Winchcombe () is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

Borough of Tewkesbury Tewkesbury is a local government district and borough in Gloucestershire, England. Named after its main town, Tewkesbury, the borough had a population of 85,800 in 2015. Other places in the borough include Ashchurch, Bishop's Cleeve, Churchdown ...

in the county of

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 is 6 miles north-east of

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 census and estimated at 5,347 in 2019. The town is located in the

Cotswolds 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 Jur ...

and has many features and buildings dating back to

medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

History

The

Belas Knap Belas Knap is a neolithic, chambered long barrow situated on Cleeve Hill, near Cheltenham and Winchcombe, in Gloucestershire, England. It is a scheduled ancient monument in the care of English Heritage but managed by Gloucestershire County Coun ...

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

long barrow on Cleeve Hill above Winchcombe, dates from about 3000 BCE. In Anglo-Saxon times, Winchcombe was a major community in Mercia, favoured by King Coenwulf of Mercia, the others being

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

and Tamworth. In the 11th century, the town was briefly the

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

Winchcombeshire Winchcombeshire was an ancient county in the South West of England, in the Anglo-Saxon period, with Winchcombe as its county town. The county originated in the shiring of Mercia in the tenth or early eleventh centuries, perhaps by King Edward the ...

. The Anglo-Saxon

St Kenelm Saint Kenelm (or Cynehelm) was an Anglo-Saxon saint, venerated throughout medieval England, and mentioned in the ''Canterbury Tales'' (The Nun's Priest's Tale, lines 290–301, in which the cockerel Chauntecleer tries to demonstrate the reality o ...

, said to be a son of Coenwulf, is believed to be buried here. During

the Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...

of the 12th century, a motte-and-bailey castle was built in the early 1140s for

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...

, by Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford, but its exact site is unknown. It has been suggested it was lay south of St Peter's Church. In

the Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

period, Winchcombe was noted for cattle rustling and other lawlessness, attributed in part to poverty. Local people seeking a living took to growing tobacco as a cash crop, although the practice had been outlawed since the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

period. Soldiers were sent in at least once to destroy the illegal crop. Fragments of the

Winchcombe meteorite The Winchcombe meteorite is a meteorite that was observed entering the Earth's atmosphere as a fireball over Gloucestershire, England at 21:54 hours on 28 February 2021. Due to a public appeal, fragments were quickly recovered from the village o ...

originating from the asteroid belt between

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

and

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, fell on a house driveway on 28 February 2021.Gloucestershire meteorite is first UK find in 30 years
'' BBC News Science'', 8 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021. The meteorite is a rare

carbonaceous chondrite Carbonaceous chondrites or C chondrites are a class of chondritic meteorites comprising at least 8 known groups and many ungrouped meteorites. They include some of the most primitive known meteorites. The C chondrites represent only a small prop ...

, offering pristine material from the beginnings of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. This was preserved by its prompt collection by a local resident about 12 hours after falling to Earth. Another fragment was found by researchers on a local farm.

Attractions

Winchcombe started life as a Roman hamlet, rising to prominence as an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

walled town containing Winchcombe Abbey, where a

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

n king and his saintly son were buried. Although the town wall has long vanished, Winchcombe retains much of its medieval layout, with a mixture of

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

and Cotswold limestone buildings along its High Street, some dating back to the 15th century. Winchcombe's position on 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 ...

keeps it popular with walkers and history fans. Frequent visits are made to the heritage GWR

steam railway This tabulation is for periodicals which do not have their own articles. Magazines ''Australian Railway'' * * Published Trade News Corporation * Feb-Mar 1988 is Vol. 2 No. 1. * Last issue about #23 in approximately Aug 1992. * Size = ~A4 ''A ...

that links it with Broadway and

Cheltenham Racecourse Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, hosts National Hunt horse racing. Its most prestigious meeting is the Cheltenham Festival, held in March, which features several Grade I races including the Chel ...

, and with

Sudeley Castle Sudeley Castle is a Grade I listed castle in the parish of Sudeley, in the Cotswolds, near to the medieval market town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The castle has 10 notable gardens covering some 15 acres within a 1,200-acre estate ...

, the burial place of

Queen Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

, which lies on the outskirts.

