FROCESTER
FROCESTER, the site of a Roman settlement and
formerly an estate of Gloucester Abbey, lies 10
miles south of Gloucester at the entrance of the
Stroud valley. An elongated parish of 1,870 a., (fn. 1)
it extends from the Gloucester-Bristol road on the
north-west to the Cotswold escarpment on the
south-east; Wickster's brook forms most of the
northern boundary, and a tributary part of the
western. Part of the south-western boundary with
Coaley remained undefined in 1313 when an agreement fixed a portion of it near Frocester church
and another portion to the south on Frocester
Hill, and its course in between was not settled until
later. (fn. 2) Most of the parish lies on the heavy Lower
Lias clay at c. 100 ft.; the slopes rising to 745 ft. on
the south-east are formed by the successive strata of
the Middle Lias, Upper Lias, and Inferior Oolite. (fn. 3)
Stone was being quarried on the summit of the hill
in the early 18th century (fn. 4) and presumably from
much earlier. Several small streams rise on the
slopes and flow north to form the stream once known
as Fell brook (fn. 5) which passes through Downton to
join Wickster's brook. The wood mentioned at
Frocester in 1086 (fn. 6) was probably Buckholt Wood on
Frocester Hill; the wood was recorded by that name
(meaning a beech wood) in the 13th century, (fn. 7) and
in the early 16th century, when the wood included
some oaks, the woodwardship was leased with the
site of the manor. (fn. 8) In 1839 Buckholt Wood covered
88 a. (fn. 9) Much of the parish formerly lay in open
fields, the gradual inclosure of which was completed
by the early 19th century. (fn. 10)
Worked flints found on the lower hill slopes
provide the earliest evidence of occupation at
Frocester, (fn. 11) but the parish is named from a Roman
settlement (fn. 12) on the road running down Frocester
Hill towards the Severn crossing at Arlingham. (fn. 13)
There was a Roman villa on the site later occupied by
the church, (fn. 14) and another, in a field called Great
Stanborough west of Frocester Court, was being
excavated in 1968; other Roman sites have been
identified on the south-east of the village and on the
Coaley boundary to the south. (fn. 15) Tradition records
that the medieval village was grouped around the
church near the western boundary of the parish and
was destroyed by a fire, (fn. 16) but it seems more likely
that the main village from the beginning lay on its
modern site on the Roman road about a mile east
of the church; that was almost certainly the case by
1282 when there was a chapel of ease for the village. (fn. 17)
The position of the church may be explained by the
theory that it was built equidistant from Coaley
and Frocester to serve both settlements; the choice
of site was presumably also influenced by the
existence of Roman building material. (fn. 18) Frocester
and Coaley shared an open field in the early 14th
century, (fn. 19) and a tradition of the connexion was
presumably reflected in references in 1541 and later
to Frocester cum Coaley. (fn. 20)
The Roman road remained the most important
route in the parish, and the village was formed
around its crossroads with an east-west route. The
Roman road originally ran south-east from the
crossroads along Court Lane on a straight course
through the present garden of Frocester Court; (fn. 21)
later it was diverted from the southern end of Court
Lane, making two right-angled turns to skirt the
grounds of the manor-house and rejoin its former
route south of the house. (fn. 22) The road was turnpiked
in 1726, (fn. 23) and Frocester became the first coaching
stage on the journey from Gloucester to Bath; (fn. 24)
there were toll-booths south of Frocester Court and
at the top of Frocester Hill. (fn. 25) The turnpike road
climbed Frocester Hill on the line of the surviving
track through Buckholt Wood (fn. 26) until 1783 when,
at the instigation of the vicar George Hayward, it
was diverted up a gentler incline to the south; (fn. 27)
another improvement made between 1803 and 1839
bypassed Court Lane by a new stretch of road from
the main crossroads to the west of the great medieval
barn. (fn. 28) At the northern boundary of the parish the
turnpike crosses Wickster's brook by Lye Bridge,
recorded in 1583. (fn. 29) The George Inn at the village
crossroads had opened by 1759; (fn. 30) in 1803 it was
said to be in full business in the posting line, (fn. 31) but
in 1804 the landlord found it necessary to refute
suggestions that there was a quicker route to Bath. (fn. 32)
The inn was reconstructed c. 1820 as a large building
with a central block and flanking gabled wings; it
retains some 18th-century features. In 1826 there
