Stroud, Gloucestershire
Encyclopedia
Stroud is a market town
and civil parish in the county
of Gloucestershire
, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.
Situated below the western escarpment
of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys
, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture. The Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
surrounds the town, and the Cotswold Way
path passes by it to the west.
Although not formally part of the town, the parish
es of Rodborough
and Cainscross
lie adjacent to Stroud and are often considered part of it.
Stroud acts as a centre for surrounding villages and small market towns including Amberley
, Bisley
, Chalford
, Dudbridge
, Dursley
, Minchinhampton
, Nailsworth
, Oakridge
, Painswick
, Sheepscombe
, Slad
, Stonehouse
, Thrupp
and Woodchester
.
. It was a cloth town; wool
len mills
were powered by the small rivers which surge through the five valleys, and supplied by Cotswold sheep which grazed on the hills above. Particularly noteworthy was the production of military uniforms in the colour Stroudwater Scarlet. The area was made home by a sizable Huguenot
community in the 17th century, fleeing persecution in Catholic France, followed by a significant Jewish presence in the 19th century, linked to the tailoring and cloth industries.
Stroud was an industrial and trading location in the nineteenth century, and so needed transport links. It first had a canal
network in the form of the Stroudwater Navigation
and the Thames & Severn Canal
, both of which survived until the early 20th century. It is now planned to restore these canals as a leisure facility by a partnership of Stroud District Council and the Cotswold Canals Trust
with a multi-million pound Lottery
grant. Stroud railway station
(on the Gloucester
–Swindon
the Golden Valley Line
) was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
.
Though there is much evidence of early historic settlement and transport, Stroud parish was originally part of Bisley
, and only began to emerge as a distinct unit by the 13th century, taking its name from the marshy ground at the confluence
of the Slad Brook
and the River Frome
called "La Strode" and was first recorded in 1221. The church was built by 1279, and it was assigned parochial rights by the rectors of Bisley
in 1304, often cited as the date of Stroud's foundation.
Historic buildings and places of interest in the area include the neolithic
long barrow
s (Uley Long Barrow
) at Uley
, Selsley Common
and Nympsfield
to the west; Roman era remains at Frocester
, West Hill near Uley, and Woodchester
; the medieval buildings at Beverston Castle
; and the outstanding Tudor
houses at Newark Park
and Owlpen Manor
. Woodchester Mansion
is a masterpiece of the Gothic Revival by local architect
Benjamin Bucknall.
From 1837 to 1841, Stroud's MP was Lord John Russell
of the Whig
party who was later to become Prime Minister
. Russell was an important politician, responsible for passing acts of parliament such as the Public Health Act of 1848, but he is mainly remembered as one of the chief architects of the Reform Act 1867
. This act, also known as the Second Reform Act, gave the vote to every urban male householder, not just those of considerable means. This resulted in the electorate being increased by 1.5 million voters. Lord Russell is remembered in the town by two street names, John Street and Russell Street, as well as in the name of the Lord John public house
.
, Stroud urban area (consisting of the civil parishes of Brimscombe, Nailsworth
, Stonehouse
and Stroud) had a total population of 47,348.
For every 100 females, there were 96.4 males. Ethnically, the population is predominantly white (98.2%).
20.6% of the population were under the age of 16 and 8.3% were aged 75 and over; the mean age of the people of the urban area was 39.5. 92.6% of residents described their health as "fair" or better, similar to the average of 92.8% for the wider district.
The average household size was 2.4.
Of those aged 16–74, 24.5% had no academic qualifications,
lower than the national average of 28.9%. Of those aged 16–74, 2.6% were unemployed and 28.4% were economically inactive.
called Stroud 'the Covent Garden of the Cotswolds', the Daily Telegraph referred to it as 'the artistic equivalent of bookish Hay-on-Wye' while the London Evening Standard likened the town to 'Notting Hill with wellies'.
The town was one of the birthplaces of the Organic food
movement and was home to Britain's first fully organic café, Woodruffs. The Biodynamic Agricultural Association is based in the town.
For many years Stroud has hosted a fringe festival
on the second weekend in September. A new committee took over in early 2009 and now runs the fringe on the first weekend in September each year, to coincide with the Stroud Festival Fortnight, including the walking and food festivals. The town also hosts an annual Vintage Fashion, Textile and Accessories Festival, and the fifth annual International Textile Festival was held in May 2010. This is the U.K's only festival to celebrate the diverse culture of textiles.
The Stroudwater Textile Trust was founded in 1999 to link the past and present of textiles in the Five Valleys and to manage the opening of several mills in which historic textile machinery, including a working waterwheel, has been restored and is demonstrated. The Trust has produced a DVD, Rivers of Cloth, using archive film and interviews to be released in early 2011 and a photographic survey of surviving woollen mills is being undertaken for a book, Wool and Water, to be published in 2012.
Stroud has a strong community of independent shops and cafés, which provide the mainstay of the retail experience in the town. Alongside this, the town centre has witnessed two controversial developments in the form of a new cinema (which replaced the bus station) and a branch of McDonald's
which, when plans were unveiled in 2004, came against opposition from locals. The success of small businesses has, in recent years, caused a number of national retail chains to open outlets in the town.
The Subscription Rooms in the heart of the town centre provides a venue for a wide variety of entertainment and also houses the local Tourist Information Centre. There is also a small theatre, the Cotswold Playhouse, which is home to the amateur Cotswold Players; it occasionally plays host to visiting professional companies.
On the fringes of the town are Stratford Park
, originally the park of a small local weaver, now home to a leisure centre with an indoor and outdoor swimming pool
, and the Museum in the Park, a museum of the history and culture of the Stroud valleys.
Stroud Save The Trees Campaign came to national prominence in August 1989 when Stroud District Council tried to implement a road-widening scheme by a midnight raid on thirteen trees it wished to fell within the perimeter of Stratford Park
. However local people got wind of the 'secret' and were there first to protect the trees. After a stand-off that lasted till dawn the police called off the operation on the grounds of public safety. The following year instead of road-widening the first 'traffic calming' in the county was installed. The trees remain to this day.
A few years later Stroud District Council planned to fell the only mature tree in the town centre - the hornbeam on the Subscription rooms forecourt. A quickly mobilised citizenry persuaded them otherwise and the hornbeam survived.
In 2000 Stroud District Council gave permission for the Victorian landmark Hill Paul building to be demolished. After thwarting demolition, local activists formed a company and sold enough shares at £500 each to take an option on the building, which they passed on to a local developer. The building has now been restored and converted into apartments (see photo on the right).
The Save Stroud Hospitals Taskforce has been campaigning since spring 2006 against a range of cuts to health services in and around Stroud, with thousands of people taking part in street demonstrations. Stroud Maternity Hospital was saved in September 2006.
The Uplands Post Office branch in Stroud was one of 26 in the county to shut as part of a nationwide programme to cut losses.
Following local opposition, the Post Office agreed to talks with civic chiefs to look at how it could reopen. The town council agreed to provide £10,000 of funding for the service in 2008 and up to £25,000 for 2009. In November 2008 it was confirmed that Stroud has become only the second place in Britain to save one of its Post Offices.
However, despite the protests, Tesco opened a store near Stratford park in 1989, McDonald's built a fast food restaurant at Rowcroft in 2005 and soon after, the bus station was replaced with a cinema.
