Selsley

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Coordinates: 51°43′52″N 2°14′49″W / 51.731°N 2.247°W

Selsley
Selsley Common
Selsley Selsley shown within Gloucestershire
Civil parish	King's Stanley
District	Stroud
Shire county	Gloucestershire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Police	Gloucestershire
Fire	Gloucestershire
Ambulance	Great Western
EU Parliament	South West England
List of places UK England Gloucestershire

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.

Houses

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 Samuel Marling in 1849.^{[citation needed]} In 1949, the house was sold by the Marling family and divided into flats.

Elsewhere in the village, most of the older housing dates from the 18th and 19th century, interspersed with 20th-century build.^{[citation needed]}

Historic tracks

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

Geography and geology

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.

Church of All Saints

Main article: Selsley Church

Selsley Church

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.

Common history

Despite attempts to enclose the Common at Selsley, it has been vigorously defended over the years. Indeed the first recorded dispute was in the Saxon period,^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} The truth of this tale is dubious, as it bears similarities to works of fiction such as Leo Tolstoy's How Much Land Does a Man Need?

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.^{[citation needed]} In addition, the grassed-over ways used by the quarry wagons can still be seen.

Selsley Common SSSI

Selsley Common
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Selsley Common
Area of Search	Gloucestershire
Grid reference	SO829030
Interest	Biological/Geological
Area	39.4 hectare
Notification	1966
Natural England website

Selsley Common (grid reference SO829030) is a 39.4-hectare (97-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1966.^[1] It is a large open expanse 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.

The Common is in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and overlies the Jurassic limestone of the Cotswolds. It supports herb-rich calcareous grassland habitat. Leigh’s Quarry, which is in the southern part of the SSSI, is of particular geological significance.^[1]

The site is listed in the ‘Stroud District’ Local Plan, adopted November 2005, Appendix 6 (online for download) as an SSSI and a Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS).^[2]

Geology

The quarry provides one of the most extensive, and thus significant, cross-sections of the Middle Jurassic Inferior Oolite in the south of the Cotswolds. Oolite Marl, Upper Trigonia Grit and Clypeus Grit are in the succession. This is a site with a notable example of hardground, which is a thin layer of rough limestone formed during environmental changes.^[1]

Biology

The grassland is dominated by grasses such as Upright Brome, Sheep's Fescue, and there is little Tor-grass. The latter makes the common different from others in the region. Herbs include Rock-rose, Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Salad Burnet and Wild Thyme. Orchids are in abundance including Autumn Lady's Tresses, Green-winged Orchid and Fragrant Orchid, particularly in the quarry areas. There are scrub areas of Hawthorn and there some trees such as Ash.^[1]

The habitat supports a range of invertebrates including the mollusc Abida scale, and butterflies. The latter include Small Blue, Grayling and Duke of Burgundy Fritillary.^[1]

References

External links

Media related to Selsley at Wikimedia Commons

Natural England (SSSI information)

Selsley Common
Quarries on Selsley Common
Quarries on Selsley Common
Selsley Common and Hill
View of Selsley Common from Rodborough
View looking to Rodborough
View to Pen Hill
Orchids on Selsley Common

v t e Ceremonial county of Gloucestershire

Unitary authorities	South Gloucestershire

Boroughs or districts	Cheltenham Cotswold Forest of Dean Gloucester Stroud Tewkesbury

Major settlements	Berkeley Bradley Stoke Cheltenham Chipping Campden Chipping Sodbury Cinderford Cirencester Coleford Dursley Fairford Filton Gloucester Kingswood Lechlade Lydney Marshfield Minchinhampton Mitcheldean Moreton-in-Marsh Nailsworth Newent Northleach Patchway Stonehouse Stow-on-the-Wold Stroud Tetbury Tewkesbury Thornbury Winchcombe Wotton-under-Edge Yate See also: List of civil parishes in Gloucestershire

Rivers	Bristol Avon Warwickshire Avon Bybrook Boyd Cam Chelt Churn Coln Evenlode Eye Bristol Frome Stroud Frome Hazel Brook Leach Little Avon Lyd Severn Swilgate Thames Trym Windrush Wye

Topics	Flag Places Parliamentary constituencies SSSIs Country houses Grade I listed buildings History Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Museums

v t e Biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire

Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)

Ashleworth Ham Astridge Wood Badgeworth Barnsley Warren Barton Bushes Bigsweir Woods Blaisdon Hall Bourton Down Box Farm Meadows Boxwell Brassey Brooks Head Grove Buckshraft Mine & Bradley Railway Tunnel Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill Bushley Muzzard, Brimpsfield Caerwood and Ashberry Goose House Chaceley Meadow Clarke's Pool Meadow Cleeve Common Cockleford Marsh Collinpark Wood Coombe Hill Canal Coombe Hill Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods Cotswold Water Park Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake Daneway Banks Dean Hall Coach House & Cellar Devil's Chapel Scowles Dingle Wood Dixton Wood Dymock Woods Edge Common Elmlea Meadows Frampton Pools Highbury Wood Hobbs Quarry Hornsleasow Roughs Hucclecote Meadows Innsworth Meadow Juniper Hill, Edgeworth Kempley Daffodil Meadow Kingscote and Horsley Woods Lark Wood Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common Lineover Wood Lower Woods Lower Wye Gorge May Hill Midger Minchinhampton Common Nagshead Old Bow and Old Ham Mines Old River Severn, Upper Lode Pennsylvania Fields, Sedbury Poor's Allotment Puckham Woods Range Farm Fields River Wye Rodborough Common Rough Bank, Miserden Salmonsbury Meadows Selsley Common Severn Estuary Severn Ham, Tewkesbury Shorn Cliff and Caswell Woods Slade Brook Soudley Ponds Speech House Oaks Stenders Quarry Stinchcombe Hill Strawberry Banks Swanpool Wood and Furnace Grove Swift's Hill Sylvan House Barn The Hudnalls The Malvern Hills Tudor Farm Bank Turvey's Piece Upper Severn Estuary Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow Upper Wye Gorge Walmore Common Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine Whelford Meadow Wigpool Ironstone Mine Wildmoorway Meadows Winson Meadows Woodchester Park Workman's Wood Wotton Hill Yarley Meadows

Neighbouring areas Avon Hereford and Worcester Oxfordshire Wiltshire

v t e Geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire

Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)

Alderton Hill Quarry Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill Campden Tunnel Gravel Pit Cleeve Common Coaley Wood Quarries Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake Easter Park Farm Quarry Edgehills Quarry Foss Cross Quarry Garden Cliff Hampen Railway Cutting Haresfield Beacon Harford Railway Cutting Hobbs Quarry Hornsleasow Quarry Huntsman's Quarry Jackdaw Quarry Kemble Railway Cuttings Knap House Quarry, Birdlip Land Grove Quarry, Mitcheldean Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common Longhope Hill Lower Woods Lower Wye Gorge Lydney Cliff May Hill Meezy Hurst Minchinhampton Common New Park Quarry Nibley Knoll Notgrove Railway Cutting Oakenhill Railway Cutting Puddlebrook Quarry River Wye Robin's Wood Hill Quarry Rodborough Common Salmonsbury Meadows Scully Grove Quarry Severn Estuary Slade Brook Stenders Quarry Stony Furlong Railway Cutting Swift's Hill Upper Severn Estuary The Malvern Hills Purton Passage Selsley Common Upper Wye Gorge Veizey's Quarry Wainlode Cliff Wellacre Quarry Wood Green Quarry & Railway Cutting Wotton Hill

Neighbouring areas Avon Hereford and Worcester Oxfordshire Wiltshire

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