Clifford's Mesne Village Hall - geograph

Cliffords Mesne is an English village in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, two miles (3.2 km) south-west of the town of

Newent Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish about 10½ miles (17 km) north-west of Gloucester, England. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population was 6,777 at the 2021 Census. ...

. It became the home of the autobiographical author

Winifred Foley Winifred Mary Foley (born Winifred Mason; 25 July 1914 – 21 March 2009) was an English writer. She is known best for an autobiographical account of her childhood in the Forest of Dean: ''A Child in the Forest''. Forest life Winifred Foley ...

from the mid-1970s, after the success of her first book of Gloucestershire reminiscences, ''A Child in the Forest''.

Facilities

Cliffords Mesne possesses a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the ''Yew Tree Inn''. The village is close to

May Hill May Hill is a prominent English hill between Gloucester and Ross-on-Wye. Its summit, on the western edge of Gloucestershire and its northern slopes in Herefordshire, is distinguishable by a clump of trees on its summit, which forms an official ...

, which is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, and to the

International Centre for Birds of Prey The International Centre for Birds of Prey, formerly the National Birds of Prey Centre, in the United Kingdom houses a large collection of birds of prey with over 60 species of owls, eagles and hawks. It works towards the conservation of birds o ...

. The Village Hall was refurbished in 2013 and holds regular social and musical events. There is a single weekly bus service to and from

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye and ...

on Thursdays, but daily bus services between

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and Ross-on-Wye pass through nearby Kilcot (4 km). The nearest railway station is

(20 km).

Heritage

The small

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church is dedicated to

St Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

. Designed by E. S. Harris, it was built in 1882 of stone, with a central bellcote, a nave, a chancel, a south porch and a south vestry. It has contemporary stained glass dedicated to a local falconer and a memorial tablet to two local men who died on active service in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The church parish is merged with Gorsley. It shares clergy with the benefice of Newent and lies in the

Diocese of Gloucester The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Province ...

. An earlier stone church built in Gothic style in 1872 and extended in 1877, became the village school, which is now closed. The building serves as a non-denominational village hall. The single listed historic building in Cliffords Mesne is the outlying Ravenshill Farmhouse, north of the village. Most of this dates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The combined population of Cliffords Mesne and Gorsley was 1320 in 1876.Morris & Co. Commercial Directory & Gazetteer of Newent, 1876
Retrieved 22 August 2011.
/ref>

References

External sources

*Village website
Retrieved 22 August 2011.
*A photograph of St Peter's Church
Retrieved 22 August 2011.
*Photographs of features in or near Cliffords Mesne on Geograph site
Retrieved 22 August 2011.
and her
Retrieved 22 August 2011.

External links

{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Newent