In September 2010 the BNP
scrapped plans to move their national media centre to Stroud after protests by local residents.
cloth used to cover snooker
tables and the cloth covering championship tennis balls is made here), but today, the town functions primarily as a centre for light engineering and small-scale manufacturing, and a provider of services for the surrounding villages.
The Stroud and Swindon Building Society has its headquarters here. Stroud is also home to the headquarters of the renewable energy provider Ecotricity
and is a Fairtrade Town
.
In September 2009, the Stroud Pound Co-operative launched the Stroud Pound
as an attempt to reinforce the local economy and encourage more local production. The currency's design follows that of the Chiemgauer
, in being backed on a one-for-one basis by the national currency, having a charge for redemption which is donated to local charities, and including a system of demurrage
to encourage rapid circulation.
A farmers' market
, launched by Jasper Conran
and Isabella Blow
on 3 July 1999, takes place every Saturday at the Cornhill market. It was nominated for the national Farmers' Market of the Year in 2001 and won it in 2007. It also won the Cotswold Life magazine award for the best farmers' market in Gloucestershire in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010. The market featured in an episode of BBC TV's The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain in September 2009, and won the Best Food Market award at the BBC Food & Farming Awards 2010. It is certified by FARMA
.
In addition to the farmers' market there is a smaller market held in The Shambles, an area adjacent to the steep High Street.
John Wesley
preached from a butcher's block in The Shambles on 26 June 1742.
opposite one of the oldest existing buildings in Stroud, the Old Town Hall. Originally called the Market-house, this was built in 1594 and is still in occasional use today.
s: Marling School
for boys (founded 1889) and Stroud High School
for girls (founded in 1904 as the Girls' Endowed School). They continued on long after the comprehensive school
became the norm in secondary education
, and their future was the subject of long-running controversy; they were among the first schools to "opt out" and become grant-maintained
. The two schools now share a mixed sixth form
, called the Marling School Sixth Form and Stroud High School Sixth Form, which works in a three-way consortium with Archway Sixth Form
and Stroud College
and attracts pupils from many surrounding schools.
The town's other secondary schools are Archway School
, a comprehensive school located in the Paganhill area, and Thomas Keble School in Eastcombe.
, operating from its depot on London Road, and Cotswold Green
.
The town is also served by First Great Western
trains from Stroud railway station
, with frequent services to
Gloucester
, Cheltenham
, Swindon
, Reading
and London
. The railway link was established in 1845. Up to then, Stroud had its own time which was set by a sundial at the top of Gloucester Street. There was also an observatory across the road from the hospital where now is a car park. As Stroud time was roughly 9 minutes behind GMT and people kept missing the train, a railway clock was put up in 1858 at the bottom of High Street. It was later moved across King Street to the top of Gloucester Street. The clock fell into disrepair over the years. It was finally saved by Captain Michael Maltin, who restored the clock in 1984 and found a new home for it in the Stroud library.
The A46 road
links Stroud to Gloucester in the north and Bath to the south, with the A419
connecting Stroud to Cirencester
in one direction and the M5 motorway
at Junction 13 in the other.
National Express
coaches serve the town, and Stroud also lies on the traffic-free section of Sustrans
National Cycle Network
Route 45
.
, Jilly Cooper
and Katie Fforde
, children's authors Jamila Gavin
and John Dougherty
, poet Jenny Joseph
, plus national newspaper journalists like The Guardian
's food critic Matthew Fort
following in the footsteps of the Rev. W. Awdry, and W H Davies have made the Stroud area their home. Two of its most famous sons are the authors Laurie Lee
, whose most notable creation Cider with Rosie
is set in the nearby Slad valley, and Booker Prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst
. Poets such as Dennis Gould, Jeff Cloves, Philip Rush, Ted Milton
, Michael Horovitz
, Frances Horovitz
and Adam Horovitz
have grown up, lived and/or live in the area.
Stroud Cricket Club is over 150 years old and plays its home games at Farmhill. The club has three senior teams with the first eleven playing its cricket in the South West Premier league.
Since 1982 Stroud Athletic Club has organised an annual half marathon which takes place in October. Nearly two and a half thousand runners from all over the country entered in 2007. Members of the club include the UK number one Olympic Marathon runner Dan Robinson
.
Stroud Swimming Club was officially formed in 1978, but can trace its origins back to 1905 when it was known as Stroud Swimming and Water Polo Club. In 2006 and 2007 club members made up two thirds of the County team that finished in silver and bronze place respectively in the National Open Water Championships.
Stroud Hockey Club was founded in 1928 and has produced some top class hockey players including Simon Mason.
for the Stroud constituency
after Labour's David Drew lost his seat, who had held the seat since 1997. Stroud was a Marginal seat
which the Conservatives had targeted in the 2010 Election, as was the neighbouring Gloucester (UK Parliament constituency)
- Gloucestershire now has no Labour seats.
In 2008 Stroud Town Council comprised 11 Green Party
councillors, with 5 independents, 1 Conservative
and 1 Liberal Democrat
.
In March 2008, a community radio station, Stroud FM
, was launched in the town, broadcasting 24 hours a day on 107.9FM. The station, staffed by volunteers and funded by donations, focuses on local news and music, but also plays national and international music. Both BBC Radio Gloucestershire
and Heart (Gloucester) have dedicated FM transmitters serving the town.
The local newspaper is the Stroud News & Journal
, a paid-for weekly Newsquest
title with a circulation of around 19,000.
The weekly newspaper Stroud Life was launched in 2008 but was chastised by the Advertising Standards Authority
in 2009 for its claim to be a leading local paper.
, Isère
, France Stroud, Oklahoma
, USA Duderstadt
, Lower Saxony
, Germany Stroud, New South Wales
, Australia
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
and civil parish in the county
County
A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire 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....
, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.
Situated below the western escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys
Five Valleys
The Five Valleys are a group of valleys in Gloucestershire, England, which converge on the town of Stroud at the western edge of the Cotswolds. The valleys are as follows:* The Frome valley * The Nailsworth Valley...
, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture. The Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
surrounds the town, and the Cotswold Way
Cotswold Way
The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath, running along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills in England. It was officially inaugurated as a National Trail on 24 May 2007 and several new rights of way have been created.-History:...
path passes by it to the west.
Although not formally part of the town, the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es of Rodborough
Rodborough
Rodborough is a civil parish in the district of Stroud, Gloucestershire, in Southwest England. It is directly south of the town of Stroud, north of the town of Nailsworth and north-west of the village of Minchinhampton...
and Cainscross
Cainscross
Cainscross is a village in Gloucestershire, England, on the outskirts of Stroud.It is well served with local amenities, including a Post Office and a large supermarket. It is well connected to Stroud , Cheltenham and Gloucester with frequent bus services...
lie adjacent to Stroud and are often considered part of it.
Stroud acts as a centre for surrounding villages and small market towns including Amberley
Amberley, Gloucestershire
Amberley, Gloucestershire is a small village near Stroud in Gloucestershire, England.-Places of interest:*A War memorial to the soldiers who died in World War II*Amberley Church*The Black Horse Pub*The Amberley Inn Hotel-External links:***...
, Bisley
Bisley, Gloucestershire
Bisley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, approximately east of Stroud. The parish is today united administratively with the adjoining parish of Lypiatt and the two are usually referred to as Bisley-with-Lypiatt...