Notable buildings

Winchcombe and vicinity contain

and the remains of Hailes Abbey, once a main place of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

, due to a phial said by the monks possessing it to contain the Blood of Christ. Nothing remains of Winchcombe Abbey.

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 ...

's Church in the centre of the town is noted for its

grotesques Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

. Several buildings around Sudeley Hill are Grade II listed.

Notable people

In birth order: *King Coenwulf of Mercia, reigned 796–821, buried in Winchcombe Abbey * Saint Kenelm (c. 786–811), a martyred boy-king of

, was interred at Winchcombe, which became a major centre for his medieval cult. *

Robert Tideman of Winchcombe Robert Tideman (often Robert Tideman of Winchcombe) was a medieval Bishop of Llandaff and Bishop of Worcester. Tideman was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff on 13 October 1393Bishop of Llandaff in 1393 and translated to the see of Worcester in 1395. *

Ralph Boteler, 1st Baron Sudeley Ralph Boteler, 1st Baron Sudeley KG (c.1394 – 2 May 1473) was an English baron and aristocrat who rose up through the ranks of the courts of King Henry V and Henry VI to become the Lord High Treasurer of England. He fought in the Hundred Year ...

(c. 1394–1473), Lord High Treasurer of England and builder of

and St. Peter's Church in Winchcombe. * Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos (c. 1548–1594), an English courtier in the reign of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, was born and was buried at

in Winchcombe. *

Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos (10 August 1621) of Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, was an English nobleman and courtier. Early life He was the only son of William Brydges, 4th Baron Chandos, who died on 18 November 1602, and Mary Hopton, w ...

(c. 1580–1621), remembered as "King of the Cotswolds" for his wealth * Clement Barksdale (1609–1687), born in Winchcombe, became a religious author, polymath and Anglican priest. * Christopher Merret (1614/1615–1695), born in Winchcombe, a naturalist, produced the first lists of British birds and butterflies. * Richard Eedes (died 1686), a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister and religious author with royalist sympathies, died at Winchcombe. *

Emma Dent Emma Dent (née Brocklehurst; 5 March 1823 – 22 February 1900) was an English antiquarian and collector who restored and developed Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire. Dent corresponded with some of the most famous names and eminent thinkers ...

(1823–1900), antiquarian, collector and author of ''The Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley'', restored

with her husband and built or improved many houses in the town, including the Dent Almshouses. * George Backhouse Witts (1846–1912), a civil engineer and archaeologist who specialized in the barrows of Gloucestershire, was born in Winchcombe. *

Edward Griffiths Edward Griffiths may refer to: *Edward Griffiths (politician) (1929–1995), British Labour politician * Edward Griffiths (cricketer) (1862–1893), English cricketer *Eddie Griffiths Edward James Griffiths (1891-1980) was an Australian fire f ...

(1862–1893) played cricket for

in 1885–1889. *

William Yiend William "Pusher" Yiend (1865 – 22 January 1939) was an English rugby union forward who played club rugby for Hartlepool Rovers and international rugby for England. In 1890 Yiend became one of the original members of the Barbarians Football Cl ...

(1865–1939), born in Winchcombe, was an international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. *

John Alfred Valentine Butler John Alfred Valentine Butler (14 February 1899 – 16 July 1977) was an English physical chemist best known for his contributions to the development of electrode kinetics ( Butler–Volmer equation). Biography John Alfred Valentine Butler (known ...

(1899–1977), born in Winchcombe, was a physical chemist who contributed to electrode kinetics through the Butler–Volmer equation. *

Michael Cardew Michael Ambrose Cardew (1901–1983), was an English studio potter who worked in West Africa for twenty years. Early life Cardew was born in Wimbledon, London, the fourth child of Arthur Cardew, a civil servant, and Alexandra Kitchin, the elde ...

(1901–1983), master potter, moved to Winchcombe to revive a derelict pottery and 17th-century English slipware tradition. *

John Kingsley Cook John Kingsley Cook (1911-1994) was an English artist, teacher and wood engraver. Biography Cook was born in Winchcombe in Gloucestershire and studied art at the Royal Academy Schools, where he was taught by both Walter Thomas Monnington and Wa ...

(1911–1994), a prominent wood engraver, was born in Winchcombe. *

Ray Finch Raymond Finch (born 2 June 1963) is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England between 2014 and 2019. The fourth named candidate on the UK Independence Party (UKIP) list for the South Ea ...

