The name Barnwood indicates that the area was once thickly wooded. But by the mid 17th century the soil was cultivated as open-field land or grassland. It is an ancient, irregularly shaped parish which was not clearly defined until inclosure of most of the common land was completed in 1799. At that time the boundary of the main part of Barnwood was Horsbere Brook in the north-east, the River Twyver in the south-east, and, for a short distance, Sud Brook in the south-west. The parish extended further north than it does today for its northern boundary followed parts of both the Cheltenham Road and Elmbridge Road. This changed in 1874 because part of Barnwood was taken into Gloucester when the city's eastern boundary was extended to Wotton Brook. From 1882 onwards the shape of the parish changed further when parts were transferred to the parishes of Coney Hill, Longlevens, Hucclecote and Upton St Leonards.
The manor of Barnwood was originally part of Gloucester Abbey’s Barton Manor but soon after 1066 it became a separate manor, still under the administration of the Abbey. Later it transferred to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral after the dissolution in 1541. Over the last one hundred and fifty years or so, much of the land owned by the Diocese has been sold for housing. Many a freeholder is surprised to see in their contract clauses, not often invoked, a requirement for them to undertake some form of maintenance of church property.
Ermin Street, the road from Cirencester to Gloucester, which runs through the parish, has long been an important thoroughfare. It is known today as Barnwood Road, although it was in the past sometimes referred to as London Road or the Turnpike Road. Upton Lane which runs south from Barnwood Road is also an extremely old route. Before 1799 Church Lane was a track leading to open fields and was at one time referred to as the road to Matson.
Some of the old parish footpaths can still be traced. A typical example is the alley that ran continuously from the Cathedral to St Lawrence Church which allowed the monks to travel easily from one to the other. Today it is still possible to follow its path across Church Field, behind Wotton Hall Club and then to the side of the Territorial Army Centre. Although not now visible, it continued into Armscroft. Today it reappears at the top of Horton Road and then passes behind the houses in London Road, alongside the site of the 12th century leper hospital at St Margaret’s and onwards towards the Cathedral.
In the late 18th century the main part of Barnwood had about thirty-five houses, mostly spread along the main road, with many set in small orchards and several with farm buildings. Barnwood remained a small parish on the outskirts of Gloucester with little change for over a century. With its large fields and easy access along Ermin Street to Gloucester it was said that Barnwood “fed Gloucester”. The truth of this statement is debatable but, certainly in the 1930s, Barnwood had its fair share of garden nurseries and residents who traded in the centre of the city.
From 1900 onwards the character of the parish changed from mainly agricultural to residential. The establishment of Barnwood House Hospital along the main road had a significant impact. The development of Gloucester Aircraft Factory just up the road in Brockworth was also a contributory factor.
Even today change continues. Now part of the City of Gloucester, with housing cheek by jowl on land that once shone with ripening corn, Barnwood has a rural past which is increasingly difficult to imagine.
Written by Roger Smith, the following appeared on Facebook Sunday 22 July 2018. it is posted here, unedited, with his permission.
Strange as it may seem, but there is evidence that Barnwood is older than Gloucester itself. The River Severn was used as a highway from Neolithic times, but no evidence for early settlement has been found on the site of the city. However, there was a major pre-historic settlement at Barnwood.
In The Domesday Book, Barnwood is recorded as “Bernuude” with a population of 18.8 households comprising 42 villagers, 21 smallholders and 12 slaves. The name Barnwood indicates that it was once thickly wooded, and the Domesday Book recorded that it had an area of woodland measuring 5 x 3 furlongs.
Notable past residents of Barnwood include the 17th-century judge Sir Edmund Saunders who started life as a beggar, the physicist and inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone, and the architect Frederick S. Waller who was a resident architect at Gloucester Cathedral.
Barnwood's early development was influenced by the course of the Roman Ermin Street, the road from Gloucester to Cirencester which ran through the middle of the parish and known here as Barnwood Road, although Ermin Street is still used for the part of the road that runs through Brockworth. Archaeological excavations alongside the road have uncovered Roman burials and Roman cemeteries once extended along Ermin Street on either side of the road.
As shown in the accompanying map the parish of Barnwood includes all of Coney Hill and part of Abbeymead. However, this article looks upon Barnwood as the area stretching from Barnwood railway bridge north alongside the railway line to the C&G roundabout, around Barnett Way (Sainsbury’s and Holiday Inn), along Barnwood Road to Dinglewell, and south along North Upton Lane to Abbeymead Avenue and along Church Lane to St. Lawrence Church.
Barnwood was originally part of Barton Manor, which was administered by St. Peter’s Abbey’s. However, soon after 1066 it became a separate manor, although still under the administration of the Abbey. After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1541 Barnwood Manor was transferred to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral, who leased it out from 1550 until 1783 when they took back the manorial rights. In 1855 the manor passed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who in 1867 endowed the bishopric of Gloucester and Bristol with 276 acres and sold off parts of the estate. In 1932 they sold the remaining parts of the manor to Gloucester Corporation for housing and a cemetery.