, Chalford
Chalford
Chalford is a village in the Frome Valley of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. It is about 8 km upstream of Stroud. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, France Lynch, Bussage and Brownshill, spread over 2 mi² of the...
, Dudbridge
Dudbridge
Dudbridge is a suburb on the southern edge of Stroud in Gloucestershire, England.-History:Dudbridge gains its name from the first bridge in the location, which spanned the River Frome...
, Dursley
Dursley
Dursley is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. It is under the North East flank of Stinchcombe Hill , and about 6 km South East of the River Severn. The town is adjacent with Cam which, though a village, is a community of double the size...
, Minchinhampton
Minchinhampton
Minchinhampton is an ancient market town, located on a hilltop south-south-east of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, in the Cotswolds. The town is twinned with Nkokoto, in Tanzania....
, Nailsworth
Nailsworth
Nailsworth is a town in Gloucestershire, England, lying in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds. It has a population of around 6,600 people and lies on the A46 road....
, Oakridge
Oakridge, Gloucestershire
Oakridge is a village in Gloucestershire, England. The parish church is St. Bartholomew's Church. It is just on the outskirts of Stroud, Gloucestershire....
, Painswick
Painswick
Painswick is a small town in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew on the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The town is mainly constructed of locally quarried Cotswold stone...
, Sheepscombe
Sheepscombe, Gloucestershire
Sheepscombe is a small village in Gloucestershire, south-east of Gloucester, north-east of Stroud, and east of Painswick, lying just off the A46 and B4070 roads. The first record of the village dates from around 1260, with the original name of Sebbescumbe - the name possibly comes from the names...
, Slad
Slad
Slad is a village in Gloucestershire, England, located in the Slad Valley, about from the town of Stroud.Slad is famous for being the home of Laurie Lee, who based his book Cider with Rosie on his own life in the village....
, Stonehouse
Stonehouse, Gloucestershire
Stonehouse, Gloucestershire is an urban area within the Stroud District, in the UK. It is home to a number of factories, such as Dairy Crest and Schlumberger. The town is close to the M5 motorway. Stonehouse railway station has a regular train service to London...
, Thrupp
Thrupp & Brimscombe
Thrupp and Brimscombe are two small linked villages situated in the narrow Frome Valley just outside Stroud, Gloucestershire in the parish of Thrupp, which also includes the hamlets of Upper and Lower Bourne, Lypiatt, Quarhouse, the Heavens and Claypits....
and Woodchester
Woodchester
Woodchester is a Gloucestershire village in the Nailsworth Valley, a valley in the South Cotswolds in England, running southwards from Stroud along the A46 road to Nailsworth....
.
History
Stroud is known for its involvement in the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. It was a cloth town; wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
len mills
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
were powered by the small rivers which surge through the five valleys, and supplied by Cotswold sheep which grazed on the hills above. Particularly noteworthy was the production of military uniforms in the colour Stroudwater Scarlet. The area was made home by a sizable Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
community in the 17th century, fleeing persecution in Catholic France, followed by a significant Jewish presence in the 19th century, linked to the tailoring and cloth industries.
Stroud was an industrial and trading location in the nineteenth century, and so needed transport links. It first had a canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
network in the form of the Stroudwater Navigation
Stroudwater Navigation
The Stroudwater Navigation is a canal linking Stroud to the Severn Estuary in England and Wales. It was authorised in 1776, although part had already been built, as the Proprietors thought that an Act of Parliament obtained in 1730 gave them the necessary powers. It opened in 1779, and was a...
and the Thames & Severn Canal
Thames and Severn Canal
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a canal route from Bristol to London. At its eastern end, it connects to the River Thames at Inglesham Lock near Lechlade, while at its western end, it...
, both of which survived until the early 20th century. It is now planned to restore these canals as a leisure facility by a partnership of Stroud District Council and the Cotswold Canals Trust
Cotswold Canals Trust
The Cotswold Canals Trust is a registered charity that aims to protect and restore the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal. The group was founded in 1972....
with a multi-million pound Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
grant. Stroud railway station
Stroud railway station
Stroud railway station is a railway station that serves the town of Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. The station is located on the Swindon-Gloucester "Golden Valley" line.-History:...
(on the Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
–Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
the Golden Valley Line
Golden Valley Line
The Golden Valley Line is a railway line from Swindon to Cheltenham in the UK.The line was originally built as the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway in the 1840s...
) was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
.
Bisley, Gloucestershire
Bisley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, approximately east of Stroud. The parish is today united administratively with the adjoining parish of Lypiatt and the two are usually referred to as Bisley-with-Lypiatt...
, and only began to emerge as a distinct unit by the 13th century, taking its name from the marshy ground at the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the Slad Brook
Slad
Slad is a village in Gloucestershire, England, located in the Slad Valley, about from the town of Stroud.Slad is famous for being the home of Laurie Lee, who based his book Cider with Rosie on his own life in the village....
and the River Frome
River Frome, Stroud
The River Frome, once also known as the Stroudwater, is a small river in Gloucestershire, England. It is to be distinguished from another River Frome in Gloucestershire, the Bristol Frome....
called "La Strode" and was first recorded in 1221. The church was built by 1279, and it was assigned parochial rights by the rectors of Bisley
Bisley, Gloucestershire
Bisley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, approximately east of Stroud. The parish is today united administratively with the adjoining parish of Lypiatt and the two are usually referred to as Bisley-with-Lypiatt...
in 1304, often cited as the date of Stroud's foundation.
Historic buildings and places of interest in the area include the neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
long barrow
Long barrow
A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or trapezoidal tumuli or earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs...
s (Uley Long Barrow
Uley Long Barrow
Uley Long Barrow, also known locally as "Hetty Pegler's Tump", is a Neolithic burial mound, near the village of Uley, Gloucestershire, England. Although typically described as a long barrow, the mound is actually a transected gallery grave...
) at Uley
Uley
Uley is a village in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated in a wooded valley in the Cotswold escarpment, on the road between Dursley and Stroud. The population is around 1,100, but was much greater during the early years of the industrial revolution, when the village was...
, Selsley Common
Selsley
Selsley is a village within the civil parish of King's Stanley and district of Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. It is composed of around 175 houses-scattered around the western and eastern edge of a Cotswold spur-located approximately south of Stroud...
and Nympsfield
Nympsfield
Nympsfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located around six miles south-west of the town of Stroud. As well as Nympsfield village, the parish also contains the hamlet of Cockadilly....
to the west; Roman era remains at Frocester
Frocester
Frocester is a village and civil parish in Stroud District, Gloucestershire, England. It lies below the Cotswold escarpment, 10 miles south of Gloucester and 4 miles west of Stroud. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 194....
, West Hill near Uley, and Woodchester
Woodchester
Woodchester is a Gloucestershire village in the Nailsworth Valley, a valley in the South Cotswolds in England, running southwards from Stroud along the A46 road to Nailsworth....
; the medieval buildings at Beverston Castle
Beverston Castle
Beverston Castle, also known as Beverstone Castle, was originally constructed as a medieval stone fortress and is situated in the village of Beverston, Gloucestershire, England. The castle was founded in 1229 by Maurice de Gaunt...
