Cranham is a village in the English 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 ...

. Forming part of the district of Stroud it is to be found a mile or so east of the

A46 road The A46 is a major A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway developmen ...

between Stroud and Cheltenham. 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 ...

long-distance footpath also runs nearby. Composer

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

lived in Cranham for a while, and it was there, in the house now called 'Midwinter Cottage' that he wrote what is probably the best known tune for the

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

In the Bleak Midwinter "In the Bleak Midwinter" is a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti, commonly performed as a Christmas carol. The poem was published, under the title "A Christmas Carol", in the January 1872 issue of ''Scribner's Monthly,'' and was first c ...

'' by

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including " Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Bri ...

. A

Ham class minesweeper The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers (IMS), known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. All of the ships in the class are named for British place nam ...

, HMS ''Cranham'', was also named after the village. Midwinter, Cranham

A Fairport Convention album, ''

Gladys' Leap ''Gladys' Leap'' is the fourteenth studio album by Fairport Convention originally released in August 1985. It was recorded in April and May 1985 at Woodworm Studios, Barford St. Michael, Oxfordshire, UK. It was produced and engineered by Simo ...

'', is named after local postwoman Gladys Hillier, who would jump over a local stream to avoid a long journey. The

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

have renamed that place in her honour. In 1948, Cranham Scout Centre was opened by the chief scout of the time. Over 2000 people attended the celebration of the opening ceremony. Since then it has developed from a small campsite into an activity centre with indoor accommodation. In 1949 George Orwell stayed at a sanatorium near the village, in his search for a relief if not a cure for the

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

from which he was suffering and which would kill him six months later after his admission to University College Hospital. While in the sanatorium he sketched out in 4 pages of a notebook a short story to be called ''A Smoking Room Story'', set in Burma. The story was never written. In 2010, pop star

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public ...

bought Old Overton House, just outside Cranham, for a reported £3 million. Old Overton House is grade II listed with the earliest part of the property dating back to the seventeenth century.

References

External links

Cranham in picturesVillage websiteScout Centre based in Village Stroud Voices (Cranham filter) - oral history site
* Villages in Gloucestershire Stroud District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub