Southam, Gloucestershire
| Southam | |
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 Church of the Ascension, Southam, Gloucestershire |
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 Southam
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| Southam shown within Gloucestershire | |
| Population | 1,175 |
| OS grid reference | SO970256 |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Cheltenham |
| Postcode district | GL52 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
Southam is a village in Gloucestershire, England, located on the outskirts of Cheltenham. Its main features are a castle, which has now been converted to a hotel, and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, which runs through the outskirts of the village.
It is primarily a residential community for workers in Cheltenham, and has a growing retired and working population, attracted by the scenic countryside.
Though small in size, Southam has a thriving community. The village hall is used for coffee mornings, yoga sessions and the regularly occurring kids club among other things.
The parish of Southam had a population of 1,175 according to the 2011 census.
By c.991 the name Southam was already in use, possibly derived from its position south of the larger parish of Bishop's Cleeve. In the Domesday Book it is written as Surham and was held by Durand, the Sheriff of Gloucester. From 1865 the village was also known as Southam-de-la-bere, this was to distinguish it from Southam in Warwickshire.
Before Southam was in the hands of the de la Bere family in the 17th century, the land was owned by Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford. His youngest daughter, Mary de Bohun, was given the Manor as a dowry when she married Henry Bolingbroke in 1381, who later became Henry IV.
Henry IV annexed it to the Duchy of Lancaster and later on James I granted the Manor to Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury, who then sold it to Richard de la Bere.
Richard de la Bere was the Lord of the Manor of Southam from 1609, and his Manor house was near the present Pigeon House in Southam Lane.
Richard de la Bere was a Barrister of Law at Lincoln's Inn, and he died in 1636. His wife Margaret had the magnificent de la Bere tomb built in the south aisle of St. Michael’s Church in Bishop’s Cleeve in 1639, at a cost of £400.
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