; and the outstanding Tudor
Tudor style architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
houses at Newark Park
Newark Park
Newark Park is a Grade I listed country house of Tudor origins located near the village of Ozleworth, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. The house sits in an estate of at the southern end of the Cotswold escarpment with views down the Severn Valley to the Severn Estuary...
and Owlpen Manor
Owlpen Manor
Owlpen Manor is a Tudor Grade I listed manor house of the Mander family, situated in the village of Owlpen in the Stroud district in Gloucestershire, England. There is an associated estate set in a picturesque valley within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
. Woodchester Mansion
Woodchester Mansion
Woodchester Mansion is an unfinished, Gothic revival mansion house located in Woodchester Park near Nympsfield in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, England...
is a masterpiece of the Gothic Revival by local architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Benjamin Bucknall.
From 1837 to 1841, Stroud's MP was Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
of the Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
party who was later to become Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
. Russell was an important politician, responsible for passing acts of parliament such as the Public Health Act of 1848, but he is mainly remembered as one of the chief architects of the Reform Act 1867
Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales....
. This act, also known as the Second Reform Act, gave the vote to every urban male householder, not just those of considerable means. This resulted in the electorate being increased by 1.5 million voters. Lord Russell is remembered in the town by two street names, John Street and Russell Street, as well as in the name of the Lord John public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
.
Demography
As of the 2001 UK censusUnited Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Stroud urban area (consisting of the civil parishes of Brimscombe, Nailsworth
Nailsworth
Nailsworth is a town in Gloucestershire, England, lying in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds. It has a population of around 6,600 people and lies on the A46 road....
, Stonehouse
Stonehouse, Gloucestershire
Stonehouse, Gloucestershire is an urban area within the Stroud District, in the UK. It is home to a number of factories, such as Dairy Crest and Schlumberger. The town is close to the M5 motorway. Stonehouse railway station has a regular train service to London...
and Stroud) had a total population of 47,348.
For every 100 females, there were 96.4 males. Ethnically, the population is predominantly white (98.2%).
20.6% of the population were under the age of 16 and 8.3% were aged 75 and over; the mean age of the people of the urban area was 39.5. 92.6% of residents described their health as "fair" or better, similar to the average of 92.8% for the wider district.
The average household size was 2.4.
Of those aged 16–74, 24.5% had no academic qualifications,
lower than the national average of 28.9%. Of those aged 16–74, 2.6% were unemployed and 28.4% were economically inactive.
Character and amenities
Stroud has a significant artistic community that dates back to the early part of the twentieth century. Jasper ConranJasper Conran
Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran OBE is an English fashion designer. He is the son of the designer Sir Terence Conran and the author Shirley Conran.-Education:He was educated at Port Regis School and Bryanston School in the 1970s...
called Stroud 'the Covent Garden of the Cotswolds', the Daily Telegraph referred to it as 'the artistic equivalent of bookish Hay-on-Wye' while the London Evening Standard likened the town to 'Notting Hill with wellies'.
The town was one of the birthplaces of the Organic food
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
movement and was home to Britain's first fully organic café, Woodruffs. The Biodynamic Agricultural Association is based in the town.
For many years Stroud has hosted a fringe festival
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
on the second weekend in September. A new committee took over in early 2009 and now runs the fringe on the first weekend in September each year, to coincide with the Stroud Festival Fortnight, including the walking and food festivals. The town also hosts an annual Vintage Fashion, Textile and Accessories Festival, and the fifth annual International Textile Festival was held in May 2010. This is the U.K's only festival to celebrate the diverse culture of textiles.
The Stroudwater Textile Trust was founded in 1999 to link the past and present of textiles in the Five Valleys and to manage the opening of several mills in which historic textile machinery, including a working waterwheel, has been restored and is demonstrated. The Trust has produced a DVD, Rivers of Cloth, using archive film and interviews to be released in early 2011 and a photographic survey of surviving woollen mills is being undertaken for a book, Wool and Water, to be published in 2012.
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
which, when plans were unveiled in 2004, came against opposition from locals. The success of small businesses has, in recent years, caused a number of national retail chains to open outlets in the town.
The Subscription Rooms in the heart of the town centre provides a venue for a wide variety of entertainment and also houses the local Tourist Information Centre. There is also a small theatre, the Cotswold Playhouse, which is home to the amateur Cotswold Players; it occasionally plays host to visiting professional companies.
On the fringes of the town are Stratford Park
Stratford Park
Stratford Park is a green flag awarded area of Stroud in Gloucestershire, south west England. With a large park and lake, and a leisure centre complex, Stratford Park is a major tourist area for Stroud. It is located on the outskirts of Stroud near Paganhill and Whiteshill...
, originally the park of a small local weaver, now home to a leisure centre with an indoor and outdoor swimming pool
Lido
The Lido is an 11 km long sandbar located in Venice, northern Italy, home to about 20,000 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido every September.-Geography:...
, and the Museum in the Park, a museum of the history and culture of the Stroud valleys.
Campaigns
Stroud citizens have a history of protest going back to the Stroudwater Riots of 1825. In the late 1970s Stroud Campaign Against The Ringroad prevented Gloucestershire County Council's attempt to introduce new traffic plans. A few years later Stroud District Council tried to demolish 18th century buildings in the town centre. Stroud High Street Action Group, with some rooftop protests and a high court judgement, demonstrated against this. The restored buildings are now a feature of the High Street. After a short occupation a compromise was reached in the demolition of buildings in Cornhill with many being saved, including one identified as a medieval house. This campaign led to the formation of the Stroud Preservation Trust. which has been instrumental in saving many of the town's oldest buildings like Withey's house, the Brunel Goods Shed and the Hill Paul building.Stroud Save The Trees Campaign came to national prominence in August 1989 when Stroud District Council tried to implement a road-widening scheme by a midnight raid on thirteen trees it wished to fell within the perimeter of Stratford Park
Stratford Park
Stratford Park is a green flag awarded area of Stroud in Gloucestershire, south west England. With a large park and lake, and a leisure centre complex, Stratford Park is a major tourist area for Stroud. It is located on the outskirts of Stroud near Paganhill and Whiteshill...
. However local people got wind of the 'secret' and were there first to protect the trees. After a stand-off that lasted till dawn the police called off the operation on the grounds of public safety. The following year instead of road-widening the first 'traffic calming' in the county was installed. The trees remain to this day.
In 2000 Stroud District Council gave permission for the Victorian landmark Hill Paul building to be demolished. After thwarting demolition, local activists formed a company and sold enough shares at £500 each to take an option on the building, which they passed on to a local developer. The building has now been restored and converted into apartments (see photo on the right).
The Save Stroud Hospitals Taskforce has been campaigning since spring 2006 against a range of cuts to health services in and around Stroud, with thousands of people taking part in street demonstrations. Stroud Maternity Hospital was saved in September 2006.
The Uplands Post Office branch in Stroud was one of 26 in the county to shut as part of a nationwide programme to cut losses.
Following local opposition, the Post Office agreed to talks with civic chiefs to look at how it could reopen. The town council agreed to provide £10,000 of funding for the service in 2008 and up to £25,000 for 2009. In November 2008 it was confirmed that Stroud has become only the second place in Britain to save one of its Post Offices.
However, despite the protests, Tesco opened a store near Stratford park in 1989, McDonald's built a fast food restaurant at Rowcroft in 2005 and soon after, the bus station was replaced with a cinema.
In September 2010 the BNP
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
scrapped plans to move their national media centre to Stroud after protests by local residents.
