Wotton under Edge

The old market town of Wootton-under-Edge (19 miles southwest of Gloucester) shelters under the high knolls at the western end of the Cotswold Hills, the is town built on it`s slopes making the street unusually steep, narrow and winding. It is first mentioned in 940 then known to the Saxons as Wudetun - wude = wood & tun = homestead - and by the time of the Domesday Book (1086) as Vutune.  

However, pre-historic barrows and evidence of Roman activity in the area attest to a more ancient lineage. Largely destroyed by fire in King John`s reign the town, then called Woodtoun-under-Ridge, soon recovered thanks to the wool trade with weaving and cloth-making being the main occupations.  

The town was created a borough in 1252 and between 1617 & 1811 some twenty six mayors were clothiers or woolmen, but with the Industrial Revolution Wootton, like so many other places in the district closed her mills. To-day the town is a mixture of architectural styles, the oldest building is the old "Ram Inn" dating from the 13th century, it is now a private house. Other buildings of interest are Tolsey House an 18th century facade hiding a 16th century house, given to the town in 1595 by the Duchess of Warwick as a house for the poor it also, at one time, served as the courthouse and prison it to is now in private hands save for the Victoria Jubilee clock which belongs to the town. There are no less than three sets of Almshouses, those in Church Street were built at the expense of a Hugh Perry in 1632; the Bearpacker Almshouses given by Miss Anne Bearpacker in 1818 and the Rowland Hill Almshouses of 1887. The award winning development in Long Street of 1975 has added to the towns rich heritage making it an ideal spot in which to explore this historical landscape.

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