Stanway is a small village and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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, and about 1 mile south of Stanton: both villages are on the Cotswold Way. The parish includes the villages of Didbrook, Hailes, Taddington and Wood Stanway. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 343. It is part of the

Tewkesbury Borough Council Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at ...

area. The village is dominated by

Stanway House Stanway House is a Jacobean architecture, Jacobean manor house near the village of Stanway, Gloucestershire, Stanway in Gloucestershire, England. The manor of Stanway was owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years, then for 500 years by the Tracy ...

, a Jacobean manor house, owned by the

Earl of Wemyss and March Earl of Wemyss ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1633. The Scottish Wemyss family had possessed the lands of Wemyss in Fife since the 12th century. Since 1823 the earldom has been held with the Earldom of March, created in 1 ...

, undergoing a long 21st century restoration. The demesne estate has the single highest gravity-fed fountain in the UK at just over 300 feet. It was restored for operation in 2004 and can be seen from nearby hills when it spurts. Taddington to the east has the source of the Windrush. The gate of

is the finish of the 1st Stage (and start of the 2nd Stage) of the Cotswold Way Relay race. St Peters Church Stanway

St Peter's Church was rebuilt in the 12th century, the tower added in the 13th century and the whole building thoroughly restored in 1896. The Tithe Barn was built in the 14th century for

Tewkesbury Abbey The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey, is located in the town of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Conside ...

. The bell tower contains a ring of five bells dating from (in order 1-5 wish founders) 2014 (Whitechapel, London) 1625 (Worcester Foundry, possibly James Keene), 1904 (Bond of Burford), 1826 (Rudhall, Gloucester) and 1634 (Unknown founder). They are hung for English Change Ringing and were restored in 2015. The largest (Tenor) bell is a maiden (untuned) bell and is listed for preservation. It weighs just over 11cwt. Stanway

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

is south of the village against the B4077 road and the southernmost end of the Stanton Road. The bronze of St George and the Dragon is by Alexander Fisher, the stone column and plinth by Sir Philip Stott carved by

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as "the greatest artist-craftsma ...

. The war memorial in the church chancel is also by Fisher and Gill. Stanway has a

cricket pitch A cricket pitch is the rectangular central strip of a cricket field between the two wickets, where most of the action takes place. It is long (1 Chain (unit), chain) and wide. The surface is flat and is normally covered with extremely sh ...

, a fenced ground, in the middle of a field. The field has an undulating surface, which was reportedly made uneven to make landing difficult for – possibly hypothetical –

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

gliders during the Second World War. The cricket ground – itself flat – possesses a pavilion, which is built on

staddle stones Staddle stones, or steddle stones, were originally used as supporting bases for granary, granaries. The staddle stones lifted the granaries above the ground, thereby protecting the stored grain from vermin and water seepage. They were also used o ...

, and was the gift of the author

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

who stayed at Stanway House in the 1920s. It is famous lore among the area, that Barrie formed his own "literary cricket team", promising the club he would help pay for the pavilion if he took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

. In 1993 the manor house reopened its brewery, one of only two coal-fired brewing houses in the country.

Locality

*Taddington is east of and higher than most of Stanway, in the parish. *Wood Stanway lies a little less than a mile to the south of Stanway, on the other side of the B4077.

References

* ''Gloucestershire: the Cotswolds'', David Verey,

Pevsner Architectural Guides The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pu ...

: The Buildings of England, Penguin, 1970, . Pp. 414–417.

External links

*
GENUKI page
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Borough of Tewkesbury