Business
There is still a small textile industry (the green baizeBaize
Baize is a coarse woollen cloth, sometimes called felt in American English based on a similarity in appearance.-Usage:...
cloth used to cover snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
tables and the cloth covering championship tennis balls is made here), but today, the town functions primarily as a centre for light engineering and small-scale manufacturing, and a provider of services for the surrounding villages.
The Stroud and Swindon Building Society has its headquarters here. Stroud is also home to the headquarters of the renewable energy provider Ecotricity
Ecotricity
Ecotricity is a green energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England specialising in selling and generating wind power. It is built on the principle of heavily reinvesting its profit in building more of its own windfarms.-History:...
and is a Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town is a status awarded by a recognized Fairtrade certification body describing an area which is committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods...
.
In September 2009, the Stroud Pound Co-operative launched the Stroud Pound
Stroud Pound
The Stroud Pound is a local currency in use in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Unveiled on 12 September 2009, the scheme is the third local currency scheme introduced in England in recent years after the Totnes Pound and the Lewes Pound.-History:...
as an attempt to reinforce the local economy and encourage more local production. The currency's design follows that of the Chiemgauer
Chiemgauer
Chiemgauer is the name of a regional local currency started in 2003 in Prien am Chiemsee, Bavaria, Germany. It is named after the Chiemgau, a region around the Chiemsee. The Chiemgauer program is intended to promote local commerce...
, in being backed on a one-for-one basis by the national currency, having a charge for redemption which is donated to local charities, and including a system of demurrage
Demurrage (currency)
Demurrage is a cost associated with owning or holding currency over a given period of time. It is sometimes referred to as a carrying cost of money. For commodity money such as gold, demurrage is in practice nothing more than the cost of storing and securing the gold...
to encourage rapid circulation.
Farmers' market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
, launched by Jasper Conran
Jasper Conran
Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran OBE is an English fashion designer. He is the son of the designer Sir Terence Conran and the author Shirley Conran.-Education:He was educated at Port Regis School and Bryanston School in the 1970s...
and Isabella Blow
Isabella Blow
Isabella Blow was an English magazine editor. The muse of hat designer Philip Treacy, she is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl as well as the fashion designer Alexander McQueen....
on 3 July 1999, takes place every Saturday at the Cornhill market. It was nominated for the national Farmers' Market of the Year in 2001 and won it in 2007. It also won the Cotswold Life magazine award for the best farmers' market in Gloucestershire in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010. The market featured in an episode of BBC TV's The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain in September 2009, and won the Best Food Market award at the BBC Food & Farming Awards 2010. It is certified by FARMA
FARMA
FARMA is a co-operative association of farmers, producers and farmers' market organisations in the United Kingdom.-Overview:FARMA, the National Farmers' Retail and Markets Association is an organisation that was set up to represent farmers and organisations such as farmers markets and farm shops...
.
In addition to the farmers' market there is a smaller market held in The Shambles, an area adjacent to the steep High Street.
John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
preached from a butcher's block in The Shambles on 26 June 1742.
opposite one of the oldest existing buildings in Stroud, the Old Town Hall. Originally called the Market-house, this was built in 1594 and is still in occasional use today.
History
"There was a school at Stroud in 1576 but the schoolmaster, who did not have a licence and failed to teach the catechism, was then dismissed..."Primary schools
There are thirteen primary schools in the town:- Uplands Uplands Community Primary School
- Callowell Callowell Primary School
- Gastrells Gastrells Community Primary School
- Parliament Parliament Primary School
- Rosary Rosary Catholic Primary School
- St Dominic's St Dominic's Catholic Primary School
- St Matthew's St Matthew's School
- Stroud Valley Stroud Valley Community School
- Rodborough Community Primary school
- Cashes Green Primary school
- Foxmoor Primary School
- Whiteshill Community Primary school
- Randwick CE Primary school
Secondary schools
The town is home to two of Gloucestershire's seven remaining state grammar schoolGrammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
s: Marling School
Marling School
Marling School is a grammar school for boys located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, next to its sister school, Stroud High School. It is on the Cainscross Road, the main route out of Stroud towards the M5....
for boys (founded 1889) and Stroud High School
Stroud High School
Stroud High School is a state funded grammar school for girls aged 11 to 18 located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.-History:Stroud High School was founded in 1904 as the Girls' Endowed School by a group of local citizens led by solicitor Mr. A. J...
for girls (founded in 1904 as the Girls' Endowed School). They continued on long after the comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
became the norm in secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
, and their future was the subject of long-running controversy; they were among the first schools to "opt out" and become grant-maintained
Grant-maintained school
Grant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...
. The two schools now share a mixed sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
, called the Marling School Sixth Form and Stroud High School Sixth Form, which works in a three-way consortium with Archway Sixth Form
Archway School
Archway School is a comprehensive co-educational school for pupils aged 11 to 18 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. It holds the status of a Specialist Technology College. The headteacher is Mr Colin Belford....
and Stroud College
Stroud College
Stroud College is a sixth form and further educational establishment, located in Stroud, Gloucestershire.Stroud College started in the School of Art in 1860, which then renamed to The Technical College and located itself in various buildings in the town of Stroud...
and attracts pupils from many surrounding schools.
The town's other secondary schools are Archway School
Archway School
Archway School is a comprehensive co-educational school for pupils aged 11 to 18 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. It holds the status of a Specialist Technology College. The headteacher is Mr Colin Belford....
, a comprehensive school located in the Paganhill area, and Thomas Keble School in Eastcombe.
Transport
Public bus transport in Stroud is run by StagecoachStagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
, operating from its depot on London Road, and Cotswold Green
Cotswold Green
Cotswold Green is a bus company located in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. It was created in August 2006 in order to acquire the operations of Ebley Bus and trading began in December 2006....
.
The town is also served by First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
trains from Stroud railway station
Stroud railway station
Stroud railway station is a railway station that serves the town of Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. The station is located on the Swindon-Gloucester "Golden Valley" line.-History:...
, with frequent services to
Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
, Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
, Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The railway link was established in 1845. Up to then, Stroud had its own time which was set by a sundial at the top of Gloucester Street. There was also an observatory across the road from the hospital where now is a car park. As Stroud time was roughly 9 minutes behind GMT and people kept missing the train, a railway clock was put up in 1858 at the bottom of High Street. It was later moved across King Street to the top of Gloucester Street. The clock fell into disrepair over the years. It was finally saved by Captain Michael Maltin, who restored the clock in 1984 and found a new home for it in the Stroud library.
The A46 road
A46 road
The A46 is an A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway development...
links Stroud to Gloucester in the north and Bath to the south, with the A419
A419 road
The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England....
connecting Stroud to Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
in one direction and the M5 motorway
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
at Junction 13 in the other.
National Express
National Express
National Express Coaches, more commonly known as National Express, is a brand and company, owned by the National Express Group, under which the majority of long distance bus and coach services in Great Britain are operated,...
coaches serve the town, and Stroud also lies on the traffic-free section of Sustrans
Sustrans
Sustrans is a British charity to promote sustainable transport. The charity is currently working on a number of practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport, to give people the choice of "travelling in ways that benefit their health and the environment"...
National Cycle Network
National Cycle Network
The National Cycle Network is a network of cycle routes in the United Kingdom.The National Cycle Network was created by the charity Sustrans , and aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. In 2005 it was used for over 230 million trips.Many routes hope to minimise contact with motor...
