Selsley

Selsley is a village within the civil parish of King's Stanley and district of Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. It is composed of around 175 houses-scattered around the western and eastern edge of a Cotswold spur-located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Stroud. The village lacks a focused central business district and so is conventionally divided into Selsley West and Selsley East.

Stanley Park is the original Manor House in Selsley West dating from the time of Elizabeth I. The house was rebuilt in the mid 18th century and then further remodelled when it was bought by Samual Marling in 1849. In 1949, the house was sold by the Marling family and divided into flats.

Alongside the Manor House lies Selsley Church, commissioned by the Marling family during the mid 19th century and modelled by Bodley in the French Gothic style. Its stained glass was one of the first commissions undertaken by William Morris and his partners Rossetti, Webb, Ford Madox Brown and Burne-Jones. The design of the church derives from the squires' name. The Church is modelled on one seen in Marlengo (Marling) in the disputed area of the Italian Tyrol.

Elsewhere in the village, most of the older housing dates from the 18th and 19th century, interspersed with 20th century build.

Running through the village is Water Lane - a prehistoric track that winds its way to North Woodchester and thence to South Woodchester and on to Bath. In parts, its banks tower ten feet overhead, cloaked by hawthorn, blackthorn, ash and beech. Spring water rushes along the two sides of the lane where the geology changes. It runs parallel to a track continuing from Bell Lane and going past a cottage down over the brook and onto the Villiers estate in Woodchester.

The western scarp face falls hundreds of feet to the flat Severn Valley. Beyond the Forest lie the Black Mountains and beyond these the Brecon Beacons. Also located on the scarp is a Bronze Age barrow.

Selsley Common

Selsley Common is a large open expanse of about 160 acres (65 ha) and a rich habitat for rare flora and fauna. During the summer, bird song mingles with the sound of cattle as Commoners can, and still do, exercise grazing rights.

Despite attempts to enclose this land, it has been vigorously defended over the years. Indeed the first recorded dispute was in the Saxon period, and the threat to enclose the Common in the 19th century met with vocal public outrage. There is one area which did become enclosed, known locally as 'Dead Man's Acre'. The story goes that a man was told that he could have as much land of the common that he could enclose in one day. The effort though, proved too much, and killed him.

Dotted over the Common are the long abandoned remains of quarries once used to supply stone for local building and walling. Lesser hollows are the remains of a medieval soldier's camp - so identified in 1942 by Captain H.S. Gracie. In addition, the grassed-over ways used by the quarry wagons can still be seen.

External links

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