Owlpen
| Owlpen | |
|---|---|
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 Owlpen
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| Owlpen shown within Gloucestershire | |
| Population | 32 (2004 census) |
| OS grid reference | ST799984 |
| 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 |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Owlpen is a small village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, set in a picturesque valley in the Cotswold hills. It is about one mile east of Uley, and three miles east of Dursley. The Owlpen valley is set around the settlement like an amphitheatre of wooded hills open to the west. The landscape falls within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so designated in 1966. The population of the parish in mid-2010 was 29 (est.), the smallest in Gloucestershire.
The principal feature of the village is the famous Tudor manor house, Owlpen Manor, of the Mander family. The main economic activities in the village are agriculture, forestry and tourism.
Owlpen (pronounced locally "Ole-pen") derives its name, it is thought, from the Saxon thegn, Olla, who first set up his pen, or enclosure, by the springs that rise under the foundations of the manor, about the 9th century.
There are many signs of early settlement in the area. Round barrows and standing stones can be seen within a short walk of the manor house. Uley Bury, a mile to the west, is an impressive multi-vallate, scarp-edge hill-fort of the middle iron age (300 BC), commanding spectacular views over the Severn Vale and enclosing the Owlpen valley from the west. Hetty Pegler's Tump is a well-preserved middle neolithic chambered long barrow of the Severn-Cotswold group (2900–2400 BC). The West Hill Romano-British temple site was excavated 1977-1979, revealing a shrine to the titular god Mercury. There are strip lynchets associated with the medieval agriculture of the demesne lands.
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Wikipedia