Stinchcombe Parish Council

Stinchcombe is a rural parish situated largely on the escarpment between the Berkeley Vale and the start of the Cotswolds.  The name Stinchcombe is said to mean stony hollow.  The first evidence of man is the Iron Age fort or look out post on Drakestone Point, where traces of early pit dwellings have been found.  During Roman times, a road ran from Chevenage to the river Severn via Stancombe.  Evidence of two Roman villas has been found in the grounds of Stancombe House. One was quite extensive with a suite of heated rooms and a tessellated pavement. The Berkeley Castle manuscripts mention a chapel of Stinchcombe in 1156 but none of this remains above ground. One of the earliest recorded Lords of the Manor of Stinchcombe was a woman, Agnes de Bradeston, in AD 1370. Her husband, Thomas, who died in 1386, held the Manor in fee to Thomas, Lord Berkeley. Her son, also Thomas, inherited the Manor.  There is a conservation area within the parish which was established by the Rural District Council in 1976 and includes the area around Lamport Court, the Street and the church of St Cyr.  Most of the parish is situated within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).  This is one of the reasons why many residents have chosen to live here and why they wish to preserve the character of the village.