Origins of the settlement
Although Stroud parish was originally part of Bisley, its identity as a distinct unit had begun to emerge by the 13th century.
The manor houses of Paganhill, Over Lypiatt and Nether Lypiatt formed the most ancient dwelling places within what was to become the Stroud parish, but the parish would take its name from a tiny area, first recorded in 1221. Called 'la Strode', the record refers to a piece of marshy ground at the confluence of the Slad Brook and the river Frome.
The settlement itself, however, seems to have originated a little further up the hill, the earliest houses being built on the better-drained slope at the end of the ridge which lies between the two streams. The origins of the settlement are rooted in Gloucestershire's medieval wool trade, the occupations of spinning and weaving being a strong, ever evolving tradition, which continued to influence Stroud's development well into the 20th century.
The early expansion of the settlement, which became known as a 'vill' in 1248, centred around what is now known as High Street, on the route between Bisley and Paganhill. The church was built by 1279 and was sited north of High Street. It was not until 1304, however, that it was assigned parochial rights by the rectors of Bisley. The parochial rights made the tiny church the ecclesiastical centre of the parish, although it remained a chapelry of Bisley until the early eighteenth century. The West Tower of the church, dating from the 14th century, still forms part of St Lawrence's today.
In 1477 ten houses were recorded at Stroud and by 1563 the estimated population of the parish had risen to 130 households. Less than a century later, in 1650, it was estimated at 600 families, and in 1756 the recorded population of Stroud town alone was 2,024 people.
Expansion and development of Stroud
Sixteenth Century
The development of the town from the 16th century was fairly rapid, centring around a trading space which grew up in the area between the 13th century church and what we now know as High Street. Around 1590, a Market House was built here by John Throckmorton, lord of Over Lypiatt Manor. Known also as the Town Hall today, much of it survives, with some 19th century additions and alterations. The market area was known in the 17th century as 'the Pitching', but later became 'The Shambles'. Trading and other activities also took place at The Cross, a space at the top end of High Street, where east-bound routes out of town began.
Seventeenth Century
By the early 17th century, the town had both a market and fair, and by 1654 the principal inn of the town, The George, had opened on the south side of the High Street.
The development of Stroud owes much to the cloth industry, which can be traced back to at least the 14th century in the Stroud Valleys. Gloucestershire had a thriving wool trade, and the Cotswolds had been used for sheep farming since ancient times. The quality of wool produced in the region was renowned. It was this industrial and mercantile basis, rather than a strictly agrarian one, which was to play the major role in the town's expansion and changing fortunes. By the early 17th century, textile production was the dominant industry
within the area. Stroud town became known as the centre of this industry, supporting the cloth-production of the surrounding valleys, and being described in the mid 18th century as "a sort of capital of the clothing villages".
The later 1600s were a particular period of growth. Surviving buildings of the mid- to late-17th century are mostly within the streets up the hill beyond the Cross, evidence of the eastward expansion which occurred over the 17th and 18th centuries. Development followed the two main east-bound routes out of the town: the old route to Thrupp and Chalford, taking in Nelson Street, Castle Street, Lower Street and Bowbridge Lane; and the old route to Bisley (now Bisley Old Road), via Hill street and Parliament Street.
Within the 'fork' of these two main routes, Acre Street, Chapel Street and Middle Street were established, Chapel Street acquiring its name from the Congregational chapel built there at the beginning of the 18th century.
It is mainly on Lower Street, Middle Street and Whitehall that surviving houses of the 17th or early 18th century can be seen today. The area was developed as a weaving suburb between c.1680 and 1720, and its heritage as such can be detected in the built form of the cottages.
The eastern extent of the town at this period was marked by Hollow Lane, which stretched between Parliament Street and Lower Street. There was some expansion west from High Street, down the hill, although this was very limited until the 18th century.
Eighteenth Century
During the 1700s, the focus of the town was still very much toward the north and east of High Street.
In June 1742, The Shambles, by this point principally a meat market, was the site of a sermon preached by John Wesley. A plaque on the Church Institute today commemorates this.
