MINCHINHAMPTON
The parish and former market town of Minchinhampton lies 3 miles south-east of Stroud. Called
Hampton at Domesday, it was afterwards usually
known as Minchinhampton, or in the Latin form
Hampton Monialum, from its ownership by the nuns
of Caen. The form Mitchel Hampton is also occasionally recorded, (fn. 1) and during the 17th and 18th
centuries the parish was often called Hampton
Road. (fn. 2) Minchinhampton, which lay on important
local routes of communication, had a market from
1269 and had acquired some urban characteristics by
the beginning of the next century, but in the Middle
Ages the town appears to have been important
chiefly as a centre of sheep-farming. The development of the town occurred mainly in the 17th
century and it remained a market and shopping
centre of local importance until the early 19th
century. The parish also supported a considerable
cloth industry; it had some large mills on its boundary streams and some of the cottage weaving settlements characteristic of the locality were established
on the borders of its large common. From the late
19th century the preservation of the common, the
survival of the traditional, stone-built Cotswold
town, and its high and reputedly healthy situation,
all contributed to the development of the parish as a
residential area.
The ancient parish covered 4,942 a. and was
regular in shape, (fn. 3) occupying a high plateau which
rises to over 600 ft. and is bounded on the north by
the river Frome, on the west by the Nailsworth
stream, and on the south by the Avening stream. The
north-west boundary with Rodborough parish, formerly a part of Minchinhampton, and the east
boundary cross the high upland area. The valleys lie
on the Upper Lias with overlying bands of the
Inferior Oolite and fuller's earth, and the high
ground is formed by the Great Oolite or Forest
Marble. (fn. 4) The south-west corner of the parish, including the hamlet of Watledge and some clothmills, was included in the new Nailsworth civil
parish in 1892, (fn. 5) and 50 a. in the north-west part was
transferred to Chalford civil parish in 1959. (fn. 6) The
part included in Nailsworth is treated below under
that parish. The northern boundary of the ancient
parish of Minchinhampton is also not entirely respected in this account: Chalford, which included a
few houses and mills in Minchinhampton parish, is
included wholly under Bisley; and the settlement on
the valley floor around Brimscombe Port is included
under Stroud while the higher part of Brimscombe,
including the church and school, is treated under
Minchinhampton.
The parish anciently had considerable woodland,
a wood measuring 2 leagues by ½ league being recorded in 1086. (fn. 7) In the late 12th century the tenants
of the manor complained that sales of timber and the
work of charcoal-burners had so reduced the woods
that, whereas they had once provided pasture for
2,000 swine, under half that number could now be
supported; (fn. 8) there was still extensive woodland, however, at the beginning of the 14th century when the
pannage of the pigs pastured by the tenants added
as much as £7 to the annual profits of the manor. (fn. 9)
The chief woodland in the late 12th century lay in
Gatcombe wood in the south part of the parish,
in Cowcombe wood in the Chalford valley, and in the
area which later became Minchinhampton common
in the west part of the parish. (fn. 10) Gatcombe wood,
extended at 100 a., and Cowcombe, extended at 40 a.,
were entirely set with beech in 1542; (fn. 11) Cowcombe
was later reduced in size but Gatcombe, which
covered 182 a. in 1839, (fn. 12) was preserved as an amenity
for Gatcombe Park, the house built on its eastern
side in the 1770s as the new residence of the lords of
the manor. (fn. 13) The two woods came to be regarded by
the lord of the manor as his demesne but the tenants
claimed pasture for their animals in them, a claim
which is supported by their description as common
woods in 1542. The question led to a Chancery suit
between the lord and the tenants in 1620 (fn. 14) and was
apparently still not forgotten in the 1730s when
entrants to copyholds on the manor were required to
renounce all claim to pasture in the several woods. (fn. 15)
The woodland in the west part of the parish, lying
beyond the ancient linear earthwork called the
Bulwarks, (fn. 16) was known as the custom wood. (fn. 17) The
chief distinction between the custom wood and the
other woods, as it emerged in the course of the
dispute of 1620, was apparently the tenants' right to
take wood for fuel and house-repair there. (fn. 18) The
extensive common that was left as the woodland was
cleared was later claimed to have been given to the
inhabitants by Alice Hampton (fn. 19) (d. 1515); she did
not, however, possess the chief manor of Minchinhampton (fn. 20) and the story appears to be a fiction,
fostered in order to give title to the rights enjoyed in
the common. (fn. 21) The common, which covered over
500 a., (fn. 22) survived the inclosure movement to be
zealously guarded against encroachments in the late
19th century, although neighbouring landowners
were sometimes allowed to take in small areas in
exchange for unwanted land thrown out. (fn. 23) In 1913,
after increased quarrying had caused alarm, the lord
