WOOLSTONE
Woolstone, 5 miles north of Cheltenham, is a
small parish lying partly in the vale and partly on the
slopes of an outlying hill of the Cotswold escarpment.
The parish, which was 787 a. in area (fn. 1) and elongated
in shape, was merged in 1935 in the civil parish of
Oxenton. (fn. 2) The account here printed relates to the
area that until 1935 comprised the parish of Woolstone.
The Tirle brook, running down the valley that
divides the outlier known as Woolstone Hill and
Oxenton Hill from the main escarpment of the
Cotswolds, marked the southern boundary of Woolstone at the eastern end, before it turns northward
across the parish. Two streamlets running off Woolstone Hill feed it. The eastern streamlet marked the
east boundary of the parish; the western divides the
small eminence of Crane Hill from the body of
Woolstone Hill. From the level ground that formed
the west part of the parish, drained by the Moor
brook (fn. 3) marking the southern boundary there, the
land rises steeply to over 400 ft. at the top of Crane
Hill and again to 734 ft. at the summit of Woolstone
Hill. There, at the former boundary between Woolstone and Oxenton, (fn. 4) is a fortified earthwork called
the Knolls. (fn. 5) From the Knolls the boundary between
the parishes ran in a nearly straight line WSW.,
passing north of Crane Hill. The lower part of the
parish lies on the Lower Lias; as the ground rises,
the Lower Lias is overlaid by the Middle and Upper
Lias and at the top of the hill by the Inferior Oolite. (fn. 6)
No extensive woodland in the parish is recorded; the
land has been used almost exclusively for tillage and
pasture. (fn. 7)
Woolstone village lies on the southern side of
Crane Hill and on the north bank of the Tirle brook.
When the church was restored in 1873 fragments of
what were thought to be Roman buildings were
uncovered, (fn. 8) but there is no evidence of extensive
Roman settlement or of the continuity of settlement.
The houses, ranged along each side of the village
street, form a relatively compact settlement. The
older houses are mostly west of the church, including
the Grange, which is partly 17th-century, (fn. 9) and a
small timber-framed house of the 17th century with
later additions in stone and a contemporary thatched
barn. Two timber-framed cottages south-east of the
church are also of the 17th century, and a few other
thatched and timber-framed cottages were pulled
down after 1845. (fn. 10) Most of the other houses in the
village are of brick, built in the 19th century or later.
In 1964 Woolstone had, unlike the neighbouring
village of Gotherington, only a few newly built
houses. A red brick farm-house on the lower slopes
of Woolstone Hill, and Bozard's Farm, a 19thcentury brick house in the extreme west of the
parish, were the only outlying houses.
There were 18 people assessed for tax in 1327;
their number and the amounts they owed (fn. 11) show
that Woolstone was then larger in relation to its
neighbours than in later periods. Forty-six communicants were recorded in 1551, (fn. 12) 10 households in
1563, (fn. 13) and again 46 communicants in 1603. (fn. 14) In
1650 there were said to be 17 families, (fn. 15) in the early
18th century c. 90 inhabitants, and in the late 18th
century c. 100. (fn. 16) The population increased slightly
between 1801 and 1831, remained fairly constant in
the mid-19th century, and decreased to 62 by 1881.
During the 20th century the population fluctuated
slightly and had risen to 85 before the parish was
joined to Oxenton. (fn. 17)
The road called Salter's Way in the 15th century (fn. 18)
was perhaps the one crossing the parish from north
to south, which was a turnpike road from 1755 to
1872. (fn. 19) The bridge on that road crossing the brook
at the boundary with Gotherington was called
Woolstone Toll Bridge in 1824. Then as in 1965
roads ran west and south from the west end of the
village to Tredington and Gotherington. (fn. 20) The
village street, leading to Woolstone Hill, was, at its
east end, known as Nicholl's Lane in 1839. (fn. 21) The
village had neither main water nor electricity until
the 1950's. (fn. 22)
Manor.