was said to be little traffic passing through the village, (fn. 33) but post-horses were still kept at the 'George'
in 1839. (fn. 34) In 1968 the inn was renamed 'The Royal
Gloucestershire Hussar' and it was used by that
regiment for dinners and to house its mementoes. (fn. 35)
In 1803 there were two smithies on the turnpike
road, one on the west side of Court Lane and the
other behind the 'George', (fn. 36) and in 1839 the village
pound stood south of the crossroads. (fn. 37)
The east-west route through the parish was
recorded in the early 14th century when the stretch
near the church was known as Borghullesweye
and crossed the stream on the Coaley boundary by
Lapley bridge; (fn. 38) later, west of Frocester village the
road was known as Peter Street, and east of it as
Stanley Lane. (fn. 39) Frog Lane, leaving Peter Street
on the west of the village, linked Frocester with
Silver Street in Coaley in the early 19th century, (fn. 40)
but by 1882 for most of its course survived only as a
bridle-path. (fn. 41) The Bristol-Gloucester railway line
running through the parish was opened, with a
station at Frocester, in 1844; (fn. 42) the station was
closed in 1961. (fn. 43)
In 1737 the main concentration of houses in the
village was around the crossroads and on both sides
of Court Lane; other houses were scattered along
Peter Street, Stanley Lane, and Gloucester Road,
the northern part of the turnpike. (fn. 44) In 1838 18
houses in Gloucester Road were mentioned, 19 in
Peter Street, 12 in Stanley Lane, and 9 in Court
Lane. (fn. 45) The village shrank during the 19th century
when some six cottages in Court Lane, another four
or five in Peter Street west of Bridge Farm and south
of Woodman's Covert, and three on the west of
Frog Lane, were pulled down. (fn. 46) In the 20th century
a few others near Osborne House in Gloucester
Road were demolished. (fn. 47) A few timber-framed
cottages survive from the 17th century and earlier:
one in Court Lane and another in Peter Street have
a rare type of upper cruck framing at their gableends. Most of the cottages, however, were built in
stone in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A
pair of brick cottages in Tudor style in Peter Street
were probably the labourers' cottages built by
John Graham-Clarke in 1889. (fn. 48) Bridge Farm, a
stone house of two stories, was described as newly
erected in 1803, (fn. 49) and Frocester (formerly Frog
Lane) Farm, (fn. 50) Church Farm, Upper Downton
Farm, and Spring Farm are houses of a similar
date and type. There was apparently an outlying
settlement at Downton by 1313 when the croft
of John 'Douninton' there was mentioned, (fn. 51) and
an inhabitant of Downton was recorded in 1597; (fn. 52)
in 1803 the settlement consisted of two farm-houses
and two or three cottages. (fn. 53) The cottages had been
demolished by 1839, (fn. 54) and Lower Downton Farm
was pulled down in 1967 and replaced in 1968 by a
new house further south. (fn. 55) There is an outlying
stone cottage, formerly a pair, on the old road up
Frocester Hill. Hill Farm near-by was apparently
built c. 1910 when the Frocester Court estate was
divided into two farms. (fn. 56)
Eighteen inhabitants of Frocester were enumerated in 1086. (fn. 57) In 1267 the parish was supporting
52 tenants and their families, (fn. 58) although only 12
were assessed for tax in 1327. (fn. 59) The population
was estimated at 41 households in 1563, (fn. 60) and 40
families in 1650. (fn. 61) Thirty-four houses were assessed
for hearth tax in 1672. (fn. 62) There were said to be c.
250 inhabitants in 61 houses c. 1710, (fn. 63) and there
had been little increase by c. 1775 when the population was estimated at 262. (fn. 64) In the later 18th
century there was an increase to 362 in 1801 and
the rise continued to 437 in 1821; then a steady
decline began, matching the disappearance of
cottages, to 206 in 1961. (fn. 65)
The village had an alehouse in 1664, (fn. 66) and two
victuallers were recorded in 1755; (fn. 67) one may have
kept the 'Red Lion' which had closed by 1791, (fn. 68)
and the other the George Inn, mentioned above.
A cricket field was given by the Graham-Clarke
family in the mid 20th century. (fn. 69)
Queen Elizabeth visited Frocester in August
1574 and stayed the night at Frocester Court,
leaving the next day for Berkeley Castle. (fn. 70) There
was a small garrison of Parliamentary troops at
Frocester in 1643 during the siege of Gloucester. (fn. 71)
Ralph Bigland, the herald and antiquary, married
Anne, daughter of John Wilkins of Frocester, in
1737, and his son Richard Bigland lived in the
village until his death in 1810. (fn. 72)