Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

Stonehouse is a town in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire in southwestern England.

The town centre is 2.5 miles east of the M5 motorway, junction 13. Stonehouse railway station has a regular train service to London.

The town is situated approximately 9 miles south of Gloucester city centre and 3.5 miles west of central Stroud, though following recent development it is partially contiguous with the Ebley district of Stroud. It includes the sub-villages of Bridgend (to the south) and Ryeford (to the east). Stonehouse's population in 2016 was estimated at over 8,000 residents.

History

Stonehouse Manor

Stonehouse appears in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book of 1086 under its Old English name “Stanhus” – so called, it is believed, because the manor house was built of stone rather than the usual wattle and daub. William de Ow, a cousin of William the Conqueror, owned the manor lands which included a vineyard, and two mills. The name may have evolved from ''Stanhus'' to Stonehouse : ''stān'' > stone + ''hūs'' > house, as an effect of the Great Vowel Shift at the end of the Middle Ages.

The original manor house was completely rebuilt in 1601. In 1906, Stonehouse Court was bought by Arthur Winterbotham who completely refurbished it to a design by architect Edwin Lutyens. and despite a fire in 1908, that destroyed the new interior of the house leaving only the outer shell and a few original features. Winterbotham had the house restored in a similar fashion. Mr Winterbotham died in 1936, leaving his widow Caroline living there until her death in 1974, when the house was sold and, after a period as business offices, eventually became an hotel in 1983 as Stonehouse Court Hotel. It is located next to St Cyr's Church near the Stroudwater Canal. Stonehouse Court is a listed grade 2 building.

Some of the town's oldest trees are in the grounds of Stonehouse Court.

Oldend Hall

Oldend Hall was occupied by the Beard family from 1661 to the late 18th century. The house was two-storied and largely stone-faced, its entrance front facing north. The half-H plan consists of a central block and two flanking wings extending southwards. The. west wing is structurally timber-framed and dates from the earlier 17th century. The only exposed framing was along the upper story of the west wall; elsewhere the wing has been stone-faced at various periods. The central block has been more drastically altered, but also formed part of the original timber-framed house; the presence of several re-used smoke-blackened timbers in the roof suggests that it may have contained a medieval open hall before it was remodelled. The house was much altered and enlarged c. 1700. The central block was extended eastwards to include a large chimney which stood against its former gable-end. The east wing, entirely of stone with two gables on the east was added and the north front of the older building was faced with stone ashlar to match it. Features of that period include several mullioned and transomed windows, a central dormer, and the central doorway with its semi-circular hood on shaped brackets. The only internal fitting to survive from the earlier house is a 16th-century door with linen-fold panels. Oldend Hall was demolished in 1977.

Notable Dates

In 1327, one of the manor's masters, John Maltravers, was implicated in the murder of Edward II in Berkeley Castle, and fled abroad. He later found favour with Edward III and the Stonehouse manor was restored to him “by tenure de Marchacia (of the royal Marshalcy) by a rose per annum”. The rose was a symbol of loyalty to the Crown. This may have been the origin of the modern day emblem of Stonehouse – the Tudor rose.

1375–1558 The manor was owned by the Earls of Arundel. The Lord of the Manor did not necessarily live at the house; it would have often have been occupied by a steward or tenant. During this period the manor house was a working court, holding jurisdiction over the whole manor. This is when it became known as Stonehouse Court.

1558 The Court was sold to local clothiers William Fowler and William Sandford. The cloth industry was now becoming the major source of employment in the area.

1601 William Fowler's son Daniel rebuilt the manor house. The date stone over the door is thought to commemorate the new building.

1685 The Court was let to farmers with the owners living in grander places.

1730 The earliest surviving map of the manor lands. A copy of this can be seen in the Hotel.

1779 The Stroudwater Canal opened, running through the manor lands.

1810 Court Farm was built.

1847 The Court was owned by the Marling family.

Industry

The woollen industry was important to Stonehouse people, first as producers of wool and later as experts in textiles. The small mills of the 17th and 18th century supported work at home for the growing population of the village, later changing to a factory system. As the textile industry declined, Stonehouse remained a thriving place as smaller businesses of every type took over.

Due to the availability of raw materials in Stonehouse, brickmaking began there in 1856 with evidence of possible prior brickmaking as early as 1839 or 1840 and of as many as thirteen brickmaking sites altogether. The largest and last to close of the brickmakers, Stonehouse Brick and Tile Company Ltd., was located where the Rosedale housing estate now stands. It was founded in 1891, and by 1895 employed a large number of people in making pottery, terra-cotta, and bricks. The company closed in 1968 and the 202-foot high chimney was demolished. Bricks and other materials made by the company were not only used locally (notably in the Stonehouse Post Office, now the Town Hall) and in other areas of Britain, but were also used as far away as Cape Town, Gibraltar, and Buenos Aires, with those used in Gibraltar transported there on the RMS Lusitania during her sea trials. Among the many buildings abroad built from Brick and Tile bricks is the English Clock Tower in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which celebrated its centenary in 2016. Stonehouse History Group sent a commemorative plaque which is now displayed in the Tower.

Stonehouse has a number of business and industrial parks, with the largest of these in Oldends Lane, located off the A419 in the west of the town and is home to the Severnside Dairy for Müller and other large companies including Schlumberger, Renishaw, Delphi Automotive, Lister Shearing and Dairy Partners.

In 2015 a new business park was built at the side of the A419 opposite the town's main industrial estate in Oldends Lane. In 2016 a new eco-business park and wood-based football stadium for Forest Green Rovers was mooted by local businessman Dale Vince, CEO of Ecotricity, to be constructed west of the town, close to the M5 junction. The formal planning application for the stadium was initially refused by Stroud Council in June 2019 but ultimately approved in December 2019.

Amenities

Canal

From the town, there are a number of footpaths and lanes leading to the nearby canal, Stroudwater Navigation, which passes through the west of the town. On the canal at the rear of Stonehouse Court is Ocean Bridge. This was an iron swing bridge where canal boats would turn. There used to be a repair yard there. The Cotswold Canals Trust are actively restoring the canal. Work is currently underway and plans to also relink it all the way to Saul Junction where it will meet the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal. To achieve this, a new railway bridge was constructed at the 'Ocean' during 2021, a new canal cutting
to be constructed under the M5 and remodelling of the A38 roundabout near Fromebridge Mill also completed in 2021 so that boats will, effectively, pass under the roundabout. When all this work is finished, boats may be able to navigate from Saul Junction all the way to the centre of Stroud. Further work is needed to link this from Stroud to the Thames.

The Ocean is an ideal wildlife nesting location and a variety of ducks, swans, herons, kingfishers and moorhens can be seen.

Cotswold Way

The national trail, Cotswold Way, passes close to Stonehouse.

Sport

The football club, Stonehouse Town F.C.

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