Selsley

Selsley is a small village of around 175 houses located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Stroud, in Gloucestershire, UK. Being scattered around the western and eastern edge of a Cotswold spur, the village lacks a focus and is nowadays sub-divided into Selsley West and Selsley East. In terms of local government, it is part of Kings Stanley Parish Council.

Stanley Park is the original Manor House in Selsley West dating from the time of Elizabeth I. The house was rebuilt in the mid 18th century and then further remodelled when it was bought by Samual Marling in 1849. In 1949, the house was sold by the Marling family and divided into flats.

Alongside the Manor House lies Selsley Church, commissioned by the Marling family during the mid 19th century and modelled by Bodley in the French gothic style. This is no ordinary church for inside are its famed stain-glass, one of the first commissions undertaken by William Morris and his partners Rossetti, Webb, Ford Madox Brown and Burne-Jones. The design of the church derives from the squires' name. The Church is modelled on one seen in Marlengo (Marling) in the disputed area of the Italian Tyrol.

Elsewhere in the village, most of the older housing dates from the 18th and 19th century, interspersed with 20th century build. Unfortunately, some of the modern efforts are tributes to late twentieth century petty-bourgeois tastelessness.

Running through the village is Water Lane - a prehistoric track that winds its way to North Woodchester and thence to South Woodchester and on to Bath. In parts, its banks tower ten feet overhead, cloaked by hawthorn, blackthorn, ash and beech. Spring water rushes along the two sides of the lane where the geology changes. It runs parallel , too , to a track continuing from Bell Lane and going past a mysterious cottage down over the brook and onto the Villiers estate in Woodchester.

Selsley Common is a large open expanse of c160 acres and a rich habitat for rare flaura and fauna. More often than not, a silent wind rushes up from the Severn Valley and Bristol Channel and over the grass. The call of a bird can be caught on this wind and carried for miles. During the summer, bird song mingles with the sound of cattle as Commoners can, and still do, exercise grazing rights. The common is also the home of larks, which always evoke regret in the exile.

Despite attempts to enclose this land, it has been vigorously defended over the years. Indeed the first recorded dispute was in the Saxon period, and the threat to enclose the Common in the 19th Century met with vocal public outrage. There is one area which did become enclosed, known locally as 'Dead Man's Acre'. The story goes that a man was told that he could have s much land of the common that he could enclose in one day. The effort, though, proved to much, and killed him.

Dotted over the Common are the long abandoned remains of quarries once used to supply stone for local building and walling. Lesser hollows are the remains of a medieval soldier's camp - so identified in 1942 by Captain H.S Gracie. In addition, the grassed-over ways used by the quarry wagons can still be seen.

The western scarp face falls hundreds of feet to the flat Severn Valley. It offers a splendid view, certainly one of the best in the country. The Severn lies like a ribbon laid in front of the Forest of Dean. Beyond the Forest lie the Black Mountains and beyond these the Brecon Beacons. To the north-west the mass of Elgar's Malvern Hills heaves over the land. There are few sights to match sunset from this point on a summer's evening. It is also a favorite with glider pilots from the club in Nymphsfield, and other aerial players as well.

Also located on the scarp is a Bronze Age barrow. Further on, what was once thought to be an Iron Age feature - a small dyke - is now more likely to be part of a Bronze Age burial complex.