Miserden

"MISERDEN, a parish in the hundred of Bisley, county Gloucester, 5 miles E.S.E. of Painswick, its post town, and 7 from Stroud. The village, which is small, is situated among the Cotswold hills, and is chiefly agricultural. The parish comprises the hamlets of Camp and Sutgrove, and was formerly held by the Musards, Despencers, Mortimers, &c. The soil is of a clayey nature, with a rocky subsoil. About two-thirds of the land is arable and the remainder pasture and woodland. Limestone is quarried, and clay of good quality for making tiles abounds. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £410.

The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £335. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, has a low embattled tower. The interior of the church contains effigies of Kingston, and of the Sandys families. The parochial charities produce about £18 per annum. There is a National school. The Baptists have a place of worship at Camp. There are traces of Musard's castle, built in the reign of King John. Miserden House, situated in a well wooded park of 7 miles in circumference, was partly built out of the materials of the old castle, and was garrisoned by the Roundheads in the reign of Charles I. James Wittit Lyon, Esq., is lord of the manor."

"CAMP, a hamlet in the parish of Miserden, hundred of Bisley, in the county of Gloucester, 5 miles to the N.E. of Stroud."

"SUTGROVE, a hamlet in the parish of Miserden, county Gloucester, 7 miles N.W. of Cirencester."

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