Woolstone was among the lands, formerly
belonging to the monastery of Deerhurst, that were
held in 1086 by the abbey of St. Denis, Paris. (fn. 23) The
abbey retained the manor of WOOLSTONE as part
of its cell or priory of Deerhurst; (fn. 24) in 1467 Woolstone passed with the other estates of the priory to
Tewkesbury Abbey, (fn. 25) which held the manor until
the Dissolution. (fn. 26)
The Crown granted the manor in 1543 to George
Throckmorton (d. 1548) of Deerhurst. (fn. 27) From him
the manor passed to his nephew, Sir Thomas
Throckmorton (d. 1568), whose son Sir Thomas (fn. 28)
evidently lost possession to John Parsons and his son
Conan, recorded as lords of the manor from 1570 to
1574, but regained possession in 1574. (fn. 29) Sir Thomas
died in 1608, and his son Sir William Throckmorton (fn. 30) appears to have dismembered the manorial
estate. (fn. 31) He is said to have sold the manor in 1630 to
Thomas Coventry, Lord Coventry, (fn. 32) and the largest
estate in the parish descended with the barony and
later the earldom of Coventry; (fn. 33) in 1964 the Croome
Estate Trust, on behalf of the Coventry family, held
383 a. in Woolstone. (fn. 34)
In 1401 Woolstone manor included a grange with
a stable and sheep-house. (fn. 35) No other reference
earlier than the 19th century has been found to a
house associated with the manor, though tradition
represents the house called the Grange, west of the
church, as the manor-house. (fn. 36) The Grange may have
been included in the estate described as a manor
which Sir William Throckmorton conveyed in 1608
to John Roberts, (fn. 37) who was living in Woolstone at
the time. (fn. 38) John Roberts rebuilt and enlarged the
house in 1639, (fn. 39) and a Mr. Roberts occupied the
largest house in the parish in 1672. (fn. 40) The Grange
estate may have been the one owned in 1787 by the
Revd. Mr. Collett, in 1803 and 1825 by Thomas
Arkell of Great Washbourne, and in 1832 by Thomas
Mills. (fn. 41) Thomas Mills apparently owned the Grange
at his death in 1845, and following the death of
Edward Mills the house and 209 a. were put up for
sale in 1894. (fn. 42) Thomas Pike of Cheltenham bought
the Grange in 1897, and it changed hands several
times (fn. 43) before 1951, when it was bought by Mr.
Geoffrey Evans, the owner in 1964. (fn. 44)
The Grange is an L-shaped house comprising a
small 17th-century building, a large 18th-century
extension, and a 19th-century kitchen block. The
17th-century building is of stone with a Cotswold
stone roof: it has mullioned windows, a gabled upper
story, and dormer windows to the attics. If it was
the house that had 8 hearths in 1672, (fn. 45) part of it was
demolished in the 18th century. The main part of
the house, which may have been built about the time
of a sundial in front of it dated 1741, has a south
elevation of ashlar, sash windows with architraves,
and a parapeted slate roof.
An 18th-century house of brick, which stands
opposite the church and became the rectory in the
early 20th century, (fn. 46) was called the manor-house in
the late 19th century, (fn. 47) perhaps because (until 1890)
it was the largest house on the Coventrys' estate.
Economic History.
