 'Vine Tree'. In 1813 260
villagers were members of friendly societies, (fn. 44) and
the village was said to have an excellent friendly
society in 1839. (fn. 45)
A custom known as Randwick Wap formerly
provided the chief holiday of the village year. On
the second Monday after Easter a 'mayor' of
Randwick was elected and carried in procession to
a pool south of the church where a song which
alluded to the local weaving trade was sung. In the
19th century an unofficial fair was held at the time
and the ceremony was often accompanied with riots
and drunkenness. The custom, for which a medieval
origin was claimed, (fn. 46) was recorded c. 1703 (fn. 47) and in
the 1770s, (fn. 48) and, in spite of efforts to abolish it, (fn. 49)
continued until 1892. (fn. 50)
Joseph White (1745-1814) who became a distinguished orientalist and theologian lived at
Randwick during his youth and for some years
worked at the loom for his father, a weaver. (fn. 51) Simon
Pearce, one of a numerous family in the village, (fn. 52)
emigrated to Australia in 1841 and founded the town
of Randwick near Sydney. (fn. 53)