(1914–2012), master potter, bought Michael Cardew's pottery in 1939, and after 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 ...

worked there for the rest of his life making stoneware. * Colin Pearson (1923–2007), master potter, worked at Winchcombe under Ray Finch until 1954. *

Seth Cardew Seth Cardew (11 November 1934 – 2 February 2016) was an English studio potter. He was the eldest son of fellow potter Michael Cardew and the brother of the composer Cornelius Cardew. Cardew was born in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. He began ...

(1934–2016), a master potter born in Winchcombe, was the son of Michael Cardew and brother of the composer Cornelius Cardew. * Cornelius Cardew (1936–1981), composer, was born in Winchcombe, the son of Michael Cardew.

Walks

Winchcombe is crossed by seven long-distance footpaths: The

, the Gloucestershire Way, the Wychavon Way,

St Kenelm's Trail St Kenelm’s Trail is a walk originally devised by John Price, which links the two places most commonly associated with the legend of St Kenelm. These are the Clent Hills, south of Birmingham, identified as the scene of his supposed murder and t ...

, St Kenelm's Way, the Warden's Way and the Windrush Way. Winchcombe became a member of the

Walkers are Welcome The Walkers are Welcome scheme is a community-led initiative operating in England, Scotland and Wales. The scheme promotes towns and communities as 'walker-friendly', based on a number of criteria, aiming to benefit local economies by attractin ...

network of towns in July 2009 and now holds a walking festival every May.

Public transport

The town has bus services to

, Broadway and

Willersey Willersey is a village in Gloucestershire, South West England, situated close to the boundary with Worcestershire, West Midlands region and southwest of Evesham. Although situated in Gloucestershire, the postal county for the village is Worces ...

Winchcombe had a railway opened in 1906 by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

from

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

as part of a main line from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

to the South West and

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

Winchcombe railway station Winchcombe railway station is a heritage railway station which serves the town of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, England. The stations itself is actually located in the nearby village of Greet. It is located on the Honeybourne Line which linke ...

and most others on the section closed in March 1960. Through passenger trains continued until March 1968 and goods until 1976, when a derailment caused damage and it was decided to close the section. By the early 1980s it had been dismantled. The length between

Toddington Toddington could be *Toddington, Bedfordshire **Toddington services, M1 motorway *Toddington, Gloucestershire **Toddington railway station Toddington railway station serves the village of Toddington in Gloucestershire, England. Since 1984 it h ...

and

via Winchcombe has been reconstructed as the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. It was extended to Broadway in spring 2018. The new station building that opened at Winchcombe on its original site was brought from the former

Monmouth Troy railway station Monmouth Troy was one of the two former railway stations at Monmouth. It was built in 1857 by the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway and was used by several other branch lines as the local rail network expanded. The station clos ...

. Nearby is the 693-yard/634 m Greet Tunnel, the second longest on a British preserved line.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the same name stretches from Alderton in the north to

Hawling Hawling is a small village and civil parish in the Cotswolds of England, close to Bourton-on-the-Water and Guiting Power. The Church, the Elizabethan manor house and the Rectory form a group of listed buildings. The population taken at the 201 ...

in the south. Its total population at the 2011 census was 6,295.

Schools

Winchcombe has a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

– Winchcombe School in Greet Road, east of the town centre. Winchcombe Abbey Church of England

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

lies near the town centre in Back Lane, next to Winchcombe Library and Cowl Lane.

Community

The community station

Radio Winchcombe Radio Winchcombe is an English local community radio station which broadcasts to Winchcombe and the surrounding areas. In December 2011 it was announced on the station's Twitter and Facebook pages that it had received a full-time licence from O ...

began broadcasting in April 2005 for 20 days a year. Full-time broadcasting was approved in December 2011 and began on 18 May 2012. Winchcombe has a

Michelin star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

restaurant at ''5 North Street''. There are several other frequented eating places. Winchcombe Town F.C. plays in the

Gloucestershire Northern Senior League The Gloucestershire Northern Senior League is a football competition based in England founded in 1922. The league is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA. It has two divisions, Division One and Division Two, with Division One sitting at ...

References

External links

*
Photos of Winchcombe and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
{{authority control Towns in Gloucestershire Borough of Tewkesbury