Minsterworth 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 lies on the border of the City of

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 ...

, on the north bank of the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

(effectively on the western side of the river) and on the

A48 road The A48 is a trunk road in Great Britain running from the A40 at Highnam, west of Gloucester, England, to the A40 at Carmarthen, Wales. Before the Severn Bridge opened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England and South Wale ...

between Gloucester and

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western ...

. Minsterworth is governed by a parish council. The parish includes the village of Calcott's Green. The population of the village as at the 2011 census was 444. The population in mid-2014 was 470 people, with 70 people aged 0–15, 270 people aged 16–64 and 135 people aged 65+. The higher levels of government are Tewkesbury Borough Council and

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. The council's principal functions are county road ...

. The village has a long history, at one stage being held by the

rebellious Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...

. Its

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

used to be heavily involved with

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

in the Severn, as illustrated by a carving in the local church of three salmon caught in a

fishing net A fishing net is a net used for fishing. Nets are devices made from fibers woven in a grid-like structure. Some fishing nets are also called fish traps, for example fyke nets. Fishing nets are usually meshes formed by knotting a relatively thin ...

. Fishing for elvers remains an important activity. The local

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

, St Peter's, lies right next to the river, with three ancient yews in the churchyard. It was rebuilt by

Henry Woodyer Henry Woodyer (1816–1896) was an English architect, a pupil of William Butterfield and a disciple of A. W. N. Pugin and the Ecclesiologists. Life Woodyer was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, in 1816, the son of a successful, highly resp ...

(who had earlier worked on the nearby church in

Highnam Highnam is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of the city of Gloucester. It is three miles northwest of the city on the A40, on the way to Ross, west of Alney Island and Over Bridge. It is connected by Segregated Bicycle Paths via Over ...

) in 1870, but contains many older features such as a fifteenth-century

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

, a Jacobean

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

and part of a fourteenth-century

cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

. The village has a church (St Peter's), a primary school (Minsterworth C of E) and a village hall. In December 2017, the primary school was forced to shut down due to a lack of pupils. The Severn Bore Inn, butchers shop and waterski club, often attributed to the village, actually lie outside the parish boundary. It also has a number of listed buildings dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The village of Minsterworth is an Acorn Class 2 area and is one of the more desirable areas in Gloucestershire and the most desirable village in close proximity to the city of Gloucester. Average incomes are higher than average for Gloucestershire and England with the total weekly household income for 2007-2008 estimated at £720, compared to £673 for both Gloucestershire and England as a whole. Interest in current affairs is high. The village is one of the best places to view the Severn Bore, where people can be seen surfing and water skiing from the local water ski club. F. W. Harvey, war poet and broadcaster, dubbed the "Laureate of Gloucestershire", is buried in the village churchyard.

References

External links

Minsterworth Village Website
Information
from the

Royal Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...

website.
Photographs
of St Peter's Church.
Parish council

Information
from the Severn Bore Inn Website {{authority control Populated places on the River Severn Villages in Gloucestershire Borough of Tewkesbury