Stroud, Gloucestershire

From Freepedia

For other places of the same name, see Stroud (disambiguation).

Stroud is a town in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. Image:StroudGlosRailway.jpg

1 Physical attributes
2 History
3 Business
4 Education
5 Character and amenities
6 Famous residents
7 Politics
8 External links

Physical attributes

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Perched on the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the five Stroud Valleys, the town is notable for its steep streets. Stroud is at 51.7456°N, 2.2164°W. The Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty surrounds the town in all directions, and the Cotswold Way path passes by it to the west.

History

Historically, Stroud is known for its involvement in the Industrial Revolution. It was a cloth town; woollen mills were powered by the small rivers which surge through the five valleys, and supplied by Cotswold sheep grazed on the hills above. Particularly noteworthy was the production of military uniforms in the trademark Stroudwater Scarlet colour. Stroud was a fairly major industrial and trading location in the nineteenth century, and so needed transport links. It first had a canal network built: the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames & Severn Canal, both of which struggled to survive until the early 20th century. The canals are now being restored as a leisure facility by a partnership of British Waterways and the Cotswold Canal Trust [1] (formerly the Stroudwater, Thames and Severn Canal Trust) with a multi-million Lottery grant. Stroud railway station (on the Gloucester-Swindon "Golden Valley" line) was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Business

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There is still a small textile industry (the green baize cloth used to cover snooker tables is made here), but today, the town functions primarily as a centre for light engineering and small-scale manufacturing, and a provider of services for the surrounding villages. A bi-monthly farmers' market, launched in 1999, was nominated for Farmers' Market of the Year in 2001.

Education

The town is home to two of the country's last remaining state grammar schools for secondary education: Marling School for boys and the Stroud High School for girls. They continued on long after the comprehensive school became the norm, and their future was the subject of long-running controversy; they were among the first schools to "opt out" and became grant-maintained. The two schools now share a mixed sixth form, called the Downfield Sixth Form. Downfield is also very popular with a lot of the surrounding schools.

Character and amenities

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As well as shops and banks, the town centre contains a soon-to-be-completed cinema (which, controversially, replaces the bus station) and a multi-storey car park next to the medical centre. There is also a McDonalds which, when plans were unveiled in 2004, came against a lot of opposition from locals. On the fringes of the town is Stratford Park, originally the park of a small stately home, now home to a leisure centre with indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

Visitors and locals say that there is a unique and 'laid back' air to the town, which is home to a significant number of artists, authors and poets. Stroud has a significant 'bohemian' community that dates back to the early part of the twentieth century, including a number of 'new age' types.

Stroudie (Sometimes spelt Stroudy) is a locally used term for residents of Stroud. There is a stereotype of the Green Party-supporting Stroudie, generally opposed to Genetically modified produce, Oil companies (ESSO in particular) and McDonalds.

Stroud acts as a centre for many surrounding villages, hamlets and market towns including Minchinhampton, Amberley, Slad, Bisley, Woodchester, Painswick, Chalford, Thrupp, Brimscombe and Nailsworth

Famous residents

The town's most famous sons and residents are authors. Those born in the area, or who lived there while writing, include Laurie Lee, Jilly Cooper, Jasper Fforde, Katie Fforde and the Reverend W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine. The nearby Slad Valley is the setting of Cider With Rosie, the first part of Laurie Lee's autobiographical trilogy.