of the manor, H. G. Ricardo, sold his rights in the
common to the National Trust. (fn. 24)
Immediately north-west of Minchinhampton town
and the ancient manor-house, the lords of the manor
inclosed a park before 1176. (fn. 25) It was well wooded
with beech in 1542, (fn. 26) and in 1815, when it was in
three divisions, it covered 61 a. (fn. 27) It survived until
the early 20th century when it was bought by the
Minchinhampton golf club and thrown into the
common in recompense for land taken for the golfcourse. (fn. 28) East of the town there were formerly extensive open fields and sheep-pastures. (fn. 29) In the First
World War an airfield was laid out at Aston Down
on the eastern boundary and used by the Royal
Australian Flying Corps; it was reopened in 1937 as
an R.A.F. maintenance unit and during the Second
World War it was in intensive use for the storage of
aircraft and for training. It was transferred to the
Ministry of Aviation in 1963 and remained an aviation stores depot of the Ministry of Defence in
1973. (fn. 30)
The most important route through the parish was
the road which is said to have been a link between
south-east England and the Severn passages below
Gloucester (fn. 31) but which was later the main road from
London and Cirencester to Stroud. That it was
already of some importance in the Middle Ages is
indicated by the highway robberies perpetrated
against two merchants at Hampton Down in the east
part of the parish in 1371. (fn. 32) It was turnpiked in
1752 (fn. 33) and by 1769 Minchinhampton was linked to
London by a stagecoach-service through Cirencester. (fn. 34) The road lost much of its importance in
1814 when the new Stroud-Cirencester road was
built along the Frome valley to meet the old road at
the top of Cowcombe hill; (fn. 35) the old road was later
severed by the building of Aston Down airfield.
Another important route, turnpiked in 1758, was the
Tetbury-Stroud road which ran through the town to
meet the Cirencester road and a number of minor
roads on Minchinhampton common (fn. 36) at a place
called Tom Long's Post, reputedly named from the
burial of a suicide. (fn. 37) The road from the Tetbury road
at Hampton Fields down to Chalford and a branch
from Hyde down to Bourne were also included in the
Act of 1758.
The road out of the south of the town through
Forwood and along the hillside above Longfords and
Holcombe mills was turnpiked in 1780 as the chief
route between the town and Nailsworth, (fn. 38) although
the Nailsworth way mentioned in 1584 was probably
that leading south-west out of the town by way of
Box. (fn. 39) The crossing at Longfords on the Avening
stream, recorded from 1248, (fn. 40) probably provided a
link between the town and a track through Hazel
wood which was apparently an ancient route to
Bristol. (fn. 41) Among a number of minor roads in the
south-east part of the parish recorded in 1584 was
Cherington way leading from the Tetbury road at
Hampton Fields. (fn. 42) Other minor roads led from the
Cirencester turnpike down to the Brimscombe and
Chalford valley, including one built from Tom
Long's Post to Brimscombe Port by the Thames and
Severn Canal Co. in 1785. (fn. 43)
The town of Minchinhampton developed on a
simple cross plan, formed by the Tetbury-Stroud
road and the road from the south part of the parish
up to the Stroud-Cirencester road. The former is
called Tetbury Street east of the cross-roads and
West End west of it; the latter is called Well Hill
south of the cross-roads, after the old town watersupply, and runs north of the cross-roads as High
Street to the church and market-place, from which it
continues on a different alignment as Butt Street.
The only other street of any importance is Friday
Street, so called by 1568, (fn. 44) which runs eastwards
from the market-place and turns southwards to join
Tetbury Street. The lines of the old market-place
are still evident in the broadening of the roadway at
the north end of High Street and the south end of
Butt Street. The market-place apparently had originally a more regular shape which was blurred by later
infilling, in particular by the building of a new
market-house in the south-east part in 1698 and the
erection of some cottages in the north part adjoining
the churchyard, possibly on the site of earlier shops. (fn. 45)
Further irregularities in the shape of the marketplace were caused by two groups of buildings which
stood in the centre of the roadways, (fn. 46) also probably
on the site of shops and stalls: the Upper Island, in
the south end of Butt Street, was pulled down in
1858, (fn. 47) and the Lower Island, in the north end of
High Street, was demolished in 1919 to be replaced
by a war memorial. (fn. 48)
Expansion of the town beyond the medieval
nucleus around the market-place apparently occurred
mainly during the 17th century. Land belonging to
the rectory, in the area of Friday Street and Tetbury
Street, had 7 tenements built on it by 1635, 19 by
1677, and 40 by 1704. (fn. 49) A row of 1½-storey cottages
on the south side of Friday Street is probably typical
of the development at that period, but many of the
17th-century houses were apparently rebuilt in the
next century. West End in particular, the longest
street, presents a predominantly 18th-century
appearance.