Route 45
Segregated cycle facilities
Segregated cycle facilities are marked lanes, tracks, shoulders and paths designated for use by cyclists from which motorised traffic is generally excluded...
.
Literature
Novelists Sue LimbSue Limb
Sue Limb is a British writer and broadcaster. She studied Elizabethan lyric poetry at Cambridge and then trained in education. She lives on an organic farm near Nailsworth, Gloucestershire....
, Jilly Cooper
Jilly Cooper
Jilly Cooper OBE is an English author. She started her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for writing the Rutshire Chronicles.-Early life:Jilly Sallitt was born in Hornchurch,...
and Katie Fforde
Katie Fforde
Katie Fforde, née Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming , is a British romance novelist since 1995.She is founder of the Katie Fforde Bursary for writers who have yet to secure a publishing contract...
, children's authors Jamila Gavin
Jamila Gavin
Jamila Gavin is a British writer born in Mussoorie, India in the foothills of the Himalayas.Her father was Indian and her mother English...
and John Dougherty
John Dougherty (author)
John Dougherty is a Northern Irish author, born in the town of Larne in 1964. He now lives in Gloucestershire.He worked as a primary school teacher in London during the 1990s and early 2000s, and during this period began to write stories for children...
, poet Jenny Joseph
Jenny Joseph
-Life and career:She was born in Birmingham, and with a scholarship, studied English literature at St Hilda's College, Oxford .Her poems were first published when she was at university in the early 1950s...
, plus national newspaper journalists like The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's food critic Matthew Fort
Matthew Fort
Matthew Fort is a British food writer and critic. Matthew Fort attended Eton College, and later Lancaster University. He has been the Food and Drink editor of The Guardian for over ten years. He also writes for Esquire, The Observer, Country Living, Decanter and Waitrose Food Illustrated...
following in the footsteps of the Rev. W. Awdry, and W H Davies have made the Stroud area their home. Two of its most famous sons are the authors Laurie Lee
Laurie Lee
Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, and went to Marling School, Gloucestershire. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie , As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and...
, whose most notable creation Cider with Rosie
Cider with Rosie
Cider with Rosie is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee . It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and A Moment of War...
is set in the nearby Slad valley, and Booker Prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst
Alan Hollinghurst
Alan Hollinghurst is a British novelist, and winner of the 2004 Man Booker Prize for The Line of Beauty.-Biography:Hollinghurst was born on 26 May 1954 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, the only child of James Hollinghurst, a bank manager, and his wife, Elizabeth...
. Poets such as Dennis Gould, Jeff Cloves, Philip Rush, Ted Milton
Ted Milton
Ted Milton is an English poet and musician, best known for leading the Blurt, an experimental jazz-rock group.Milton grew up in Africa, Canada and Great Britain. He published some early poems in magazines like Paris Review...
, Michael Horovitz
Michael Horovitz
Michael Horovitz is an English poet, artist and translator.-Life and career:Michael Horovitz was the youngest of ten children who were brought to England from Nazi Germany by their parents, both of whom were part of a network of European-rabbinical families...
, Frances Horovitz
Frances Horovitz
Frances Horovitz was an English poet and broadcaster.-Biography:Frances Horovitz was born in London. She was educated at Bristol University and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. As a reader and presenter for the BBC, she acquired a reputation for care of preparation and quality of...
and Adam Horovitz
Adam Horovitz (poet)
Adam Horovitz is the son of poets Michael Horovitz and Frances Horovitz. Born in London in 1971, he moved with his parents to Stroud, Gloucestershire the same year. He has been active as a poet since the 1990s but has been writing since childhood. He released his first pamphlet, Next Year in...
have grown up, lived and/or live in the area.
Sport
Stroud Rugby Club, founded in 1873, play in the Western Counties North league. Their home ground is Fromehall Park, near the town centre.Stroud Cricket Club is over 150 years old and plays its home games at Farmhill. The club has three senior teams with the first eleven playing its cricket in the South West Premier league.
Since 1982 Stroud Athletic Club has organised an annual half marathon which takes place in October. Nearly two and a half thousand runners from all over the country entered in 2007. Members of the club include the UK number one Olympic Marathon runner Dan Robinson
Dan Robinson (athlete)
Daniel Stephen Robinson is an English long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. He represented Great Britain in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Games....
.
Stroud Swimming Club was officially formed in 1978, but can trace its origins back to 1905 when it was known as Stroud Swimming and Water Polo Club. In 2006 and 2007 club members made up two thirds of the County team that finished in silver and bronze place respectively in the National Open Water Championships.
Stroud Hockey Club was founded in 1928 and has produced some top class hockey players including Simon Mason.
Politics and media
In the 2010 General Election, Conservative Neil Carmichael became Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the Stroud constituency
Stroud (UK Parliament constituency)
Stroud is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
after Labour's David Drew lost his seat, who had held the seat since 1997. Stroud was a Marginal seat
Marginal seat
A marginal seat, or swing seat, is a constituency held with a particularly small majority in a legislative election, generally conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat....
which the Conservatives had targeted in the 2010 Election, as was the neighbouring Gloucester (UK Parliament constituency)
Gloucester (UK Parliament constituency)
Gloucester is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was established in 1295 to return two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons but in 1885 representation was reduced to one member under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885...
- Gloucestershire now has no Labour seats.
In 2008 Stroud Town Council comprised 11 Green Party
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
councillors, with 5 independents, 1 Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and 1 Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
.
In March 2008, a community radio station, Stroud FM
Stroud FM
Stroud FM is a community radio station based in Stroud, Gloucestershire which broadcasts 24 hours a day on its 107.9 FM frequency and online via its website....
, was launched in the town, broadcasting 24 hours a day on 107.9FM. The station, staffed by volunteers and funded by donations, focuses on local news and music, but also plays national and international music. Both BBC Radio Gloucestershire
BBC Radio Gloucestershire
BBC Radio Gloucestershire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Gloucestershire, which started on 3 October 1988. It broadcasts from its studios in London Rd, Gloucester on 95 , 95.8 , 104.7 FM, 1413 in the Cotswolds & Forest of Dean AM and over the internet.-Transmitters:The...
and Heart (Gloucester) have dedicated FM transmitters serving the town.
The local newspaper is the Stroud News & Journal
Stroud News & Journal
The Stroud News & Journal is a weekly paid-for newspaper based in Stroud, Gloucestershire. It is published every Wednesday in a tabloid format by Newsquest and covers a large portion of the Stroud district, including the towns of Stroud, Minchinhampton, Nailsworth, Stonehouse and Chalford, and...
, a paid-for weekly Newsquest
Newsquest
Newsquest is the third largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom with 300 titles in its portfolio. Newsquest is based in Weybridge, Surrey and employs a total of more than 5,500 people across the UK...
title with a circulation of around 19,000.
The weekly newspaper Stroud Life was launched in 2008 but was chastised by the Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
in 2009 for its claim to be a leading local paper.
