Sheepscombe is a small village in Gloucestershire, 6.5 miles (10 km) south-east of Gloucester, 6 miles (10 km) north-east of Stroud, and 11⁄2 miles (2 km) east of Painswick, lying just off the A46 and B4070 roads. The first record of the village dates from around 1260, with the original name of Sebbescumbe - the name possibly comes from the names of early local settlers named Ebba or Sebba. 'Combe' means valley. Variations of the name over the centuries have been: Sebbescumbe - Sciapp'scombe -Sheppescombe - Sheppiscombe - Shepescombe - Shepyscombe - Shipscombe - Shepscombe - Sheepscombe.
Since the early 17th century, Sheepscombe was involved in cloth making like many of the Cotswold towns in the area and its near neighbour Painswick. It enjoyed its industrial heyday during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the last mill closed in 1839.
The village church, St John the Apostle, was built and opened in 1820. The school was opened in 1822, a modernised building opening on the same site in 1882.
Many of the houses in the village, at the northern end, date from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
During the early part of the 20th century, Sheepscombe was still a rural, agricultural village, but today it has become, like many Cotswold villages, an expensive and select place to live. Most of its inhabitants are of the professional middle-classes, who pay considerably for the privilege of living there. Situated at the bottom of a steep valley, Sheepscombe is a relatively inaccessible village, and not easy to live in for those without a car.
Sheepscombe is the birthplace of the administrator John Light, and the childhood home of William Moseley, and the physicist and explorer Tom Stedall.