By the early 16th century Barnwood consisted mostly of a number of small pieces of land. In 1563 there were 25 householders, but by 1710 there were 180, by 1801 there were 309, and by 1861 there were 507 following residential development and the opening of Barnwood House Hospital.
The original parish was irregularly shaped, and was not clearly defined until inclosure of most of the common land was completed in 1799. At that time the boundary was Horsebere Brook in the north-east, the River Twyver in the south-east, and, for a short distance, Sud Brook in the south-west. The parish extended further north than it does today for its northern boundary followed parts of both the Cheltenham Road and Elmbridge Road. Around this time the main part of Barnwood had about thirty-five houses, mostly spread along the main road, with many set in small orchards and several with farm buildings.
In 1874 part of Barnwood was taken into Gloucester when the city's eastern boundary was extended to Wotton Brook and what is now the route of the Barnwood loop railway line. In 1882 and 1885 the irregularities in the parish boundary were adjusted when the detached parts were transferred to the parishes of Coney Hill, Longlevens, Hucclecote and Upton St Leonards, the northern boundary was adjusted to follow the Gloucester to Cheltenham road, and Coney Hill was brought completely within Barnwood. In 1900 70 acres of Coney Hill was transferred to the city, then in 1935 a further 419 acres of Barnwood was transferred to the city and 92 acres in the north was transferred to the new civil parish of Longlevens, but gained 2 acres from Wotton St. Mary (Without). In 1951 a further 52 acres were transferred to the city, then in 1967 the rest of Barnwood was transferred to the city except for small areas in the east and south-east which became parts of Hucclecote and Upton St. Leonards.
Some of the old parish footpaths can still be traced. One of these is the alley that runs parallel with London Road from Great Western Road to Horton Road. This originally ran continuously from the Cathedral to St Lawrence Church which allowed the monks to travel easily from one to the other. Today it is still possible to follow its path across Church Field, behind Wotton Hall Club and then to the side of the Territorial Army Centre in Eastern Avenue. Before 1799 Church Lane was also a track leading to open fields and was at one time referred to as the road to Matson; Upton Lane running south from Barnwood Road is also an extremely old route.
Some of the oldest housing in Barnwood is in the Barnwood Avenue area and along Barnwood Road. Opposite Church Lane at 181/183 is one of the oldest buildings. That dates from the 16th century and was originally a farmhouse, but has now been converted into a pair of semi-detached cottages.
In 1692 a small estate was centred on a farmhouse which stood where the Post Office sorting office used to be at the top of Eastern Avenue. The farmstead was burnt down in 1855 and the house replaced in 1861 by a pair of cottages later called Bridge Farm; they were demolished in the 1950s.
In 1740 a Manor House was built near what is now the junction of Barnwood Road and Upton Lane. It is built on the site of a medieval grange that belonged to St. Peter’s Abbey and incorporates some remains of stone dwarf walls and buttresses that supported an earlier timber-framed building. The house was considerably altered in the 19th and 20th centuries and is now the Manor House Day Care Centre.
From the mid-1870s there were many new buildings including many villas. A vicarage was built in what is now Colin Road, but that was demolished after Barnwood Court was converted to a vicarage in 1937. In 1898 a parish room was built on Barnwood Road between Barnwood Avenue and Church Lane in memory of G. F. Riddiford, a former resident who had been active in county government; the building is still there and has a carved sign on the front showing it is Barnwood Reading Room.
In 1896 a golf course was established in the grounds of the original Barnwood Vicarage in what is now Colin Road. It was a 2,390 yards-long nine-hole course with a par of 37; hazards included Wotton Brook. The club was originally named Barnwood (Gloucester) Golf Club but in 1904 Barnwood was dropped from the title to become just Gloucester Golf Club. The club remained in Barnwood until 1909 when it moved to Brockworth with the clubhouse in Golf Club Lane. It remained there until the 1940s when the course was used for the expansion of Brockworth airfield..
From 1900 onwards the character of the parish changed from mainly agricultural to residential, with the establishment of Barnwood House Hospital having a significant impact. I will post a separate article about Barnwood House as a sequel to this article.
Until the 1920s there were only minor changes, but from the mid-1930s there was extensive residential development around Coney Hill, including the establishment of Coney Hill cemetery. Until Coney Hill began to be developed it was known as Blake Hill, and that name is perpetuated in Blake Hill Way which leads off of Abbeymead Avenue. By the 1950s further extensive residential development linked housing around Coney Hill with that at Barnwood Road.
