WINSTONE
The rural parish of Winstone is situated on one of
the bleaker heights of the Cotswolds about 5½ miles
north-west of Cirencester; its chief settlement is
¾ mile west of the main road from Cirencester to
Gloucester, the Roman Ermin Street. Apart from a
tongue of land extending east of Ermin Street the
parish is confined by that road on the east and by the
river Frome on the west; the northern boundary is
formed in part by a stream which meets the Frome
at Washbrook, and the southern follows field boundaries. The parish in 1971 retained its ancient
boundaries and comprised 1,491 a. (fn. 1)
With the exception of the wooded slopes of the
Frome valley, the parish lies almost entirely above
the 700-ft. contour on an exposed plateau not ideal
for arable farming. (fn. 2) The land is formed mainly by
the Great Oolite with the Inferior Oolite in the
western valley; the main settlement stands on a large
exposure of fuller's earth (fn. 3) and the soil is stone brash
resting on clay. (fn. 4) The parish has arable and grassland
in almost equal areas and a considerable extent of
woodland in the Frome valley, including Winstone
wood in the north-west part. The open fields and
commons occupied most of the land south-west of
the village, and all the land east of the village, where
Foss field and Foss common, names deriving from
the Roman road, were situated. (fn. 5) The woodland of
the parish was recorded from the 13th century (fn. 6) and
extended to 120 a. in 1842. (fn. 7) The north-eastern part
of the parish is dominated by the masts of the
Winstone radio station established by the Air
Ministry in the Second World War and also used for
air traffic control in 1971. (fn. 8)
Winstone village lies in the angle of Ermin Street
and an ancient ridgeway and salt-way, (fn. 9) which survives as a track in the northern part of the parish
where it passes by Salter's hill. Ermin Street has
been an important thoroughfare throughout its
history, and in 1747 it was turnpiked between
Cirencester and Birdlip. (fn. 10) The ancient crossing of
the river Frome near Miserden castle formed part of
the drive approach to Miserden Park from Winstone
in 1971. In the south-west corner of the parish the
bridge at Bullbanks is linked to the village by a road
which the parish had negelcted to maintain in 1602. (fn. 11)
The location of the parish church (fn. 12) and the former
manor-house (fn. 13) suggests that the original settlement
at Winstone was east of the older part of the present
village, which forms a village street each side of the
junction with Church Lane, (fn. 14) the lane linking the
village to the church. The manor-house and
Townsend Farm, (fn. 15) at the west end of the village,
both date from the 17th century, but most of the
other houses are later stone buildings with no distinctive features. At the junction with Church Lane,
on the north side of the street, are High Cottages, a
pair of 18th-century coursed-rubble cottages with
two storeys and basement. In the early 19th century
an alley was cut between High Cottages and a malthouse, (fn. 16) giving access to some rubble cottages, which
were in a dilapidated state in 1971 when the malthouse had been converted to make a house. The
north-eastern end of the village street contains a
number of plain rubble cottages, one of which was
formerly the post office, (fn. 17) and the western half of the
street contains similar, but larger, cottages placed at
right-angles to or backing on to the street. The
Baptist chapel was built among the latter buildings
c. 1817, (fn. 18) and in the early 20th century the site
opposite the chapel was occupied by the smithy. (fn. 19) At
the village end of Church Lane stands a 19th-century
cottage which from 1856 or earlier was a public
house, the New Inn, (fn. 20) until it closed in 1967. (fn. 21) East
of the cottage are three mid-20th-century bungalows
and further east are the rectory and Croft Farm. (fn. 22)
Development during the 20th century has shifted
the focal point of the village away from the junction
with Church Lane to the cross-roads further north
where there is an agglomeration of houses and
bungalows built in brick or reconstituted stone; the
oldest are the rough-cast houses built during the
Second World War to house workers at the R.A.F.
radio station. (fn. 23) To the west of the village was the
pound, situated near Townsend Farm in a corner of
a field called Greensward Dancers, (fn. 24) which probably
derived its name from the Dancer family, ancient
copyhold tenants of the manor. (fn. 25)
A small settlement was recorded at Washbrook, in
the north-west corner of the parish, from the early
18th century when it contained three cottages (fn. 26) including a blacksmith's. (fn. 27) By the early 19th century
there was only one house at Washbrook (fn. 28) and it
probably formed part of the rubble cottage that
stood there in 1971. To the south of Washbrook at
Woodside, by Winstone wood, there was probably a
habitation from the 17th century. Behind a 19thcentury cottage are the ruins of an out-building with
large wooden lintels over the windows and doors, a
typical feature of other early buildings in the parish.
At Beech Pike, where there was a turnpike booth, (fn. 29)
an inn was recorded from 1781 when it was called
the Huntsman and Hounds. (fn. 30) The name had been
changed to the Masons' Arms by 1856 (fn. 31) and remained
that until c. 1960 when the buildings, basically of the
17th century, were restored and extended to incorporate the out-buildings and the name changed to
the Highwayman. (fn. 32) A pair of cottages was built
behind the inn in the later 19th century for labourers
on the Combend Manor estate in Elkstone. (fn. 33) There
are a number of stone and rubble cottages scattered
along Ermin Street; Fosse Farm dates from the 18th
century (fn. 34) but the others, one of which had a meeting
room built onto it in 1873, (fn. 35) are 19th-century buildings. East of Ermin Street four stone cottages were
built in the 19th century to accommodate workers on
the Cotswold Park estate in North Cerney; (fn. 36) they
were restored and converted in the mid 20th century
to make a single house.
Thirty-four people were recorded at Winstone in
1381 (fn. 37) and there were 7 households in 1563. (fn. 38) By
1650 there were 21 families, (fn. 39) and in the early 18th
century the 26 houses in the parish were occupied by
c. 100 people. (fn. 40) In the 1770s the population was recorded as 160 (fn. 41) but had dropped to 143 by 1801. It
increased to 192 in 1821 and, after falling away
again, increased rapidly to 262 in 1841. There was
then a steady decline in population until 1901 when
187 inhabitants were recorded, and the population
fluctuated within 10 per cent of this figure until 1961
when 190 people were living in the parish. (fn. 42)
With the possible exception of a short period in
the late 16th century it is unlikely that there has been
a resident lord of the manor since the early Middle
Ages, (fn. 43) and until the 20th century the life of the
parish was dominated by the resident yeoman
families, most of them related to the various branches
of the Haviland family. (fn. 44)