The more substantial houses of the town are concentrated in High Street where several were inns. (fn. 50)
A house on the west side, incorporating Arden House
and Arden Cottage, has a late-16th-century range
fronting the street; in the earlier 18th century a new
range, housing living-rooms and staircase, was built
running back from the south end and fronting on a
small courtyard. Alterations in the 19th century
included new sashed windows towards the street and
some subdivision of the interior. The former White
Hart inn on the corner with Tetbury Street is a
large, gabled 17th-century house which had some
remodelling in the earlier 18th century; later subdivision and alteration concealed many of the early
features. The Crown inn, on the north-west corner
of High Street, has an 18th-century front with 9 bays
of sashed windows, and Greylands, further down on
the west side, is a tall, modestly decorative 18thcentury house. On the south side of Tetbury Street,
the front of a house, dated 1682, (fn. 51) has been given an
unusual appearance by the insertion of pieces of a
16th-century carved stone fire-place, of which
another larger part is set in a bedroom.
Some new houses were added to the town in the
early part of the 19th century, notably a long terrace
of estate cottages built at the end of West End by
David Ricardo in 1833, (fn. 52) but the later years of the
century saw little rebuilding or new housing. In the
20th century, however, the town was considerably
enlarged by council and private development.
Council housing was built particularly on the
Tetbury road east of the town and on the road
towards Box; by 1957 there were 6 estates with a
total of 171 houses. (fn. 53) Private development began
early in the century with some large houses north of
the town on the old Cirencester road and continued
in the 1950s and 1960s when many bungalows and
detached Cotswold-style houses in reconstituted
stone were built on the west side of the town.
The earliest settlements outside the town were
established in the north part of the parish on the
slopes of the Brimscombe and Chalford valley. There
were already dwellings at Cowcombe, Hyde, Besbury, Burleigh, and Brimscombe by the later 12th
century. The settlement at Hyde was apparently
then the largest, (fn. 54) and it probably remained so until
the 18th century; it was said to contain 20 houses
c. 1710. (fn. 55) It remained, however, a fairly scattered
settlement of larger houses with little cottage
development. Hyde House, on the west side of the
settlement, was the home of Edmund Clutterbuck
(d. 1778), an attorney and agent to the Sheppard
family, into which he married; (fn. 56) the house apparently
passed to his brother Thomas Clutterbuck of Avening (d. 1805), whose son James, of Holcombe Mill,
was the owner of it and a 158-a. estate in 1839. (fn. 57) The
oldest part of the house is a tall range of the late 17th
century, aligned east and west. In the mid 18th
century short wings were added at both ends of the
north side, and soon after 1800 the small courtyard
thus created was filled in, the east, west, and south
fronts of the building were refaced in a late Georgian
style, and the interior was remodelled and redecorated. A kitchen wing on the north-east was probably
added in the mid 19th century, and late-18thcentury stables survive north-west of the house.
Hyde Grange, near by, incorporates a small building
in the late-17th-century vernacular style, but in the
late 18th century the house was rebuilt as a substantial square block, and in the later 19th century an
extension was made on the south. Hyde Court, in the
centre of the hamlet, was occupied by Richard
Pinfold (d. 1668) (fn. 58) and from the late 18th to the
early 20th century was the home of the Beale
family. (fn. 59) The house, a long multi-gabled range, was
built in the early 18th century, and in the late 19th,
when it was the home of the family of the educationalist Dorothea Beale, substantial additions were
made on the north-east to house a private school. (fn. 60)
Burleigh also has some large houses, including two
of c. 1800, Burleigh Court, which was an hotel in
1973, and Burleigh House. The hamlet was much
enlarged from the late 18th century by cottage
development on the edge of Minchinhampton
common and, stimulated by the new road of 1785,
down the hill in the Wall's Quarry and Beechknapp
area. That development joined Burleigh to the
settlement at Brimscombe at the bottom of the hill,
where a church and school for the area were built in
1840. (fn. 61) Brimscombe has a few older houses, including the 17th-century Manor Cottage, which bears
the date 1652 and the initials JP, probably for John
Phillips, a Brimscombe clothier who died in 1690. (fn. 62)
There is also some 20th-century council housing.
