Coaley

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Map sources for Coaley at grid reference SO771015

Coaley is a village in the English county of Gloucestershire roughly 4 miles from the town of Dursley, and 5 miles from the town of Stroud. The village drops from the edge of the Cotswold Hills, overlooked by Frocester Hill and Coaley Peak picnic site, towards the River Cam at Cam and Cambridge and the Severn Estuary beyond. It has a population of around 1,080.

Coaley has many amenities, including a 300 year old pub, the Fox and Hounds, a school, a church, a village hall, and a community shop, set up in recent years using the former reception classroom of the school. Cam and Dursley railway station (near the former Coaley Junction station) was reopened in 1994 (the original closed in 1965) and is situated on the South-Western border of the village.

Coaley has a football team, the Coaley Rovers, who compete in the Stroud and District League. There is also a Coaley Cricket Club. Coaley also holds an annual produce show, which has been held since 1942 on the first Saturday in September.

In 2003, Coaley was crowned Gloucestershire village of the year in a Calor-sponsored competition organised by Gloucestershire Rural Community Council, and went on to pick up a runner-up prize in the national competition, in recognition of local residents' efforts to develop community organisations and enterprises.

Local legend has it that the creator of The Archers, Godfrey Baseley, sometimes drank in the (now closed) Swan Public House in the village and his experiences helped inspire the long running radio serial.