Redmarley D'Abitot is a

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 authorit ...

and village in the

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 ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

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 ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

. In addition to the village of Redmarley, the civil parish also includes the settlements of Lowbands, Haw Cross, Playley Green, Kings Green and Durbridge. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 705, increasing to 756 at the 2011 census. Although now in Gloucestershire, Redmarley was in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

until 1931.

History

The name Redmarley comes from 'woodland clearing with a reedy pond', from the Old English words hrëod and lëah. An alternative cod-derivation has been suggested as from the local red heavy clay or marl. The difficulty with this explanation is that the word marl entered the language many centuries later. D'Abitot is thought to come from

Urse d'Abetot Urse d'Abetot ( - 1108) was a Norman who followed King William I to England, and became Sheriff of Worcestershire and a royal official under him and Kings William II and Henry I. He was a native of Normandy and moved to England shortly after the ...

, who was Sheriff of Worcestershire and who held the manor in 1086. Sometimes a circumflex is placed on the 'o' of d'Abitot, but this usage has been criticised. As Eric Smith says: "It is to be regretted that the

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 ...

placed a circumflex in the signs on the A417. This is emphatically incorrect, both historically and linguistically, Abitot is a word of (Germanic) Anglo-Saxon origin."

Great Domesday

The King,

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

, received a report on Redmarley D'Abitot 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 manus ...

of 1086 though it would have been a very small part of his nationwide review of tax assessments. People mentioned include: Aethelric; Alvred; Alweard; Ansgot; Azur; Beorhtric son of Aelfgar; Beorhtwine; Cyneweard daughter of Sigrefr; Dodda; Durand; Ealdraed, etc.

''Battle of Redmarley''

Redmarley's fields were the site of a battle in 1644 during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. About 2000 to 3000 troops were involved and

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

leader General Mynn was killed.

Governance

The village falls in the 'Redmarley' electoral ward. This ward stretches south to Pauntley. The total ward population taken at the 2011 census was 1,856.

Famous residents

Alice Roberts Alice May Roberts (born 19 May 1973) is an English biological anthropologist, biologist, television presenter and author. Since 2012 she has been Professor of the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham. She was President ...

was living with her widowed mother, Julia, at Hazeldine House in Redmarley at the time of her engagement to the composer Edward Elgar. *

Barbara Cartland Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland, (9 July 1901 – 21 May 2000) published as Barbara Cartland was an English writer, known as the Queen of Romance, who published both contemporary and historical romance novels, the latter set primarily duri ...

's mother, Polly Scobell, grew up at the Down House and as a small girl Barbara was a regular visitor from

Pershore Pershore is a market town in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. The town is part of the West Worcestershire parliamentary constituency. At the 2011 census, the population was 7,125. The town is ...

.John Pearson (Henry Cloud), ''Barbara Cartland: Crusader in Pink'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1979 *

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

Thomas Priday, the first British soldier to lose his life in 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 opposi ...

, lived here.

Distances from Redmarley

*3 miles north of

Newent Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish about 10½ miles (17 km) north-west of Gloucester, England. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population was 6,777 at the 2021 Census. ...

*5 miles south of Ledbury *10 miles north west 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 ...

*16 miles south-east of Hereford File:The Causeway, Redmarley D'Abitot - geograph.org.uk - 850481.jpg, The Causeway File:Redmarley D'Abitot, Old house opposite the church.jpg, Old building File:The Village Hall, Redmarley D'Abitot - geograph.org.uk - 368591.jpg, Village hall File:Redmarley D'Abitot War Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 886929.jpg, War memorial File:Fine-looking house, Redmarley - geograph.org.uk - 849716.jpg, Once an inn File:Market gardening land near Redmarley - 1 - geograph.org.uk - 1711539.jpg File:Snow covered farmland, near Redmarley - geograph.org.uk - 1726381.jpg File:Exit from Pauntley Court - geograph.org.uk - 850781.jpg File:Poppy invasion, Ryton - geograph.org.uk - 1335295.jpg File:Meadow cranesbill - geograph.org.uk - 1335397.jpg

References

External links

Redmarley D'Abitot village website"A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3" at british-history.ac.uk
{{authority control Forest of Dean Villages in Gloucestershire