Immediately south of the town, the establishment
of a group of farm-houses at Forwood had begun by
the late 13th century, (fn. 63) and two of the principal
houses there are mentioned below. (fn. 64) East of the
town in the area occupied by the open fields there
was no ancient development; one or two farmsteads
were established there at a late date, including
Peaches Farm, a small farm-house built in connection with an inclosure at the beginning of the 18th
century (fn. 65) and considerably altered at subsequent
dates.
In the west part of the parish there was some
ancient settlement, notably at Box (usually called the
Box) where there was at least one habitation by the
beginning of the 14th century, (fn. 66) and where 20
families were recorded c. 1710. (fn. 67) One of the earliest
surviving houses in the village is Beehive House,
dated 1692, (fn. 68) which is in the usual vernacular style
with near contemporary extensions on the north-east.
The western area of the parish was developed mainly,
however, in the later 18th and early 19th centuries
when the building of cottages on the hillsides at the
edge of Minchinhampton common greatly enlarged
Box and produced another sizeable village at
Littleworth and smaller settlements at St. Chloe,
Amberley, Theescombe, and Pinfarthings. Most of
the 70 cottages built on former common land that
paid rent to the lord of the manor in 1809 were in
those places. (fn. 69) The name Amberley used for a small
hamlet south of Littleworth became the general
name of the area after 1836 when a church and school
were built there, (fn. 70) and the same group of buildings
includes the Amberley inn and the parish hall,
erected as a memorial to the Revd. R. E. Blackwell,
who served Amberley from 1836 to 1872. (fn. 71) From the
end of the 19th century considerable residential
development, in the form of large detached houses in
traditional styles, occurred in the western part of the
parish, encouraged chiefly by the existence of the
common and its golf-course; examples are Whitemoor, opposite Amberley church, which was
designed by Sidney Gambier Parry, (fn. 72) and a substantial Tudor-style residence adjoining the Halfway
House inn at Box.
Among the older large houses in the west part of
the parish was Mugmore House, north of Littleworth, which belonged to the manor estate in 1747
when it was among property settled on the marriage
of Samuel Sheppard the younger; it passed from his
widow Jane to their daughter Mary (fn. 73) who sold it in
1802. (fn. 74) Joseph Hort was later the owner and occupier
but it was acquired from him after 1839 (fn. 75) by Mary
Lowsley who married the Revd. G. Williams. (fn. 76)
Williams was living there in 1863 (fn. 77) and the house,
which was renamed Moor Court, was acquired
before 1879 by Lord Charles Pelham-Clinton (fn. 78) who
lived there until his death in 1894. (fn. 79) The house,
which was an hotel in 1973, was rebuilt on a fairly
grandiose scale in 1864. (fn. 80) Box House, at the eastern
end of Box village, was apparently that called the
Great House (fn. 81) which John Driver of Aston sold in
1684 to Nathaniel Young (d. 1689), who built an inn
called the Royal Oak on part of the premises. In 1747
the Great House was bought by Benjamin Hayward,
an apothecary, who sold it in 1779 to a surgeon,
Richard Browne, who lived there until 1800. (fn. 82) By
1808 Box House was owned and occupied by the
clothier Peter Playne (d. 1851), (fn. 83) who built up a
considerable estate adjoining it. (fn. 84) Its core is a small
17th-century farm-house (fn. 85) which was extended at
both ends during the 18th century; soon after 1800,
probably on its purchase by Playne, the old house
was partly remodelled and extended to the southeast with a new block of principal rooms. A kitchen
wing, removed in the mid 20th century, was probably also a 19th-century addition.
A few larger houses, including the medieval St.