Crime
Figures from the local police force and the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership indicate that Stroud has a significantly lower level of crime per head of population than the national average.| Offence | Locally | Nationally |
|---|---|---|
| Robbery | .31 | 1.85 |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 2.39 | 4.04 |
| Theft from a motor vehicle | 7.11 | 9.59 |
| Sexual offences | .79 | 1.17 |
| Violence against a person | 13.36 | 19.97 |
| Burglary | 3.19 | 5.67 |
Notable people
The town's most notable natives and residents are mainly authors, artists and actors:Authors
- Michael HorovitzMichael HorovitzMichael Horovitz is an English poet, artist and translator.-Life and career:Michael Horovitz was the youngest of ten children who were brought to England from Nazi Germany by their parents, both of whom were part of a network of European-rabbinical families...
, political poet and publisher, used to live in the area - Frances HorovitzFrances HorovitzFrances Horovitz was an English poet and broadcaster.-Biography:Frances Horovitz was born in London. She was educated at Bristol University and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. As a reader and presenter for the BBC, she acquired a reputation for care of preparation and quality of...
, poet and broadcaster, lived near Stroud, 1971–80 - Rev. W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank EngineThomas the Tank EngineThomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...
, moved to the area and was the Reverend of the parish church of Rodborough until he died in the 1990s. He is fondly remembered in the area and was seen daily riding his bicycle up the steep Rodborough hill. - Jilly CooperJilly CooperJilly Cooper OBE is an English author. She started her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for writing the Rutshire Chronicles.-Early life:Jilly Sallitt was born in Hornchurch,...
, author, moved to the area - Alan HollinghurstAlan HollinghurstAlan Hollinghurst is a British novelist, and winner of the 2004 Man Booker Prize for The Line of Beauty.-Biography:Hollinghurst was born on 26 May 1954 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, the only child of James Hollinghurst, a bank manager, and his wife, Elizabeth...
, author, born in Stroud - Jamila GavinJamila GavinJamila Gavin is a British writer born in Mussoorie, India in the foothills of the Himalayas.Her father was Indian and her mother English...
, children's author, moved to Stroud - Jenny JosephJenny Joseph-Life and career:She was born in Birmingham, and with a scholarship, studied English literature at St Hilda's College, Oxford .Her poems were first published when she was at university in the early 1950s...
, writer of "I Shall Wear Purple" lives in nearby MinchinhamptonMinchinhamptonMinchinhampton is an ancient market town, located on a hilltop south-south-east of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, in the Cotswolds. The town is twinned with Nkokoto, in Tanzania.... - Laurie LeeLaurie LeeLaurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, and went to Marling School, Gloucestershire. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie , As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and...
, author, born in Stroud and bred in the Slad Valley, the setting of Cider with RosieCider with RosieCider with Rosie is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee . It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and A Moment of War... - Matthew FortMatthew FortMatthew Fort is a British food writer and critic. Matthew Fort attended Eton College, and later Lancaster University. He has been the Food and Drink editor of The Guardian for over ten years. He also writes for Esquire, The Observer, Country Living, Decanter and Waitrose Food Illustrated...
, food writer, critic, and Guardian food columnist - Katie FfordeKatie FfordeKatie Fforde, née Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming , is a British romance novelist since 1995.She is founder of the Katie Fforde Bursary for writers who have yet to secure a publishing contract...
, author, moved to the area - Basil Liddell HartBasil Liddell HartSir Basil Henry Liddell Hart , usually known before his knighthood as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was an English soldier, military historian and leading inter-war theorist.-Life and career:...
, military theorist - Adrian Liddell HartAdrian Liddell HartAdrian Liddell Hart was a British soldier, Royal Navy officer, author and adventurer. He served briefly in the French Foreign Legion and portrayed it in the 1953 book Strange Company.-Early life and career:...
, author and adventurer
Artists
- Leo BaxendaleLeo BaxendaleLeo Baxendale is a British cartoonist, who was the creator of the classic Beano strips Little Plum , Minnie the Minx , The Bash Street Kids and The Three Bears .Leo Baxendale was at the end of his National Service days in the RAF, when he decided he...
, creator of Minnie the Minx, lives nearby - Lynn ChadwickLynn ChadwickLynn Russell Chadwick CBE was an English artist and sculptor trained as an architectural draughtsman,but began producing metal mobile sculpture during the 1940s. Chadwick was born in London and went to Merchant Taylor's School.Chadwick was commissioned to produce 3 works for the 1951 Festival of...
, sculptor - Damien HirstDamien HirstDamien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
, artist, has a studio in ChalfordChalfordChalford is a village in the Frome Valley of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. It is about 8 km upstream of Stroud. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, France Lynch, Bussage and Brownshill, spread over 2 mi² of the...
and another in Stroud - Robert Charles "Jack" RussellJack Russell (cricketer and artist)Robert Charles "Jack" Russell MBE is a retired English international cricketer, now known for his abilities as an artist, as a cricket wicketkeeping coach and football goalkeeping coach.-Biography:...
, former Gloucestershire and England cricketer, now artist, attended Archway School - Alan ThornhillAlan ThornhillAlan Thornhill is a British artist and sculptor whose long association with clay developed from pottery into sculpture. His evolved methods of working enabled the dispensing of the sculptural armature to allow improvisation, whilst his portraiture challenges notions of normality through rigorous...
, sculptor - Tim NobleTim Noble and Sue WebsterTimothy "Tim" Noble and Susan "Sue" Webster , are two British artists who work as a collaborative duo, and are associated with the post-YBA generation of artists.-Early lives and careers:...
, artist
Actors
- Tim McInnernyTim McInnernyTim McInnerny is an English actor. He is known for his role as Percy in Blackadder and Blackadder II, and as Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth...
, actor, BlackadderBlackadderBlackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
), attended Marling SchoolMarling SchoolMarling School is a grammar school for boys located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, next to its sister school, Stroud High School. It is on the Cainscross Road, the main route out of Stroud towards the M5.... - William MoseleyWilliam Moseley (actor)William Peter Moseley is a British actor, currently best known for appearing as Peter Pevensie in the film series The Chronicles of Narnia. Previously, he had a small role as Forrester in a 2002 adaptation of the novel Goodbye Mr...
, actor, "The Chronicles of Narnia" - Emma SammsEmma SammsEmma Samms is a British television actress best known for her role as Holly Sutton on the American daytime soap opera General Hospital and for replacing Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon Carrington Colby on the primetime soap opera Dynasty.-Early life:Samms was born in Willesden, London, England, the...
, actor, lives in Stroud - Keith Allen, actor, comedian, writer, and father of Lily AllenLily AllenLily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
, has a home near MinchinhamptonMinchinhamptonMinchinhampton is an ancient market town, located on a hilltop south-south-east of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, in the Cotswolds. The town is twinned with Nkokoto, in Tanzania.... - Tamzin MallesonTamzin MallesonTamzin Malleson is an English actress. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London.She played one of the starring roles in the Channel 4 comedy, Teachers, for three of the programme's four series and starred in one of ITV's Poirot adaptations, "Evil Under The Sun." She has...
, actor, grew up in Chalford, attending Archway SchoolArchway SchoolArchway School is a comprehensive co-educational school for pupils aged 11 to 18 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. It holds the status of a Specialist Technology College. The headteacher is Mr Colin Belford....
, and now lives near MinchinhamptonMinchinhamptonMinchinhampton is an ancient market town, located on a hilltop south-south-east of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, in the Cotswolds. The town is twinned with Nkokoto, in Tanzania....
with partner Keith Allen - Colin ProckterColin ProckterColin Prockter is an actor and TV writer who has appeared on many TV series and films since the 1960s. Colin is probably best known for his role as Eddie Maddocks in Coronation Street .-Filmography:-Other works:...
