In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Painswick like this:
PAINWICK, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Stroud district, Gloucester. The town stands on the declivity of Spoonbed hill, adjacent to a smallaffluent of the river Stroud, 3½ miles N N E of Stroud r.station, and 6 S S E of Gloucester; is regularly built of apeculiar white local stone; and has a post-office‡ under Stroud. ...
A weekly market is held on Thursday; a market, chiefly for sheep, on the Tuesday after All Saintsday; and fairs, on Whit-Tuesday and 19 Sept. The parish comprises the tythings of Edge, Sheepscombe, Spoonbed, and Stroud-End. Acres, 5, 815. Real property, £20, 997; of which £72 are in quarries, and £3, 575in the Thames and Severn canal. Pop. in 1851, 3, 464; in 1861, 3, 229. Houses, 763. The manor bore the name of Wiche at Domesday; belonged then to Rogerde Lacy; and passed to Pain Fitz-John, the Kingstons, and the Jerninghams. Court House was the scene of a court by Charles I., and is now unoccupied. Painswick House is the residence of W. H. Hyett, Esq.; Brown's Hill, of S. S. Dickinson, Esq.; Tocknells, ofCodrington, Esq.; Steinbridge House, of R. L. Townsend, Esq.; and the Grove, of W. Capel, Esq. Spoonbed hill commandsa very extensive view of the valley of the Severn; wasoccupied by the troops of Charles I., after the siege of Gloucester; and is crowned by a well-preserved double-entrenched Roman camp, where Roman coins and weaponshave been found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £449.* Patron, the Rev. A. J. Biddell. The church is ancient; shows features of both pointed and columnar architecture; has a tower and spire 174 feet high; and contains monuments of the Jerninghams. The church yard is remarkably neat, and has 116 yew-trees. A cemetery was formed, in 1863, on Spoonbed hill; comprises about 4 acres; and has twomortuary chapels, in the decorated English style, with a tower and spire between them. The p. curacies of Sheepscombe and Slad are separate benefices. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics, a nunnery, an endowed school with £64 a year, three national schools, and charities £66. The Independent chapel was rebuilt in 1865, and is in the pointed style of the 13th century. The Roman Catholic chapel stands at Beeches-Green, near Stroud; and is large and handsome.—The sub-district contains also three other parishes. Acres, 10, 325. Pop., 4, 334. Houses, 992.
Painswick through time
Painswick is now part of Stroud district. Click here for graphs and data of how Stroud has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Painswick itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Painswick, in Stroud and Gloucestershire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/11070
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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