Loe's House, (fn. 86) were built on the western slopes of
the parish overlooking the Woodchester valley. The
earliest part of the Culver House, standing below
Littleworth, forms its south-west corner and is
probably of the earlier 17th century. It was extended
eastwards, probably to provide a kitchen, in the same
century, and further extensions in the 18th century
included an entrance hall and staircase in the angle
of the two earlier ranges. In the 19th century the
house was again enlarged, some rooms, including the
former kitchens, were remodelled, and bay-windows
were added to the south and west fronts. In 1973 a
range of former outhouses was being converted into
additional living quarters. Giddynap, further south,
is a symmetrically planned multi-gabled house,
bearing the date 1710 and the initials of the clothier
John Webb (d. 1754) and his wife Anne. (fn. 87)
A large house called the Highlands, west of Box,
became the principal residence in the area in the later
19th century. It was built originally c. 1850 on the
site of two cottages (fn. 88) as a large stone house in Tudor
style, but in 1861 it was sold by Charles Baring,
bishop of Gloucester, to John Griffith Frith (d. 1868),
a London banker and former India merchant, (fn. 89) who
apparently began the building of a new house, on a
slightly higher site, before his death. The new house,
completed in 1873, was designed by Ewan Christian (fn. 90)
and is a substantial residence in mock-Tudor timberframing with landscaped gardens. Frith's widow
Caroline retained the house until her death in 1897
and was succeeded by her daughter Caroline (d.
1909), the widow of the Revd. R. E. Blackwell; from
Mrs. Blackwell the house passed to her nephew
Robert Eaton White, (fn. 91) and from 1918 it housed a
boys' preparatory school, called Beaudesert Park,
which had c. 120 pupils in 1973. (fn. 92)
Forty-eight inhabitants of Minchinhampton were
assessed for tax in 1327. (fn. 93) There were said to be
about 500 communicants in the parish in 1551 (fn. 94) and
134 households in 1563, (fn. 95) and in 1650 the population
was estimated at 400 families. (fn. 96) There were said to
be about 1,800 inhabitants in 377 houses c. 1710 (fn. 97)
and the mid 18th century evidently saw a considerable rise in population, for it was believed that there
were as many as 4,000 inhabitants c. 1775. (fn. 98) The
latter figure was evidently an over-estimate, however,
for in 1801 3,419 people in 692 houses were enumerated. The population then rose rapidly to 5,114
people in 1,116 houses by 1831 but the trend was
halted in the 1830s, (fn. 99) partly by emigration, (fn. 1) and
there was later a gradual falling off to 3,702 people in
1911, to which the loss of 635 inhabitants to Nailsworth in 1892 contributed. The 20th century, with
new residential development, saw a recovery to 4,318
by 1961. (fn. 2)
The earliest initiative to provide public services
for Minchinhampton town was apparently the purchase of a fire-engine by public subscription in 1755
and the building of a house for it. (fn. 3) The vestry
appointed a committee to maintain the engine in
1819, (fn. 4) and in 1831 it was decided to build a new
engine-house together with a new lock-up. (fn. 5) A fire
brigade was formed in 1864 (fn. 6) but disbanded in the
mid 20th century. (fn. 7) A dispensary, supported by subscription, was established in 1815 under the
presidency of David Ricardo. (fn. 8) In 1824 the vestry
built a drain in Well Hill (fn. 9) and the system was
extended to other streets in the late 1860s. (fn. 10) A new
sewerage system for the town was built by the Stroud
R.D.C. in 1934-5. (fn. 11) Water was laid on to the houses
of the town in the 1880s by the Stroud Water Co.
which built a reservoir on Minchinhampton common, filled from springs in the Chalford valley. (fn. 12) In
1857 the town was lit by naphtha, (fn. 13) and gas was laid
on in 1872. Electricity did not come until 1947. (fn. 14) In
1858 David Ricardo paid for paving the streets to
mark his son's marriage. (fn. 15)
An innkeeper was recorded in the parish in 1608 (fn. 16)
and two inns were mentioned in 1635. (fn. 17) Twenty
victuallers were licensed in the parish in 1755, (fn. 18) and
in 1838 it had 20 public houses and 38 beershops. (fn. 19)
The comparatively high number of inns in the town
in the 18th century reflected its status as a market
town and its position on two busy turnpike roads.
The principal inn was the Crown on the west side of
High Street; it had opened by 1718 (fn. 20) and in the late
18th century and early 19th was used for public
meetings and assemblies (fn. 21) and was the terminus for
the London coaches. (fn. 22) Also open by 1718 was the
Ram, sometimes called the Hand and Pen, adjoining
the new market-house. (fn. 23) An inn called the White
Lion by 1732, but formerly known as the King's
Head, (fn. 24) stood in Butt Street. On the east side of High
Street were the King's Head, recorded in 1840, the
George, (fn. 25) which had opened by 1780 (fn. 26) and had
closed by 1865, (fn. 27) and the White Hart on the corner
with Tetbury Street, which was recorded from 1704
and closed c. 1924. (fn. 28) West End had the Trumpet and
the Glazier's Arms by 1793 (fn. 29) and the Greyhound
and the Swan by 1804, (fn. 30) the latter probably not the
inn with that sign recorded in 1635. (fn. 31) In Tetbury
Street was the Salutation inn, open by 1775 and
until the 1950s, (fn. 32) and in 1804 Butt Street had the
Boot, (fn. 33) which had become the Cooper's Arms by
1835. (fn. 34) The Bell, recorded from 1663, (fn. 35) was presumably in the lane south of the churchyard which was
called Bell Lane in the 19th century. (fn. 36) The sites of
the Unicorn, mentioned in 1651, (fn. 37) and of the
Maidenhead, Talbot, and Royal Oak, recorded in
1804, (fn. 38) are not known. In 1973 the Crown, Ram,
Swan, and Trumpet remained open.