, actor, Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, co-wrote LunaLuna (TV series)Luna was a children's science fiction TV comedy show produced by Central Television for the ITV Network in the UK and which ran for two series in 1983 and 1984...
, lives in Stroud - Sophie WardSophie WardSophie Ward , is an English actress and the daughter of actor, Simon Ward.-Career:One of Ward's early film roles was in the film Young Sherlock Holmes. Other early films included Return to Oz, Little Dorrit and A Summer Story, and she also portrayed the unattainable love object in the video of Roxy...
, actor, lives in France Lynch - Geoffrey HutchingsGeoffrey HutchingsGeoffrey Hutchings was a British stage, film and television actor.-Early life and career:Hutchings was born in Dorchester, Dorset, England. After attending Hardye's School, he studied French and Physical Education at Birmingham University before he became a member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic...
, actor, lived in Stroud
Musicians
- Geoffrey BurgonGeoffrey BurgonGeoffrey Alan Burgon was a British composer notable for his television and film themes.-Life and career:Burgon was born in Hampshire in 1941, and taught himself the trumpet in order to join a jazz band at school...
, composer - Eamon HamiltonEamon HamiltonEamon Hamilton is frontman of Brakes and formerly played keyboards for British Sea Power.-Biography:Eamon Peter Hamilton is the singer and songwriter for the band Brakes, born on 19 April 1974 in Stewart, BC, Canada and raised in Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK.Hamilton moved to Brighton in 2000 and in...
, frontman of Brakes and former keyboard player of British Sea PowerBritish Sea PowerBritish Sea Power are an indie rock band based in Brighton, England, although three of the band members originally come from Kendal in Cumbria. Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Joy Division to the Pixies and Arcade Fire. The band are famed for their live...
, raised in Stroud - Tom SmithTom Smith (musician)Thomas Michael Henry Smith is an English musician. He is lead singer, lyricist, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for the Birmingham-based indie rock band Editors....
, lead singer of EditorsEditorsEditors are a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith , Chris Urbanowicz , Russell Leetch and Ed Lay .Editors have so far released two platinum studio...
, born in Stroud - Jamie HornsmithJamie HornsmithJames Hornsmith is an English musician. He is bass player for the English rock band The Rakes, whose debut album Capture/Release reached number 32 in the UK Albums Chart. He currently resides in North West London.-The Rakes:...
, bass guitarist of The RakesThe RakesThe Rakes were an English indie rock band from London. They split up in October 2009.-History:The Rakes formed in 2004. Since coming to fame in 2005, they were associated with the British post-punk/art rock scene, a genre shared by bands such as Bloc Party, Maxïmo Park, and The Futureheads...
- SadeSade AduHelen Folasade Adu OBE , is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.-Biography:Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria...
, singer, songwriter, SadeSade (band)Sade is a British smooth jazz band that formed in 1983, named for Nigerian lead singer Sade Adu. Their music features elements of R&B, soul, jazz, and soft rock....
, moved to Stroud - Martha TilstonMartha Tilston- Biography :Martha Tilston is the daughter of singer-songwriter Steve Tilston and stepdaughter of Irish folk performer Maggie Boyle. Trained as an artist and dramatist, she began her musical career in 2000 as an active presence in Britain's alternative festival scene, particularly as part of the...
, folk singer and daughter of Steve Tilston, moved to the area - PendragonPendragon (band)Pendragon are an English neo-progressive rock band established in 1978 in Stroud, Gloucestershire as Zeus Pendragon by guitarist and vocalist Nick Barrett. The Zeus was dropped before the band started recording as the members decided it was too long to look good on a t-shirt...
, progressive rock band
Public relations
- Mark BorkowskiMark BorkowskiMark Borkowski is a British PR agent and author with an interest in the history of public relations and the art of the publicity stunt. He attended King's Stanley Junior School and St Peters High School in Gloucester and began working in public relations at nineteen years old...
founder of Borkowski PR and author of several books was born in Stroud in 1959.
Sports
- Alastair HignellAlastair HignellAlastair James Hignell CBE is a former English rugby union international and cricketer.Hignell is the son of a former Great Britain athlete.-Sporting career:...
, sportsman and commentator - Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, ski jumper, lives in nearby Woodchester
- Stuart NelsonStuart NelsonStuart James Nelson is an English footballer who plays for Notts County as a goalkeeper.-Career:Born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, Nelson started his career at Cheltenham youth club FC Battledown. County Cup success led to him being spotted by Northern Premier League side Hucknall Town after a spell...
, footballer, Notts County - Frank Keating, the GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
sports journalist.
Engineering and manufacturing
- Edwin Beard BuddingEdwin Beard BuddingEdwin Beard Budding , an engineer from Stroud, England, was the English inventor of the lawnmower and adjustable spanner.-Lawnmower:...
(1795–1846), inventor of the lawnmower and adjustable spanner, born and died in Stroud - Arnold RedlerArnold RedlerArnold Redler was the British founder of the conveying company Redler Limited in Stroud, Gloucestershire in 1920 and the father of the En-Masse principle of conveying bulk materials.-Early years:...
(1875–1958), founder of the conveying company Redler Limited in Stroud in 1920 and inventor of the en-masse conveyor
Scientists
- John CantonJohn CantonJohn Canton FRS was an English physicist.Canton was born in Middle Street Stroud, Gloucestershire, the son of a weaver John Canton and Esther He had only a common education, after which he was put apprentice to a broadcloth weaver, but his leisure hours were devoted to mathematical studies, and...
(1718–1772), physicist - Sir Martin EvansMartin EvansSir Martin John Evans FRS is a British scientist who, with Matthew Kaufman, was the first to culture mice embryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a laboratory in 1981...
, Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
, born in Stroud - Jasper ConranJasper ConranJasper Alexander Thirlby Conran OBE is an English fashion designer. He is the son of the designer Sir Terence Conran and the author Shirley Conran.-Education:He was educated at Port Regis School and Bryanston School in the 1970s...
, designer, lives nearby - Henry MilesHenry MilesHenry Miles, FRS was an English Dissenting minister and scientific writer, a Fellow of the Royal Society known for experiments on electricity.-Life:...
(1698–1763), dissenting minister and writer on science, born and educated in Stroud
Twin towns
Saint-IsmierSaint-Ismier
Saint-Ismier is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-Twin towns:It is twinned with the English town of Stroud in Gloucestershire.-References:*...
, Isère
Isère
Isère is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.- History :Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné...
, France Stroud, Oklahoma
Stroud, Oklahoma
Stroud is a city in Creek and Lincoln counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 2,758 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Stroud is located at ....
, USA Duderstadt
Duderstadt
Duderstadt is a city in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Göttingen. It is the center and capital of the northern part of the Eichsfeld...
, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany Stroud, New South Wales
Stroud, New South Wales
Stroud is a small country town one hour north of Newcastle, New South Wales. It is part of the Great Lakes Council area. The major road through Stroud is the Bucketts Way...
, Australia
Song about Stroud
- "Stroud, The Town Of Make Believe" by BlurtBlurtBlurt is a British musical group founded by the poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire; with Milton's brother Jake Milton, formerly of psychedelic group Quintessence, on drums and Peter Creese on guitar...
, on the album "Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hit"