Stroud memories
Here are memories of Stroud and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Stroud or a Stroud photo.
22 Church Street
I lived at 22 Church Street until 1963. My family moved from there in November 1963 as the property was being demolished to make way for a car park! I remember watching from the bedroom window a huge fire which burnt down the Gaumont Cinema.
Old Pike House
My ancestor Henry Fisher lived here according to the 1881 census with his wife Amelia and their 10 children! He was a maltster, so I will have to research breweries.
Ancestry Harman Family
The Harman family lived in "The Fields" on the Description of Emumeration District, listed on the 1851 census. "The Fields" was listed between Bowbridge Lane and the "Middle of Strouds Hill".
Children Home in Stroud
I was taken to the home by a lady in uniform from Hystfield, near Berkeley, Glos. I had no idea where I was going and how long I was going to be there. The reason I taken there was that my mum was ill and in hospital and the authorities thought it would be a good idea to put me into a home until my mum got better. All I can remember is being driven into Stroud and once in Stroud going right up a small road , through some gates and stopping at the side of this big house. I was taken inside to a big hall and then to where I was going to sleep. I was taken through a wide door and left up the this big wooden stairs with a wide bannister which I and many other children used to slide down. The dormitory had a lot of grey metal beds and mine was near the door. I cannot remember if was mixed or where the... Read more
RE CHILDRENS HOME
My dad Roy Taylor was at a childrens' home. He never knew whether it was called Rodbrough or Roxborough House either. He would have been there in the 1950s. He often mentions The Black Boys School which was as it was known and was nearby. I will ask him what else he remembers.
Jayne Smith
Rodborough House?
I was sent to a childrens' home in Stroud in 1955/6 and left in 1959 as my mother had TB of the lung and was in the nearby Standish Hospital. I have quite a few memories of this home - not all of them good!
I am not sure whether the home was called Rodborough or Roxborough house but it was situated on the edge of Rodborough Common and there was an infants/junior school at the end of the drive.
I would love to know more about the home; who had previously owned it, when did it become a childrens home etc etc?
If there are photographs available - I would appreciate that too - I remember a very large garden with a large paddling pool in the front - only used once whilst I was there!
Does anyone have any knowledge of this place - were you there also???
I would love to know more to help my memories.
Sallyanne Williams nee Butt
Memories of Gloucestershire
Christmas Eves 1960s
I was born in Stroud and lived in Cashesgreen and Paganhill until I was 11 when the family moved to Hertfordshire. My aunt lived at Minchinhampton in a house my sister now owns. As children we remember making the then very slow journey from Cashedgreen up Rodborough Hill past the Fort and along the common, waving at the big bear outside the pub and then onto our aunt's house for a very merry Christmas Eve family get-together. Those of you who remember will recall the REAL winters of the 1960s when those of us lucky enough to have a motor vehicle made that journey in fear of our lives that we might topple over the edge of the common into Stroud! The sound of our car going over the cattle grid beneath the Fort on the way up meant less chance of the car sliding back down the hill but we had to be the bravest souls to look out the windows at the steep hills below - on the... Read more
Ebley The War Years
I have many very happy memories of Ebley and the local towns and villages that I explored with my best friend Jimmy Stratford (now passed on). We traveled far and wide on our cycles, even though we were then not teenagers. We had no fear then. There were village shops, Mr Cordwell's shop, the Post Office shop, plus two others. We could get our sweets (with our ration book coupons of course ) at the pub. There were two there that time. The village had a train halt where we could go to Stroud. Everyone seemed so kind then. Oh yes, we had an air raid shelter too, built on part of the pub's car park area. I have many memories of this charming village, and the school.
Ice Skating on The Port
In the very cold winter of 1963 the canal port (known as the polly basin) froze over we were able to go iceskating , Brimscombe Hill had deep snow drifts and was shutdown but we still got the papers delivered !!! I was a paper boy at the time aged 11 yrs
The Port Inn, Brimscombe
I first knew Brimscombe in the 1950s. I was brought up between Toadsmoor and Middle Lypiatt. In this starkly isolated location, it took a devoted beer drinker to travel through the darkness to the nearest pub. My Dad was of such a breed, and every evening he would go to the Bottle and Jug of the Port Inn in Brimscombe, more or less opposite where the Brimscombe Poly School was. You may have spotted that this was not the nearest pub to us, but my Dad favoured no-nonsense red brick terraced affairs to majestic places like the Victoria, Bourne Bridge (was that the name?). This is probably because he hailed from Kidderminster where such pubs were de rigeur. I think the Port was owned or managed by a family named Gardiner. Sadly the Port Inn came down or was closed, probably in the 60s. Anyone else remember it? Fred Potter
Snow 1963
Having moved into Walls Quarry with my husband in 1961, I too remember the snow. It started to fall on Boxing Day 1962. We had a job to get home from Gloucester by car during theafternoon.
By March '63 it was still thick and frozen hard. The postmen had difficulty doing hillside deliveries out from Brimscombe Post Office. Three of them had a week's holiday due, and were unable to take it before the 'end of the year' (end of March). As I had done a round before Christmas, Mrs Perkins the Postmistress, asked if I could do one for three weeks, to give them their break. Yes I could.
I was given Bagpath and across to the Knoll, Swells Hill and Water Lane, which meant up and down hillside paths solid with ice, and across the common below Bownham, as well as still uncleared roads (carrying the heavy loaded bag). To start with I lost my way a few times, which meant retracing steps across the ice,... Read more
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