| Dursley | |
|---|---|
| Market town | |
.jpg) Dursley Town Hall and St James the Great parish church. | |
  Dursley Location withinGloucestershire | |
| Population | 7,463 (2021 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | ST756981 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DURSLEY |
| Postcode district | GL11 |
| Dialling code | 01453 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Dursley is a market town andcivil parish in theStroud District ofGloucestershire, England. It lies between the cities ofBristol andGloucester. It is under the northeast flank ofStinchcombe Hill, and about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of theRiver Severn. The town is adjacent to the village ofCam. The population of Dursley was 7,463 at the 2021 Census.[1]
Ancient historical sites in the vicinity give evidence of earlier occupation.Uley Bury is anIron Agehill fort dating from around 300 BC. The area also has neolithiclong barrows; one called "Hetty Pegler's Tump" can be entered. Roman remains exist atFrocester, West Hill nearUley,Woodchester andCalcot Manor.
Dursley once had a castle, built by Roger de Berkeley in 1153.[2]
Dursley gainedborough status in 1471 and lost it in 1886. From 1837 to 1851, it was the administrative centre of Dursley Registration District which recorded vital records of people living in the parishes ofNorth Nibley,Coaley,Slimbridge,Stinchcombe,Uley, Dursley,Cam,Nympsfield,Kingswood,Wotton-under-Edge andOwlpen.[3] From 1886 until 1974 it was the administrative centre of DursleyRural District (RDC). In 1974 the RDC became part ofStroud District.
TheGrade I listed[4]parish church of St. James the Great dates from the 13th century. The modern building is largely of 14th and 15th century construction and carries the Tudor coat of arms on the outside below the guttering, indicating that some of its construction was funded by the Tudor royals. The original church spire collapsed in January 1699 during a bell-ringing session, causing casualties. The current belltower, in an imposingGothic survival style, was built by Thomas Sumsion ofColerne in 1708–09.
Dursley Town Hall, a structure complete with statue ofQueen Anne and bell turret, dates from 1738, when the town's markets attracted farmers and traders from miles around. It is now maintained by the Dursley Town Council.[5]
In 1856, a shortbranch line railway opened,[6] called the "Dursley Donkey" by locals, linking Dursley and Cam to theBristol–Gloucester main line atCoaley Junction. The branch line was closed in 1968 and Coaley Junction station was also closed at about this time. However, in 1994, a new station calledCam and Dursley was opened on the main line, 330 yards north of the site of Coaley Junction.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Dursley was a large-scale manufacturing town; engines built here by theLister engine company founded in 1867 were used around the world.
That company's successor,Lister Petter, was based in the town until 2014, though much of the original 92-acre (37 ha) factory site was acquired in 2000 by theSouth West Regional Development Agency and then in 2011 byStroud District Council. It is now being developed as a large housing development with some industrial units.[7] The Towers, a large gothic-style house, formerly part of the Lister Petter estate, still overlooks the town and has been converted into flats and a residential care home.[8] TheLister Hall theatre is named after the company.
Other large factories based in the town included Mawdsley's, an electrical equipment manufacturer; Bymack's, an upholsterers; and the Bailey Newspaper Group, a newspaper printer, all of which have reduced or closed operations.
The town sits on the edge of theCotswolds escarpment where it drops off towards theSevern Vale and theRiver Severn.
Dursley's main watercourse is the River Ewelme which becomes theRiver Cam when it enters Cam. The town is surrounded by woodland and countryside, and theCotswold Way long distance trail passes through Dursley town centre.
In March 2010,Sainsbury's opened a newly built 20,000 sq ft supermarket within walking distance of the town centre.[9] Other recent arrivals include Lidl (November 2009, in premises on Kingshill Road previously occupied by the Regal Cinema and then Somerfield[10]) and Iceland (July 2010, replacing Somerfield in the town centre[11]).The Co-op has operated a smaller store in Rosebery Road since 2002. The town centre also has a number of independent shops and cafes.
A range of markets are held at the Market Place in the centre of the town; a farmers' market is held there on the second Saturday of every month and a craft market on the fourth Saturday of each month. There is an active Transition group in Cam and Dursley (part of the globalTransition town network) which looks after Dursley's Secret Garden, among other projects.
Dursley has a number of licensed premises and the Old Spot pub is regularly voted Gloucestershire 'Pub of the Year'.[12] The pub was named as 2007CAMRANational Pub of the year.[13]
According to the2021 census, the population ethnicity breakdown is as follows:
The same 2021 census gave the following religious breakdown:
The nearest railway station is atCam and Dursley on theBristol and Gloucester Railway, with trains operated byGreat Western Railway.
AuthorJ. K. Rowling, born in nearbyYate, named theDursley family in theHarry Potter books after the town due to disliking the place. She has jokingly remarked, "I don't imagine I'm very popular in Dursley".[19]
InRichard II there is reference to "the wolds of Gloucestershire", and when Bolingbrook asks how far it is toBerkeley as "these wild hills and rough uneven ways draw out for miles", the reply given is "there stands the castle beyond that tuft of trees". Many people understand this as a conversation taking place on Stinchcombe Hill overlooking theVale of Berkeley and itscastle.
| Following theCotswold Way | |
|---|---|
| Towards Bath | Towards Chipping Campden |
| 11 km (6.8 mi) to Wotton-under-Edge | 14 km (8.7 mi) to Stroud |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