North of the town the Blue Boys inn on the
Cirencester turnpike had opened by 1718 (fn. 39) and was
a meeting-place of some importance; the fair was
held near by for a period in the 18th century (fn. 40) and
the pound was moved there in 1796. (fn. 41) The inn, in a
small earlier-17th-century house which has early19th-century extensions on the east, became a farmhouse c. 1865 (fn. 42) and was a dairy in 1973. Further east
on the same road the Ragged Cot at Burnt Ash had
opened by 1882, (fn. 43) and on the Tetbury turnpike at
Woefuldane Bottom there was an inn called the
Horse and Groom in 1816. (fn. 44) The oldest inn in the
west part of the parish was the Lodge, which originated as a lodge built by the lords of the manor on a
piece of several wood in the middle of the common.
The building, which dates in part from the 17th
century, had become an inn by the beginning of the
18th and was known for its fine bowling-green. (fn. 45) By
1843 it was called the Old Lodge inn to distinguish
it from the New Lodge which had opened near by; (fn. 46)
c. 1895 the Old Lodge became the golf clubhouse. (fn. 47)
The positions of the public houses called the Boot and
the Trap, recorded in the west part of the parish in
1804, (fn. 48) are not known, but the Amberley inn, recorded
from 1855, (fn. 49) and the Halfway House north of Box,
recorded from 1779 under its former sign of the
Crown and Crescent, (fn. 50) remained open in 1973. In
the north part of the parish the Nelson at Brimscombe and the Yew Tree, higher up the road at
Wall's Quarry, had opened by 1840. (fn. 51)
A friendly society for cloth-workers was formed at
Minchinhampton in 1744, (fn. 52) and another society was
formed in 1776; (fn. 53) in 1786 a branch of the Society of
Clothworkers was meeting at the White Lion inn;
and friendly societies meeting in other inns had their
rules enrolled in 1801, 1821, and 1829. (fn. 54) A Mutual
Improvement Society formed in the 1830s organised
lectures and meetings in the market-house, which
became the centre of social activities after 1919 when
it was given to the town. (fn. 55) The Minchinhampton
Institute, built in 1907 under the auspices of the
Tetbury Street Baptist chapel and on an adjoining
site, had a reading-room, library, and recreation
room; (fn. 56) in 1973 it housed a branch of the county
library. In 1887 there was also a reading-room at a
building on the Lower Island in the market-place. (fn. 57)
A new youth centre was built on Friday Street in the
early 1960s. (fn. 58)
The formation of the Minchinhampton golf club
in 1889 marked the beginning of the residential
development of the parish, which became increasingly attractive to professional and retired people, (fn. 59)
including in the period between the wars many highranking army officers. (fn. 60) An earlier recreational use of
the common was horse-racing, which was stopped in
the early 19th century by the elder David Ricardo. (fn. 61)
The Minchinhampton races held in 1740, however,
were run on Hampton Down in the east part of the
parish. (fn. 62) The Brimscombe church cricket club had
permission to roll a pitch at the south of the common
in 1912. (fn. 63)
No events of great note are connected with
Minchinhampton; the tradition that a battle between
Saxons and Danes occurred in the parish resulted
merely from a misunderstanding of the derivation of
the name Woefuldane Bottom. (fn. 64) A severe typhoid
epidemic occurred in the town in 1846 and caused
some controversy when a local doctor attributed it to
careless exhumations at the recent rebuilding of the
church. (fn. 65) Some of the action of Mrs. Craik's John
Halifax Gentleman is set at Amberley, disguised as
Enderley. (fn. 66)
James Bradley, the astronomer, (1693-1762), who
married Susannah, daughter of Samuel Peach of
Chalford, was buried at Minchinhampton. Sir Lewis
Pelly (1825-92), a notable Indian civil servant, was
born at Hyde House. (fn. 67)