Matson is a suburb of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, in the 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 ...

, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 40.

History

Unlike neighbouring villages, such as

Brookthorpe Brookthorpe is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Brookthorpe-with-Whaddon, in the Stroud district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 194. It has a church called St Swithun's ...

and

Upton St Leonards Upton St Leonards is a village in the English county of Gloucestershire. Forming part of the district of Stroud, it is a mile or so north of the A46 road between Stroud and Cheltenham. Facilities The village has two four-star hotels (Hatton ...

, Matson is not mentioned 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. It appears to have been a part of Kings Barton at the time of the survey. The origins of the name are unclear but early versions recorded include ''Matesknolle'', ''Mattesdune'' and ''Matesden''''The History of the County of Gloucester''
Rudge, Thomas. page 171. 1803 and it is likely that the names refer to Robinswood Hill, a large hill which lay entirely within the ancient parish of Matson and on the flanks of which the village lies. It has been suggested that iron ore was mined from Robinswood Hill in Saxon times although there is little evidence for this. A spring called the Red Well rising just above Matson is

ferruginous The adjective ferruginous may mean: * Containing iron, applied to water, oil, and other non-metals * Having rust on the surface * With the rust (color) See also * Ferrous, containing iron (for metals and alloys) or iron(II) cations * Ferric, cont ...

in nature. Matson House, a large manorial house, was the headquarters of King Charles during the

Siege of Gloucester The siege of Gloucester took place between 10 August and 5 September 1643 during the First English Civil War. It was part of a Royalist campaign led by King Charles I to take control of the Severn Valley from the Parliamentarians. Follow ...

. It subsequently became the property of Major General William Selwyn in 1679. It is now (2017) the Selwyn Care Home. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and became part of Gloucester,

and Upton St. Leonards. The housing estate, which occupies the majority of Matson, was built between the 1950s and 1970s. Many housed dock and factory workers, many of whom worked at the Gloucester Docks.

1950s to present

Today, Matson is best known for the

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

that was built in the village after the Second World War.

Parmjit Dhanda Parmjit Singh Dhanda (born 17 September 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gloucester from 2001 until the 2010 general election, succeeding Tess Kingham as the Labour MP for the seat. Back ...

, former MP for

(2001-2010), lived in Matson with his family. Matson contains a ski slope, a pub, a shopping parade, doctor's surgery, Neighbourhood Project and several churches. Matson police station was closed in 1994. In 2009 plans were revealed for the construction of a new

motorway service station Motorway service areas (MSA) also known as services or service stations, are rest areas in the UK and Ireland where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop, use the toilet or stay in an on-site overnight hotel ...

.New service station plan for M5
/ref> Following the planning process and a judicial review Gloucester services was built near Matson with the northbound services opening on 7 May 2014Take a look around the new M5 motorway Gloucester Services
and the southbound services due to open in May 2015. Matson is bordered primarily by Robinswood Hill, a large hill that rises to 283 metres above sea level. Much of Matson is built on the sides of the hill, which features the

Gloucester Ski Centre Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district 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; it is ...

. Celebrity chef

Tom Kerridge Thomas Kerridge (born 27 July 1973) is an English chef. After initially appearing in several small television parts as a child actor, he decided to attend culinary school at the age of 18. He has since worked at a variety of British restaurants, ...

named his "expensive" curry sauce after the sauce that he used to buy from his local chipshop on the Matson estate.

References

{{Areas of Gloucester Areas of Gloucester Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire