MISERDEN
Miserden, a rural parish, once the site of a castle,
lies about four miles north-east of Stroud. Called
Greenhampstead in 1086, (fn. 1) the parish retained that
name until the late 13th century although the
alternative name of la Musarder, taken from the
family that held the manor, had then been in use for
a century. The form of the name had settled to
Miserden, or very close variants, by the late 15th
century. (fn. 2)
The ancient parish was approximately crescentshaped with a peninsulated part at its western end
and a detached part, amounting to 55 a. at Wateredge, ½ mile north of the parish. (fn. 3) The western
boundary of the parish was formed partly by Holy
brook and the streams running either side of the
spur called Down hill; the river Frome formed the
east boundary and part of the southern boundary
followed the stream which runs along Ashcombe
Bottom; elsewhere the boundaries followed old field
boundaries. In 1882 a detached part of Bisley, 3 a.
near Honeycombe Farm, was absorbed by Miserden.
In 1884 the detached portion of Miserden was
united with Cranham and Miserden received from
Bisley the tithing of Bidfield immediately north of
the parish. (fn. 4) In 1958 the peninsulated part of the
parish, amounting to 481 a., was transferred to
Painswick. (fn. 5) The following description refers to the
ancient parish as it was in 1882, an area of 2,515 a. (fn. 6)
The parish lies almost exclusively above the 500 ft.
contour. The land rises steeply in the east from the
river Frome to Miserden village at over 700 ft.; it
then rises more gently to 825 ft. before falling
steeply to the valley of the Holy brook, along which
stand Wishanger Manor, Honeycombe Farm, and
Sudgrove House. The west bank of the brook
rises again to over 800 ft. at the top of the steep spur
formed by Down hill and Famish hill. Most of the
central area of the parish lies on the Great Oolite
but the Frome valley and Down hill rest on the
Inferior Oolite; there are also deposits of fuller's
earth in the parish. (fn. 7)
Most of the land on the high central plateau is
arable but in the valleys and on the Down hill spur
woodland and pasture predominate. The woodland
has always been extensive and measured one league
by ½ league in 1086. (fn. 8) The wood on the manor estate
was very profitable in the early 19th century when
Sir Edwin Bayntun Sandys was trying to clear his
debts. (fn. 9) In 1901 there were 690 a. of woodland in the
parish. (fn. 10) A park was recorded at Miserden from
1297 (fn. 11) and in the 18th century its circumference was
said to extend to seven miles; (fn. 12) it included part of
Winstone. In 1331 there were 60 a. of pasture and
40 a. of great timber in the park, (fn. 13) and in 1535
Henry VIII had a day's hunting there. (fn. 14) In the north
part of the park were fish stock ponds, (fn. 15) apparently
used by the Crown in 1233. (fn. 16)
The Sapperton-Birdlip road passes ½ mile west of
the village and was probably a route of some local
importance, for there was an abortive plan to
turnpike it in 1815, from which time (fn. 17) until c. 1880
there was an inn, the King's Head just south of
Lypiatt Gate, serving the road. (fn. 18) The road on which
Miserden village stands branches eastwards from the
Sapperton-Birdlip road a little to the north-west of
the village and was probably an ancient trackway
leading from Painswick to a crossing of the river
Frome. The eastern section of the track was
diverted away from Miserden Park in 1864 (fn. 19) and
in 1970 formed a private drive to the house. The
settlement called the Camp stands on the other important route through the parish, the Bisley-Birdlip
road which was turnpiked in 1800. (fn. 20) There was a
toll-house south of the Camp cross-roads. (fn. 21)
Saxon work in the church (fn. 22) indicates the antiquity
of the settlement at Miserden village, and the
existence of a castle, commanding the crossing of the
river Frome, suggests that the route on which the
village lies was once of considerable local importance.
The village is situated at the junction of that route
and the road to Lypiatt Gate, but the manor-house
which replaced the castle by the early 14th century (fn. 23)
stands some way east of the junction. The whole
village was built in the local stone and among
surviving 17th-century houses are the rectory, a
cottage called Lampacre near by, (fn. 24) and a pair of
cottages, one of which was formerly the blacksmith's shop, (fn. 25) at the east end of the village. About
1710 there were 20 families (fn. 26) in the village, and
c. 1775 there were said to be 39 houses. (fn. 27) The dowerhouse, on the south side of the road leading to the
manor-house, dates from the 18th century and is of
two storeys with an ashlar-faced front. An east wing
was added to the house in the 1860s by Sir John
Rolt who undertook extensive rebuilding in the
village. Most of the other houses date from that time
and are stone cottages with gables and barge-boards.
