Dursley

Dursley
Dursley  Dursley shown within Gloucestershire
Population	5,814 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	ST756981
Civil parish	Dursley
District	Stroud
Shire county	Gloucestershire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DURSLEY
Postcode district	GL11
Police	Gloucestershire
Fire	Gloucestershire
Ambulance	Great Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Stroud
List of places UK England Gloucestershire

Dursley is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. It is under the North East flank of Stinchcombe Hill Also Own by The Seymour Family ((Sheriff Sir John Seymour in the 1400s and also the home of one Henry Seymour Earl of Gloucestershire and is now the Home Of Baron Howard Jeans-Seymour Descendant of Sir John Seymour 9th nephew to Queen Jane Seymour whom Married Henry VIII )) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seymour_(died_1491) (part of the 'Cotswold Edge'), and about 6 km South East of the River Severn. The town is adjacent with Cam which, though a village, is a community of double the size. The two communities (combined population about 12,000) share many facilities.

History

Dursley Market House

Dursley gained borough status in 1471 and lost it in 1886. From then until 1974 it was the administrative centre of Dursley Rural District (RDC). In 1974 the RDC became part of Stroud District.

The Parish Church of St. James the Great dates from the 13th century, but the modern building is largely of 14th and 15th century construction. The original church spire collapsed in January 1699 during a bell-ringing session, causing casualties. The current bell tower, in an imposing 'Gothic Survival' style was built by Thomas Sumsion of Colerne in the years 1708-09.

The pillared market house, complete with statue of Queen Anne and bell turret, dates from 1738, when the town's markets attracted farmers and traders from miles around. It is now maintained by the Dursley Town Trust who also look after Jacob's House and the Heritage Centre.^[1]

In 1856 a short branch line railway opened,^[2] linking Dursley and Cam to the Bristol - Gloucester main line at Coaley Junction. The branch line was closed in 1968. Coaley Junction station was also closed at about this time. However, in 1994 a new railway station called Cam and Dursley was opened on the main line near the site of Coaley Junction.

Ancient historical sites in the vicinity give evidence of earlier occupation. Uley Bury, in nearby Uley, is an Iron Age hill fort dating from around 300BC, and the village also has neolithic long barrows, which are evident further afield at Selsley Common and Nympsfield to the north. Notable Roman remains exist at Frocester, West Hill near Uley, Woodchester and Calcot Manor.

Character and amenities

The town sits on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment where it drops off towards the Severn Vale and the River Severn. Dursley's main watercourse is the River Ewleme which becomes the River Cam when it enters the adjoining Parish of Cam. The town is surrounded by beautiful woodland and countryside and the Cotswold Way long distance trail passes through Dursley Town Centre.

Stinchcombe Hill provides a scenic backdrop to much of the town. It has an 18 hole golf course, said to be a favourite of the actor Hugh Grant. The Hill has had a great deal of work carried out by volunteers (SHV, led by John Smallwood), since 1992, in an attempt to restore the open views over the Severn Vale. The cleared areas can be seen from the M5 motorway. The Cotswold Way has now been re-routed around the Hill to take advantage of this work.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Dursley was a large-scale manufacturing town, and the engines built here by Lister stationary engine company were seen and used around the world. That company's successor, Lister-Petter, is still based in the town, though much of the original 92-acre (370,000 m²) factory site was acquired in 2000 by the South West Regional Development Agency and later in 2011 by Stroud District Council. It is now being developed as a large housing development with some industrial units.^[3] The Towers, a large gothic-style house, formerly part of the Lister Petter estate, still overlooks the town and the site has been converted into flats and a residential care home.^[4]

St James the Great

Historically, other large factories based in the town included Mawdsleys, an electrical equipment manufacturer, Bymacks an upholsterers and the Bailey Newspaper Group, a newspaper printer, all of which have reduced or closed operations in recent years.

In March 2010 Sainsbury's opened a newly built 20,000 Sq Ft supermarket located within walking distance of the town centre.^[5] Other recent arrivals include Lidl (November 2009, in premises on Kingshill Rd previously occupied by Kwik Save^[6]) and Iceland (July 2010, replacing Somerfield in the town centre^[7]). The Co-Op has operated a smaller store in Roseberry Road since 2002. Although some people dismiss Dursley as the "supermarket and charity shop" district of Gloucestershire, the town centre also hosts a wide range of other shops including a traditional ironmongers, a haberdashery, an old fashioned sweet shop, a florist, a butcher, a baker and a greengrocer. A quality Camera shop has recently opened and there are a number of cafes.

A range of markets are held at the Market Place in the centre of the town; a Farmers Market is held there on the second Saturday of every month and a Craft Market on the fourth Saturday of each month. Continuing urban sprawl now joins Dursley and the nearby village of Cam.

Dursley has a number of licensed premises and the Old Spot pub is regularly voted Gloucestershire Pub of the Year. The pub was also named as 2007 CAMRA National Pub of the year.^[8]

Around 1496, the famous Christian writer and martyr, William Tyndale was born near here, probably at Slimbridge.

Trivia

• Mikael Pedersen invented the Pedersen bicycle in Dursley in the 19th Century.^[9]

• Dursley once had a castle, built by Roger de Berkeley in 1153.^[1]

• Harry Potter author JK Rowling, born in nearby Yate, named the Dursley family in the Potter books after the town.

• It is claimed that William Shakespeare may have spent part or all of the eight years between 1582 and 1590, a period of his life of which little is known, in Dursley, possibly working as a school teacher.

• The writer Evelyn Waugh lived in nearby Stinchcombe between 1937 and 1956.

• The writer Peter Currell Brown wrote the cult classic 1965 surrealist novel, Smallcreep's Day, while working in Dursley.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dursley.

• Dursley Chamber of Trade Website
• Dursley Gazette Website
• Dursley Town Council
• Dursley Town Trust
• A history of Dursley's railways
• Coaley Junction Action Committee
• Vale Vision Community Development covering Dursley, Cam and the surrounding villages
• Rednock School website
• Community Plan for Cam and Dursley area for 2012 onward
• About the Dursley Pedersen Bicycle