Berkeley, Gloucestershire

Description
Berkeley, a small town and a parish In Gloucestershire. The town stands on a pleasant eminence in the Vale of Berkeley, on the Little Avon river, about 2 miles from the Severn, 7 1/2 NNE of Thombury, 15 SSW of Gloucester, and 114 from London. It has a station 1/2 mile from the town on the Midland branch railway, and is about 2 1/4 miles from the Berkeley Road station on the M.R. It was a place of importance in the times of the Saxons, and figured in Domesday as a royal domain and a free borough. The hundred connected with it, which is one of the largest in the kingdom, was given by William the Conqueror to his follower, Roger de Berkeley; was forfeited by that gentleman's grandson for his adherence to King Stephen; and given by Henry II. to Robert Fitz-Hardinge, governor of Bristol, who assumed the title of Baron de Berkeley. The town consists principally of four streets; contains a town hall with reading-room and library, a market-house, a church, a Congregational and a Wesleyan chapel, a large public school, known as Fitz-Hardinge's school, a cottage hospital, and a police station; has a head post office; and is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place. The church, which was restored in 1866 by Sir Gilbert Scott, is mainly Early English, with some remains of the earlier Norman edifice. It is a spacious structure, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north and south porch, and a detached embattled tower 90 feet high (re-erected in 1760). Attached to the chancel is a fine mortuary chapel, erected by the sixth Lord Berkeley in 1450, containing several monuments to the Berkeley family. In the church is an altar-tomb with alabaster effigies of Thomas, third Lord Berkeley, and his wife. There is a beautifully carved stone rood-screen, and the stained east window is in memory of Dr Jenner, who is buried in the chancel. There is a district church at Purton, erected in 1874, an iron church at Breadstone, and mission churches at Newport and Wick. A cemetery at the north end of the town was opened in 1866, and is under the management of a burial board. A market is held on the first Wednesday of every month except May and Dec., and fairs on 14 May and second Monday in Dec. Trade is carried on in coal, timber, and cheese, and is facilitated by the vicinity of the Severn and the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal. Dr Jenner, who introduced the practice of vaccination, was a native. The parish contains also the tithings of Hamfallow, Hinton, Breadstone, Alkington, and Ham, and the chapelry of Stone. Area, 57 acres; population of the civil parish, 890; of the ecclesiastical, 5045. Great portion of the surface is rich dairy land.