In 1086 the estate of the
abbey of St. Denis in Woolstone was reckoned to be
5 hides. (fn. 48) By the mid-13th century the Prior of Deerhurst had 12 bovates of demesne, which could not be
stocked because there was too little meadow, (fn. 49) but by
1291 when the demesne amounted to 2 plough-lands
there was sufficient meadow to support stock valued
at 20s. (fn. 50) By 1401 the demesne, with the grange and
other buildings, was being let at farm. Probably by
then, as in 1423, the labour-services of the tenants
were commuted. In 1479 the rector held ½ yardland
of demesne and the customary tenants held c. 30 a.
of demesne in small parcels, as tenants at will. In
1570 the demesne let in small parcels was called
pennyland. (fn. 51)
In the 13th century Woolstone manor included
both free and customary tenants. (fn. 52) The number of
freeholders was perhaps always small, and in 1479
three were recorded. (fn. 53) In 1557 the same three freeholds survived. (fn. 54) The number of customary tenants
had evidently declined by 1479, when 7 of the 8
tenants each held 2 or 3 tenements separately named
after previous tenants. The customary land totalled
c. 15 yardlands, and the individual tenements were
mostly of a yardland or less. (fn. 55) In 1543 there were
still 8 customary tenants. (fn. 56) The customary tenants
owed rent in cash and kind, and heriots were paid
in kind, at least until the 16th century. Copyholds
were sometimes granted in reversion, and were
presumably not heritable; widows had freebench,
but forfeited it if they re-married without licence. (fn. 57)
Woolstone field, recorded in 1248, (fn. 58) presumably
comprised all the arable land in the parish. By 1572
the arable was divided between four fields, Cox
Elm field, Crane Hill, Hen Hill, and the field next
to Gotherington, (fn. 59) which was later called Dean
field. (fn. 60) The selions in the fields varied in size
between 1/5a. and ½a. (fn. 61) In addition to common pasture
on the hill and in land described as the common
park, at the west end of the town, there were leys
of pasture in the fields. Hay came from the town
meadow, sometimes called Woolstone meadow. (fn. 62) Flax
was among the crops grown in the 16th century. (fn. 63)
In the early 17th century the sale of the manorial
estate was accompanied by the enfranchisement of
the copyholders. Two freeholders were stated to
hold former customary land, (fn. 64) and no later reference
to copyholds has been found. The former copyholds
seem to have been small, and to have been 8 in
number: in 1608 there were 7 husbandmen recorded, (fn. 65) and in 1631 the former common pasture
and manorial waste had been divided into 8. (fn. 66)
The division of waste and pasture, recorded in
1628, (fn. 67) is the earliest evidence of what appears to
have been a gradual process of consolidation and
inclosure, of which there is little record. In 1628 and
1631 there is some indication of consolidation of
open-field arable, for estates described then lay in
uneven portions in fewer than the four fields of
1572. (fn. 68) Some open-field arable, however, survived
until 1767: an exchange recorded then may have
been part of the final stages of inclosure of the
fields. (fn. 69) By 1839 the whole parish was inclosed, with
the possible exception of the town meadow. (fn. 70) In the
18th century the land was described as rich pasture
and arable. (fn. 71) In 1801 only 48 a. were returned as
sown, with wheat, barley, and beans, (fn. 72) and in 1839
only 89 a. out of 756 a. were arable, the rest being
meadow and pasture, with very little woodland. (fn. 73)
In 1839 the largest estate, Lord Coventry's, was
c. 390 a. and let to 6 tenants; the Grange estate
comprised two farms of 119 a. and 69 a.; there was
one estate of 62 a. and several smallholdings. (fn. 74) The
Coventry estate comprised only three farms in
1885, (fn. 75) amounting to 376 a.; and in 1894 the Grange
estate was 209 a., and one other farm was 73 a. (fn. 76) By
1964 Grange farm had grown to c. 320 a., the
Coventry estate of 383 a. comprised two farms, and
there were a few small holdings. (fn. 77)
The parish remained predominantly pasture in
1901 and up to the Second World War. (fn. 78) In 1964,
although there was more pasture than arable, farming was mixed, with mainly sheep on the upland
farms and arable and cattle on the lower land.