In 1969 Jordan’s Brook House next to the Manor House was opened as a girls’ approved school. It replaced Bowden Hall Approved School in Upton St. Leonards, but in 1973 it became a Community Home with Education under the control of the County Council. The school closed in 1981, but later achieved notoriety when it emerged that girls at the school had been groomed by Fred and Rose West. The site now provides services for children with disabilities.
Compared with other parts of the city, Barnwood has had very few public houses. In the mid-1660s there was at least one alehouse, The Salutation, which stood north of Ermin Street by a footpath to Churchdown; looking at ancient maps this was probably near Welveland Lane. The Salutation closed in 1817. In 1704 there was a small glebe house north of Ermin Street which was later used as an alehouse, but by 1799 it had been converted into four tenements and they were demolished in 1810. Later, in the 1850s, there was a beer house run by the village blacksmith.
Nowadays there are no public houses actually in Barnwood, although there are two social clubs: Wotton Hall and Wall’s Club. Wotton Hall Club was formed in 1932 and is one of the oldest clubs in the city. In the same building but run independently from the club is the Spice House Indian restaurant. Walls Club originated in 1959 as a social club for employees of Walls Ice Cream Factory when dances were often held in the factory canteen; the present club opened in 1964. In 2000 there was a large reorganisation at the Walls which had a major impact on the Club. In 2009 the club became a limited company and is now open to the general public.
The first school in Barnwood dates from 1716 when it was held in a cottage north of Ermin Street. It was started by Mary Wright who gave £100 to the dean and chapter of St. Peter’s Abbey who in turn paid £3 a year towards the school, and from 1754 the lord farmer paid the dean and chapter £5 a year for the school's support. 35 children attended the school in 1818, its income coming from the charity and through subscriptions. By 1833, except for £5 provided by the dean and chapter the school was supported entirely by the owners of Barnwood House. By 1847 it had one teacher and 50 children and had outgrown its premises, but it was to be nearly another 30 years before a new school was built. This was at the corner of Barnwood Road and Grove Crescent on land given by the vicar. The new school opened as a National school in 1874 and by 1885 it had an average attendance of 76. From1893 it was enlarged several times and by 1904 average attendance had risen to 169. It later became a church school and as Barnwood C. of E. Primary school it had 148 pupils in 1984.
St. Lawrence church was built in the mid-12th century. It has an early-13th century north arcade and aisle and a 14th century sanctus bellcote, the sanctus being the bell that is rung at the consecration of the eucharist. Some early-13th century decorative painting survives in the north arcade. The west tower was added in 1514, and about the same time a gabled chapel was added on the north side of the chancel and the nave was re-roofed. Although the church has long been dedicated to St. Lawrence, in 1287 it was dedicated to St. Margaret and in the early-18th century to St. Michael and All Saints.
The chancel, nave, and aisle contain 19th and 20th century stained-glass memorial windows. The tower has four bells dating from the late-17th century that were originally cast as a peal of six; one was removed shortly afterwards then in 1873 a treble was added and in 1913 two more were added. The plate includes a chalice and paten of 1761 and a chalice of 1863.
The interior was much altered during the late-20th century. Most of the 19th-century innovations were removed, the chancel was cleared of monuments, and the organ and choir stalls were moved to the nave. Late 18th-century pews, formerly in St. Mary's church, Woolwich in Kent, were installed and an 18th-century pulpit was restored and painted. In 1966 a fibreglass sculpture of Christ in Majesty was placed over the chancel arch.
In the churchyard are two 18th century carved tombchests and the base of an ancient cross that in 1911 was in the garden of Barnwood Court. A lich gate was erected in 1921 as a memorial to the dead of the First World War, but was removed in 1979.
In 1872 an area of 5½ acres south of Ermin Street was acquired for the glebe, and in 1873 a vicarage house was built on it some way from the road. That house was still standing in the mid-1980s.
Barnwood also has a Mormon church, otherwise known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They opened their church in 1963 in a house on Barnwood Road. In 1970 they built a new church next to the house, which was then demolished for a car park.
At the rear of St. Lawrence Church in Barnwood Avenue is Barnwood Court, which was the original manor house for Barnwood. The building dates from 1600 and was situated within an oval enclosure which may originally have been a deer park. It was substantially altered in 1800. In 1937 the house was bought for use as a vicarage for St. Lawrence’s Church, which it remained until the mid 1970s when a new viciarage was built in the grounds. The court was sold in 1982 and converted into flats.
The history of the court dates back to 1501, when St. Peter’s Abbey granted a lease of the manorial demesne, including the site of Barnwood Court, to Lady (Margaret) Bridges. For the next 300 years the lease was transferred a number of times until it passed in 1788 to Robert Morris who enlarged the estate considerably so that by 1799 it covered over 720 acres. In 1829 the court and 200 acres were bought by Samuel Charles Turner. After his death his widow Susannah sold most of the estate, but not the house, to Robert Witcomb. He died in 1846 and in his son Robert surrendered the estate to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.