Much of the 18th century development in what is now the 'town centre' has been demolished or is concealed behind predominantly 19th century facades and additions. Some building was carried out on King Street, which carried traffic from the London Turnpike Road into town from the south. King Street was named in honour of the visit of George III in 1788.
A previous royal visit to the area in 1750, by Frederick, Prince of Wales, had effectively snubbed the town of Stroud. The Prince had called as close by as Woodchester, having made a visit to the clothing manufactory at Southfield Mill, owned by Onesephorus Paul. Mr Paul was knighted on the occasion, elaborate additions to his home at Southfield having been made to honour the royal visitor's tour of local clothing and textile industries.
There were few large houses in the town centre during the 18th century. Most of the wealth of Stroud was associated with textile manufacture and the wealthy clothiers and mill-owners generally lived close to or even adjoining their mills, as at Lodgemore. The later 1790s, however, saw some substantial houses included within development (now lost) on King Street and its western extension, Rowcroft, nearer to the industrial 'basin' of the town. Among these was Rowcroft House, which was rebuilt in the 1930s as the Lloyds Bank building.
The development pattern within Stroud and its environs is a characteristically industrial one, with transport routes, mills and manufacturing bases along the valley bottoms, and residential areas sprawling up the valley sides. Existing watercourses provided a means of powering the mills, and the extension of the canal system into Stroud in the late 18th century further stimulated mill building.
The condition of roads around Stroud was so appalling that the River Frome had taken on an unofficial role as a means of transporting goods about the locality. Abortive attempts were made as early as 1730 and 1756 to initiate schemes which would render the Frome properly navigable. But it was not until 1774 that plans to construct a canal parallel to the Frome finally became reality. The Stroudwater Canal (1775-79) stretched from the Severn to Stroud at Wallbridge. In 1789, it was linked at Lechlade in Wiltshire to the navigable Thames by the Thames and Severn Canal. Although a coal depot was established at Wallbridge, it was overlooked in favour of Brimscombe as the major port, where cargo was transferred from the Stroudwater trows to the Thames barges.
The union of the canals was hailed as a major national artery for commerce, although the high hopes held for its impact on the town failed to materialise fully.
The cloth manufacturing industry reached its peak towards the turn of the century and during the first third of the 19th century.
Nineteenth Century
Over the course of the 19th century, the town doubled in size. Early expansion was mainly to the south west of the original nucleus, stimulated by the building of the new link from the Bath road between Lightpill and Rowcroft in 1800 and of the Chalford Road (London Road) in 1815. These two roads finally linked the town centre with Cheltenham and the capital.
By the 1830s, the street pattern of Stroud town centre as we know it today was emerging, and considerable building had taken place.
1800-1840 was a period of growth and expansion. The new streets were broad and elegantly modelled, in the Georgian and neo-classical mould. The Subscription Rooms (1833-4) provided a prominent aesthetic and social focus for the new part of the town.
The new roads and transport links reduced the isolation of the provincial town and improved trade. The course of the 19th century changed the face of Stroud. Reform of industrial practices throughout the century saw the disappearance of cottage industry and the
concentration of weaving and textile production into a few large mills. The advent of steam power led the Stroud mills into fierce competition with manufacturing centres in the North of England and on the Continent, and the 19th century was a period of continual boom and bust.
The next phase in the fortunes of Stroud came with the arrival of the Swindon and Gloucester Great Western Railway line in 1845. The station was located south of Russell Street, reasserting the new south-western emphasis of the town centre.
The line, though, effectively created a boundary to further southward expansion and sliced through Rowcroft and Bath Place, the latter becoming cut off from the rest of the town centre. In 1846, the Railway Company finally agreed to pay the homeowners compensation for giving up their extremely hazardous right of way across the railway line. A new access was created for them, leading off the foot of Rowcroft at its junction with Wallbridge. The new road, called Cheapside, enabled land south of the station to be developed and the industrial basin of Wallbridge began to spread eastwards.
