Woodchester is a

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 ...

village in the Nailsworth (or Woodchester) Valley, a valley in the South

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 J ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, running southwards from

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

along 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 ...

Nailsworth Nailsworth is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, lying in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds, on the A46 road (the Roman Fosse Way), south of Stroud and about north-east of Bristol and Bath. The parish had a popula ...

. The parish population taken at the 2011 census was 1,206. Woodchester is approximately at the midpoint between Stroud and Nailsworth, about two miles south of Stroud. It is divided into North and South Woodchester, with a side valley between the two settlements. There are pubs in both North and South (''The Royal Oak'' in North and ''The Ram'' in South) and a post office with a shop in North Woodchester. There was a post office (called Woodchester) in South Woodchester but it closed, along with the shop, in June 2008. Woodchester is notable as the location of Woodchester Roman Villa. The village's parish church of St Mary's was designed by

Samuel Sanders Teulon Samuel Sanders Teulon (2 March 1812 – 2 May 1873) was an English Gothic Revival architect, noted for his use of polychrome brickwork and the complex planning of his buildings. Family Teulon was born in 1812 in Greenwich, Kent, the son of a ...

. The nearby Woodchester Mansion is regularly open to the public and stands in a landscaped valley. This valley is now owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and is open daily. There are three waymarked walks. The car park is at

Nympsfield Nympsfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located around four miles south-west of the town of Stroud. As well as Nympsfield village, the parish contains the hamlet of Cockadilly. The population take ...

near

Coaley Peak Coaley Peak is a picnic site and viewpoint in the English county of Gloucestershire. Located about south-west of the town of Stroud overlooking the village of Coaley, Coaley Peak offers of reclaimed farmland (now a wild flower meadow) with vie ...

, not at Woodchester as some visitors suppose. Education is provided by the Woodchester Endowed C of E Primary School under Headteacher Mrs Pennington, which serves around 135 pupils. Following the

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, incl ...

inspection in 2018, the school was rated ''Outstanding'', point four on a four-point scale. The school has secured the

Healthy Schools The National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) was a joint Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2 ...

award. The former Convent of Poor Clares was home to nuns of the

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

order from 1850 to 2011. Doubleroundhouse

Governance

The village falls in the 'Amberley and Woodchester'

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 ...

This ward starts in the north at Woodchester and stretches south to

Amberley Amberley may refer to: Places Australia *Amberley, Queensland, near Ipswich, Australia *RAAF Base Amberley, a Royal Australian Air Force military airbase United Kingdom * Amberley, Gloucestershire, England * Amberley, Herefordshire, Englan ...

. The total ward population taken at the 2011 census was 2,116.

References

External links

BBC archive film of Woodchester from 1985
Villages in Gloucestershire Stroud District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub

Governance

See also

References

External links