The personal name Millward and the place-name
Millham occur in 1327 and 1479 respectively. (fn. 79) A
windmill was recorded in 1616; (fn. 80) an 18th-century
map of the county marks a water-mill at the west end
of the village. (fn. 81) Only two occupations not directly
connected with farming, those of carpenter and
shoemaker, were recorded in 1608. (fn. 82) Ten people
were engaged in trade, manufacture, or industry in
1801, compared with 53 in agriculture, and in 1831
there were 10 families in agriculture and 5 in trade
or industry. (fn. 83) There was a shop in Woolstone for a
short time in the late 19th century, (fn. 84) but no craftsmen were recorded. In 1964 increasing numbers of
inhabitants went to work outside the parish,
particularly to Cheltenham, and a small number of
professional and retired people lived in Woolstone.
Local Government.
The free tenants of
Woolstone in 1479 owed suit to the Prior of Deerhurst's hundred court at Elmstone Hardwicke every
three weeks. The view of frankpledge for Woolstone,
however, was taken at the Woolstone manor court,
of which court rolls survive for 1402–12, 1462–84,
1508, 1557–9, and 1573–8, with draft rolls for various
years in the period 1543–1605. In the 15th century
courts were held three or four times a year, but later
they seem to have been less frequent. A tithingman
was appointed by the court; (fn. 85) no reference to a
constable for the parish has been found.
No churchwardens' or overseers' accounts are
known to have survived. (fn. 86) Between 1783 and 1803
expenditure on poor relief more than doubled,
although in 1803 only two people were receiving
regular relief. After a sharp increase by 1813,
expenditure in 1815, when four people were receiving regular relief and six occasional relief, was the
same as in 1803. (fn. 87) In 1835 Woolstone became part
of the Tewkesbury Poor Law Union. (fn. 88) In 1935 it
was transferred from the Tewkesbury to the Cheltenham Rural District. (fn. 89)
Church.
Although Woolstone is on the edge of
the areas served in the early Middle Ages by the
churches of Beckford, Bishop's Cleeve, and Tewkesbury, it is likely that it was dependent on Deerhurst
church, to which it owed a small pension until the
Dissolution. (fn. 90) Woolstone church, recorded in 1269, (fn. 91)
was called a chapel in the early 14th century. (fn. 92) The
living was a rectory (fn. 93) and so remained in 1928,
when it was united with the perpetual curacy of
Oxenton; (fn. 94) Woolstone and Oxenton had been held
by a single incumbent since 1854. (fn. 95) In 1933
Gotherington was added, to form the united benefice
of Woolstone with Oxenton and Gotherington, and
Woolstone and Gotherington were merged as a
single ecclesiastical parish. (fn. 96)
The Prior of Deerhurst and later the Abbot of
Tewkesbury held the advowson, (fn. 97) which was
granted with the manor to George Throckmorton in
1543. (fn. 98) Sir William Throckmorton included the
advowson in three separate conveyances of 1608–
1610; (fn. 99) in 1616 John Powell sold it to William
Swaine, (fn. 100) who in 1627 sold it to Sir Thomas
Coventry. (fn. 101) The patronage afterwards descended
with the Coventrys' estate, and in 1964 the Croome
Estate Trust was patron of the united benefice. (fn. 102)
The clear annual value of Woolstone rectory in
1535 was £13 5s. 11d., (fn. 103) though in 1600 it was said
to be worth only £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 104) The rectory was valued
at £65 in 1650, (fn. 105) and at £70 a hundred years later. (fn. 106)
By the 19th century the value had risen to over
£200. (fn. 107) The rector's glebe in 1535 comprised 27 a., (fn. 108)
and in 1572 included a glebe house with farm
buildings and a dovecot. (fn. 109) The glebe land, exchanged
with Henry Collett of Tewkesbury in 1767, (fn. 110)
comprised 33 a. in 1828. (fn. 111) The parsonage house was
said in 1812 to be not suitable for the rector, and in
the 1830's was under repair. (fn. 112) The house, on the
hill behind the church, was apparently two cottages
joined together. In 1889 a large part of the house was
destroyed by fire, and in 1890 Mary Coventry (d.