The public house, the Carpenters' Arms, was also
extended and restored at that time, and a singlestorey building on the south side of the junction,
later used as a reading-room and school, was built
for the benefit club. (fn. 28) A Primitive Methodist
chapel, built at the south end of the village in the
later 19th century, (fn. 29) was a private residence in
1970, and there are also two pairs of Cotswold-style
cottages built c. 1940. (fn. 30) The 20th-century buildings
also include the school and parish hall built at the
west end of the village.
The hamlet of Sudgrove lies ¾ mile south of
Miserden village and probably had a habitation
in 1327 when William Sodgrave was assessed for
tax. (fn. 31) Sudgrove Farm is a 17th-century gabled
farm-house, and there is also, further north, a pair
of small 18th-century cottages. Two underground
chambers, probably shepherd's cots dating from the
17th or 18th century, were discovered at Sudgrove
in 1938. (fn. 32) The size of the hamlet increased from
10 families c. 1710 (fn. 33) to 24 houses c. 1775. (fn. 34) In the
18th century Sudgrove House (fn. 35) was built and a
number of cottages were rebuilt during the 19th
century, as was Warneford House, a Cotswold-style
building, presumably on the site of the house
belonging to the Warneford family in the early 18th
century. (fn. 36)
Honeycombe Farm, where there was probably a
habitation belonging to William Honicombe in
1327, (fn. 37) lies in the Holy brook valley about 1 mile
west of Miserden village. The present house and
out-buildings have a number of 16th- or 17thcentury features but the house was extensively
restored and a symmetrical east front added in the
18th century, probably when Giles Mills, rector of
Miserden, owned the estate. (fn. 38) About ½ mile north of
Honeycombe Farm is Wishanger Manor, (fn. 39) which
has two or three cottages near by, one of which was a
malt-house in 1838. (fn. 40) The settlement at the Camp,
formerly called Hazle House Gate, (fn. 41) lies ½ mile west
of Wishanger and is probably of more recent
origin. Local tradition has linked the name either
with a Danish settlement or with Cromwellian
troops (fn. 42) but it apparently derives from prehistoric
earthworks and tumuli. (fn. 43) New Inn House was
recorded as a public house from 1781 (fn. 44) to
1939 (fn. 45) and is a stone and rubble house of two
storeys built in 1694. (fn. 46) A former Baptist chapel (fn. 47)
was used as an out-building of the house in 1970. On
the south side of the cross-roads is a 17th- or early
18th-century stone cottage and there are two smaller
cottages of similar date behind on the road to
Honeycombe Farm. Camp Barn, a long, low 18thcentury barn, had been converted to a riding school
by 1970 when there were also eight modern wooden
labourers' cottages at the Camp.
There are scattered buildings in the peninsulated
part of the parish, much of which belonged to the
Townsend family of Steanbridge House in the 19th
century. (fn. 48) They include Steanbridge Farm, a farmhouse converted from a 17th-century mill, (fn. 49) and
Snow's Farm, a 17th-century gabled farm-house.
Down Farm, an 18th-century farm-house enlarged
to make a residence in the 19th, probably occupies
the site of an earlier house, for further east there is
a group of 17th-century cottages, formerly for
labourers employed on the farm. Further up the
valley on the southern slope of Down hill are three
or four scattered cottages of the 18th or 19th
centuries, possibly built for men employed in the
exploitation of the woodland or in the cloth industry.
Eighteen people were assessed for tax at Miserden
in 1327. (fn. 50) In 1563 there were 19 households (fn. 51) but
there had been an increase to 50 families by 1650. (fn. 52)
About 1710 there were c. 250 people at Miserden (fn. 53)
and in 1773 477 inhabitants were recorded. (fn. 54) In
1801 the population was 469 and during the first
half of the 19th century it fluctuated within 10 per
cent of that figure until it stood at 489 in 1851. A
recession in local employment reduced the population to 452 in 1871 and it declined further to 371
in 1901 despite the addition of Bidfield tithing to the
parish. There was a steady rise to 514 by 1951 but
the boundary changes reduced the population to 451
in 1961. (fn. 55)
In 1643 Miserden was garrisoned by the royalists
and in 1645 by 300 parliamentary troops. (fn. 56) Thomas
Sandys, a younger son of Sir William (d. 1641),
compounded for his royalist sympathies in 1648. (fn. 57)