Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

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Map sources for Stonehouse, Gloucestershire at grid reference SO805055

Stonehouse, Gloucestershire is one of the more urbanized areas of the Stroud District, in the UK, being home to a number of factories, such as Dairy Crest. There is a Baptist Church in the town, as well as Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist churches, and a number of shopping facilities. The town's transport links are close to the M5 motorway and have a regular train service to London. It has been proposed in the past to re-open the old train station at Midland road so that there is a direct link to Bristol.

[edit] History

Stonehouse was mentioned in Willam the Conqueror's Domesday Book written in 1086. There a manor house built in stone - quite different from the many wattle and daub buildings that were normally found. And so the area was named "Stanhus" in the book. The name changed from Stanhus to Stonehouse.

William De Ow, a cousin of William the Conqueror, owned the manor. On site, there were two mills - where still industry continues to this day - and a vineyard. Perhaps the Romans, who introduced the grape into England, had planted the vineyard.

One of the manor's masters, John Maltravers, was found guilty of involvement in the murder of Edward II in Berkeley Castle in 1327. He had to flee abroad where he remained for many years.

The manor house burned down in 1908. Today, on the same site stands Stonehouse Court Hotel, a Grade II listed manor house in Stonehouse, which is now a hotel. It is located next to St Cyr's Church and the Stroudwater Canal.

In 1779, the Stroudwater Navigation was cut, and relics of the canal can still be seen. Ocean Bridge was an iron swing bridge where canal boats would turn. Once there was a repair yard here. Business increased further when the land was prepared for the opening of the Midland Railway Station in 1844, and the Great Western Railway Station a year later.

The town's church is St Cyr's, after St Cyriac or St Cyril. George Whitefield, the famous Gloucester-born evangelist, preached here. While he was delivering one of his moving sermons, a dreadful thunderstorm blew up, and the congregation went running from St Cyr's in fear of the church collapsing and burying them. Undaunted, the great speaker continued outside in the churchyard. He later referred to the town as "the pleasantest place I was ever in". The last of the stone to be quarried from Doverow Hill, was used to rebuild the church^{[citation needed]}.

Doverow Hill is a former quarry and there are many surrounding hills and a small cliff that looks out onto the whole of Stonehouse. Stonehouse is near the M5 motorway.

One of the most well known sights in the area is Wycliffe College, now a public school. Starting life in 1882, it incorporates Haywardsend, an old Tudor farmhouse.

The stone to which the town owes its name was replaced by red brick as the builder's material of choice. Many of the bricks were made locally by the Stonehouse Brick and Tile Company. Once a big employer in the town, the company closed in the 1960s. The Rosedale housing estate now sits where their bricks were once made.