Elmstone-Hardwicke
| Elmstone Hardwicke | |
|---|---|
 Elmstone Hardwicke
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| Elmstone Hardwicke shown within Gloucestershire | |
| Population | 296 (2011) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHELTENHAM |
| Postcode district | GL51 9 |
| Dialling code | 01452 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Elmstone Hardwicke is a village and sizeable parish north-west of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England.
St Mary Magdelene Church may be considered the hub of the village; its location is grid reference so920260. The church has a 9th-century carved stone head which is ornamented like the font at Deerhurst.
Elmstone Hardwicke is in the borough of Tewkesbury, the Cheltenham post town, and on the Coombe Hill, Cheltenham, telephone exchange. Nearby villages include Uckington, Stoke Orchard, and Tredington.
Elmstone Hardwicke shares a village hall with Uckington.
The National Gazetteer (1868):
ELMSTONE-HARDWICKE, a parish partly in the hundred of Westminster, and partly in the lower division of the hundred of Deerhurst, county Gloucester, 5 miles S. of Tewkesbury. Cheltenham is its post town and railway station, from which it is distant about 4 miles to the N.W. The parish, which is situated on the high road to Worcester, contains the hamlets of Uckington and Hardwicke. The tithes have been commuted in two separate portions for each of these hamlets. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £233, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. It has a battlemented tower, and the exterior of the edifice is adorned with some curious figures in bas-relief. There are some small charities. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster are the lords of the manor. Springs similar to those at Cheltenham are met with in this parish.
Elmstone-Hardwicke has an interesting History with regard to the use of its land. Prior to the mid 18th century, most farmers in England rotated their crops across three or four strips of land- see Crop rotation, and ‘rights of common’- see common land were claimed for grazing the unfenced land. The Inclosures Acts of the 19th century proposed the inclosure of Elmstone-Hardwicke in 1899. However, many fields remained unfenced until 1918, which villagers believe make it the last village in England to be inclosed. Following the Inclosure, many poor farmers lost their common grazing rights, so in Elmstone-Hardwicke, a 10-acre (4.0 ha) plot was set aside as a recreation ground for grazing of their animals, and a further 10 acres (40,000 m2) for allotments.
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Wikipedia