1892), mother of the rector, Gilbert George
Coventry, rebuilt the rectory. The new house was
not used by the incumbents as it was too large, (fn. 113)
and it was later sold; in its place the house known
as the manor-house was used by the rector in 1900
and was later bought as a glebe house, (fn. 114) and
that house was later the parsonage of the united
benefice.
The living was served by a curate in 1540 when
John Cavell, rector since 1517, was blind. The next
rector was non-resident, the living being served by a
curate (fn. 115) who was in 1551 said to be satisfactory. (fn. 116)
Nicholas Keck, rector 1582–1613, was a graduate
and a preacher. (fn. 117) Joshua Elliot, rector from 1618,
was said in 1642 to have gone away, (fn. 118) but he was
still rector in 1650. (fn. 119) During the later 17th century
and the 18th the rectors were often non-resident and
the living was served by curates. Robert Bishop
was rector for 44 years, 1739–83, and Edward
Southouse for 34 years, 1795–1829. (fn. 120) Full services
were held in 1750, (fn. 121) and a morning and evening
service in 1825. (fn. 122) The two rectors from 1854 to 1906
were both members of Lord Coventry's family and
served Oxenton also. (fn. 123)
A tenement and ½ yardland in Woolstone and
Gotherington given for obits in Woolstone church
were granted in 1576 to John Farnham. (fn. 124) It may
have been the estate said in the later 16th century to
have been given for repairing the church: (fn. 125) in 1683
there was no endowment. (fn. 126)
The church of ST. MARTIN (fn. 127) is a stone building
comprising nave, chancel, west tower, and south
porch. It was described as new built in 1499, (fn. 128) and
the surviving fabric is mainly 15th-century or later.
There was a north aisle until the early 19th century, (fn. 129)
and in 1964 the remains of a three-bay arcade could
be seen in the north wall of the nave. The 14thcentury east window is off centre, and is flanked by
one large and one small canopied niche of the 15th
century. The north and south windows of the chancel
are of the 15th century. The 15th-century towerarch has octagonal responds, and the tower has
battlements and crocketed pinnacles, an external
stair-vice opening to the nave, and a west window of
two lights over an arched doorway. The tower leans,
and in 1964 the bells had not been rung for some
years. (fn. 130)
In the late 16th century the church was said to be
in decay. (fn. 131) A gallery was built c. 1750. (fn. 132) The restoration of the church in 1871–3 included the removal
of a brick chancel arch with an oak tie-beam, the
rebuilding of the nave and chancel roofs, and the
refenestration of the nave. The south porch was
entirely rebuilt in 1877. (fn. 133)
The tall octagonal font has panelled sides and a
deep chamfered base and no pedestal. (fn. 134) On the north
side of the chancel a stone set in the floor bears the
effigy of a priest of c. 1425, without inscription. (fn. 135)
Two of the bells are dated 1633 and 1676 and the
third is probably also of the 17th century. (fn. 136) Of the
church plate only a pewter paten survived the fire
at the rectory in 1889, (fn. 137) in which the church records
were destroyed. (fn. 138)
Nonconformity.
Three Protestant nonconformists were recorded in the parish in 1676, (fn. 139) but
no later evidence of nonconformity has been found.
Schools.
A day school existed in Woolstone in
1818. (fn. 140) Another, started in 1820, had 10 fee-paying
pupils in 1833, when there was also a Sunday school
with 11 pupils, supported by the rector. (fn. 141) By 1846
the Sunday school was in union with the National
Society and had a salaried mistress and an unsalaried
master. Some children then attended the day school
at Bishop's Cleeve. (fn. 142) The school built in Oxenton in
1862 was intended partly for the children of Woolstone. (fn. 143) In 1964 the children went to school in
Bishop's Cleeve.
Charity.
Woolstone shared with Oxenton in the
charity given by Mary Coventry (d. 1890) by will
proved 1891. (fn. 144)