The railway provided Stroud with an infrastructure for industrial growth. However, the later 1840s and '50s were not a period of great expansion for the town. Inevitably, the ailing canal system was severely hit by the railway's arrival, and from the mid 19th century did little real business, although it continued to supply coal to the steam powered mills in the region.
The rapid growth and refinement of early 19th century Stroud was slowed, but from 1860 to the turn of the century, a post-recession boom brought civic and municipal improvements. The Victorian influence on the town is still felt today. A number of public buildings were introduced, including the imposing and ornate Art School on Lansdown (1890-9). Ever improving transport links (The Midland Line, later the Midland Railway, arrived in 1886) brought an influx of new industry. The town expanded north into a new suburb called Uplands, above the 1800 Lightpill-Cheltenham road ('Slad Road') and eastwards, beyond Hollow Lane.
Industrial expansion often ran in tandem with social improvements during the high Victorian period. A leading industrialist and politician, George Holloway (a monument to whom is situated on Rowcroft, outside Stroud House), pioneered the manufacture of ready-made clothing and introduced a number of social
reforms to Stroud at about the same time that the civic movement was gathering pace across the country. Messrs. Holloway Brothers' manufactory used several of the very newly-invented patent sewing machines. During the late 1870s and 1880s, George Holloway was responsible for much of the eastward expansion along Horns Road, building a large terraced estate of working class houses. Brick terraces formed a significant proportion of late 19th century development within Stroud, and added a distinctive element to the town's character. The form was adapted for purposes ranging from artisan cottages to grand ranges of commercial and retail buildings.
Twentieth Century and present:
In the early 20th century, Stroud was still a thriving manufacturing town, with a number of large employers with substantial premises in and around the town centre.
The Stroud mills have a history of diversification. The technical developments of the 19th century and competition with mills in the north and Europe had threatened the security of the long established cloth and textile industry. Several firms diversified into more specialist businesses, notably the manufacture of clothing. In the years before the First World War, Stroud had three such factories, which, collectively, did much for the economic prosperity of the town. These were the Holloway firm's buildings on Threadneedle Street and Brick Row and the landmark Hill Paul Building on Cheapside. Hill Paul was purpose built as a clothing factory, opening for business at the turn of the century. It was taken over by Hill Paul and Co. in 1902 and continued in business until the early 1970s.
In 1903, a rail service began operating between Chalford and Gloucester, via Stroud, with numerous Halts along the route. The service proved extremely popular, opening up the industrial Stroud Valley and being well used by the local workforce and shoppers until its closure in 1964.
The twentieth century brought a final end to the canal system. The Thames and Severn Canal closed in stages in 1927 and 1933, and the Stroudwater closed in 1954. 1966 saw the closure of the Midland Railway Station at Stroud, the line having previously been restricted to goods-only services in 1947.
In the second half of the century, virtually all the town centre factories closed, creating an extensive area of industrial dereliction, particularly around Wallbridge and Cheapside, and leaving a legacy of redundant buildings, often in prominent sites.
Many buildings have been rescued through further industrial diversification, with new businesses being established in former mills and their outbuildings. Some mills have undergone conversion for even more diverse uses, including residential and office accommodation.
In general, the 20th century's contribution to the townscape has not been overwhelmingly positive. Large-scale redevelopment has often created large and insensitively sited new buildings, including Merrywalks shopping centre and the Police Station. Increased car use has resulted in large carparks and road widening schemes, involving much demolition and disruption to the historic pattern of Stroud. Cornhill, the link road constructed in the 1980s, ripped through the Cross, resulting in a loss of the continuity between High Street and Nelson Street and severing the link between the old medieval nucleus and Stroud's first 'suburb' to the east. Dr Newton's Way bypass, which broadly follows the course of the old Midland Railway, was created in the 1980s and today marks the south western extent of the town. The bypass also lies across sites where some of the early stone houses and cottages, which comprised the hamlet of Wallbridge, once stood.
While 19th century redevelopment swept away many of the town's early buildings, the 20th century's impact has been even greater, with little of positive townscape value created in return.
