Gretton is a small village located at the foot of the western scarp of the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

, about 9 miles north of

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

in the English county of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. The population taken in mid 2016 was 475. The place-name 'Gretton' is first attested in 1175, and means 'village or town on gravelly soil'. The village has a small primary school for children aged 4 to 11 years old, with four mixed aged classes catering for 94 attendees. The Anglican Church in the village is ''Christ Church''. Its bell tower houses a single bell, weighing four hundredweight (about 200 kg). The War Memorial stands opposite Village Hall. The village shares the name with the village of Gretton in the county of Northants in the East Midlands. Similarly there is another Gretton in Shropshire.

Governance

Gretton civil parish was created in 1994 from part of Winchcombe parish. The parish falls under the Tewkesbury Borough Council ward of Winchcombe, the Gloucestershire County Council division of Winchcombe and Woodmancote, and the UK Parliament constituency of Tewkesbury, whose MP since 2024 is Cameron Thomas, a Liberal Democrat, who defeated Laurence Robertson, the Conservative incumbent since 1997.

Railways

The village was once served by Gretton Halt railway station which closed in 1960. The

Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWR, GWSR or Gloucs-Warks Steam Railway) is a volunteer-run heritage railway which runs along the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border of the Cotswolds in England. The GWSR has restored and reo ...

passes the site of the halt en route.

Notable residents

* Wing Commander Bill Loxton - WWII RAF pilot * Tristan Sharman - Science Communicator

References

{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Borough of Tewkesbury