Hillesley is a 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 ...

, England. It was transferred from the county of Avon in 1991 and is now in

Stroud District Stroud District is a district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. The district covers many outlying towns and villages. The towns forming the district are Dursley, Minchinhampton, Nailsworth, Painswick, Stonehouse, ...

. The village forms part of the civil parish of

Hillesley and Tresham Hillesley and Tresham is a civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. It had a population of 591 according to the 2001 census, decreasing to 391 at the 2011 census. The parish contains the villages of Hillesley and Tresham ...

. It is close to the

Cotswold Edge The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...

, near the

Cotswold Way The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath, running along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills in England. It was officially inaugurated as a National Trail on 24 May 2007 and several new rights of way have been created. His ...

and about south of the town of Wotton under Edge (). Until the 1980s the name of the village was spelt Hillsley. In 972, Hillesley was recorded as ''Hildeslei'' (meaning "clearing belonging to Hild"), a

tything A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...

of the parish of

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places ;Geography *Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada * Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...

. The village remained in the parish of Hawkesbury until the boundary changes of 1991. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 it is recorded as held by

Turstin FitzRolf Turstin fitz Rolf, also known as Turstin le Blanc and Tustein fitz Rou (Old Norse: ''Þorsteinn Hrólfsson'') played a prominent role in the Norman conquest of England and is regarded as one of the few proven companions of William the Conqueror ...

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, dan ...

notes the following buildings: The local church is St Giles – it was designed in 1851 by the amateur, Rev. Perkins. The farmhouse is from the 17th century, and Yew Tree Cottage is dated 1701. The greyish-white limestone farmhouse known as "Lovettswood," a prominent landmark, takes its name from the Lyvet family, who were lords of the manor of Hillesley in the 12th and 13th centuries. The local pub is the ''Fleece Inn''. In July 2012, The Fleece Inn, after a short period of closure, was re-opened by the community. It was bought and re-furbished by The Hillesley Community Pub Limited which has over 120 local shareholders. Village amenities include a primary school, the church, a playing field hosting cricket, a tennis court and club, allotments and a mother and toddler group. Until recent years, the village field hosted a successful football team, competing in local leagues.

References

External links

Hillesley & Tresham Parish CouncilVillage pub website, with some history
Villages in Gloucestershire Stroud District {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub