Description
Stroud, a town, the head of a poor-law union, petty sessional division, and county court district, and a parish in Gloucestershire. The town stands on the side of a steep hill, on the Thames and Severn Canal, adjacent to the rivulets Frome and Slade, 10 miles S of Gloucester, 12 NW of Cirencester, and 99 by road and 102 1/2 by railway from London. It has a head post office and a station on the Swindon and Gloucester branch of the G.W.R., and another station on the Nailsworth, Stroud, and Stonehouse branch of the M.R. Stroud is a long straggling town, the centre of the clothing district of the West of England. It is governed by an urban district council, and is well drained and well supplied with water. The Town-hall, formerly the market-house, was erected in the 15th century, and was restored in 1865. The meetings of the district council, petty sessions, and county courts are held here. The Subscription Rooms, built in 1836, include a large assembly room for lectures, &c., and the premises of the Stroud Club. The Free Library, opened in 1888, is situated in a handsome building in Lansdown. The Hospital was erected in 1875 to replace the former hospital and infirmary, established in 1790. Lansdown Hall and Badbrook Hall contain halls for lectures, concerts, &c. The parish church of St Lawrence was rebuilt in 1867, with the exception of the tower and spire, and is a large handsome edifice in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, porch, and tower. It contains a fine pulpit, a reredos designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, and several stained windows. Holy Trinity Church, erected in 1838, is a large edifice in the Early English style, consisting of apsidal chancel, nave, and two small turrets at the W end. The Roman Catholic chapel was built in 1859, and is connected with a Dominican convent. There are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Unitarian, and Wesleyan chapels, a meeting-house for the Brethren, a Jewish synagogue, and a cemetery. A daily evening newspaper and two weekly newspapers are published. There are three banks. A weekly market is held on Friday, and fairs on 10 May and 21 Aug. There are two fire-engine stations, one belonging to the Stroud Local Board, the other being a volunteer brigade. An extensive cloth manufacture of long standing and much celebrity is carried on, and there are, in the town or in its neighbourhood, dye-houses, silk-mills, iron-foundries, pin mills, breweries, flour-mills, sawmills, logwood-crushing mills, chemical works, and artificial manure manufactories. The Conservative Club was erected near the Western Railway station in 1895. A parliamentary borough of Stroud was constituted by the Reform Act of 1832, which included Stroud parish and twelve other parishes, and returned two members to Parliament, but by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 the representation was merged in that of the county.
The parish includes the tithings of Lower Lyppiatt, Upper Lyppiatt, Pakenhill, and Steanbridge. Four new parishes were constituted in 1895-viz., The Uplands, Cainscross, Whiteshill, and the Thrupp. Acreage, 3869; population, 11,519. The parish includes the ecclesiastical parishes of St Lawrence (population 4875), Holy Trinity (constituted 1879, population 4692), and Whiteshill (constituted 1843, population 1695). The livings of St Lawrence and Holy Trinity are vicarages in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, both in the gift of the Bishop; net value of St Lawrence, £265 with residence; of Holy Trinity, £394 with residence. Dr. Joseph White, professor of Arabic at Oxford, who died in 1814, and John Canton, F.R.S., who died in 1772, were natives. Lyppiatt Park, the seat of the Dorrington family, is a 16th-century mansion, said to be the place where the Gunpowder Plot was concocted. Stratford Park, The Grove, and Brown's Hill Court are chief residences.
Stroud or Mid Parliamentary Division of Gloucester was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 56,488. The division includes the following:-Stroud -Bisley, Cranham, Haywardsfield, Miserdine, Painswick, Pitchcombe, Stroud; Horsley-Avening, Horsley, Minchinhampton, Rodborough, Woodchester; Dursley (except the parish of Slimbridge)-Cam, Coaley, Dursley, Nymphsfield, Owlpen, Stinchcomb, Uley; Wotton-under-Edge-Charfield, Cromhall, Kingswood, North Nibley, Tortworth, Wotton-under-Edge; Whitminster (part of)-Randwick, Eastington, Stonehouse, Leonard Stanley, King Stanley, Frocester.
