Bishops Cleeve

"BISHOP'S CLEEVE, a parish in the hundred of the same name, in the county of Gloucester, 3 miles to the N. of Cheltenham, its post town. It is a station on the Bristol and Birmingham section of the Midland railway. The parish includes the hamlets of Gotherington, Stoke Orchard, Southam with Brockhampton, and Woodmancott.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, of the value of £1,574, in the patronage of the Rev. W. L. Townsend, incumbent. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a large ancient structure in the form of a cross, with a central tower of modern erection, and exhibits various styles of architecture, from the Saxon downwards. It has a fine Norman arch at the west end, and contains monuments of a crusader, and of the De la Veres of Southam House. [Just for the record it's 'De la Beres' elsewhere - which is also the present spelling -RL 2003]

The rectory house was formerly a residence of the bishops of Worcester, to whom the village belonged. On Cleeve Hill is a large ancient entrenchment, of a crescent shape, supposed to be a British work. On the same hill the Cheltenham races annually take place. There are mineral springs in the vicinity."

"BROCKHAMPTON, a hamlet in the parish of Bishop's Cleeve, hundred of Cleeve, in the county of Gloucester, 3 miles to the N. of Cheltenham. It is joined with the hamlet of Southam."

"STOKE ORCHARD, a township and hamlet in the parish of Bishop's Cleeve, hundred of Cleeve, county Gloucester, 6 miles N.W. of Cheltenham, its post town, and 1 mile N.W. of Cleeve railway station. The village, which is small, is situated near the Birmingham and Gloucester railway, and is chiefly agricultural. The land is divided betwixt pasture, meadow, and arable. The soil is chiefly of a clayey description. The chapel-of-ease is an ancient structure with a bell. There is a National school for both sexes. C. Rogers, Esq., is lord of the manor and principal landowner."

"WOODMANCOTE, a hamlet in the parish of Bishop's Cleeve, county Gloucester, 4 miles N.E. of Cheltenham, under Cleeve Hill."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]