St Andrews Church

St Andrews Church was built in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The rather wonderful tympanum, full of energy, is of Christ in Majesty.

The shaft of the lectern came from Tewkesbury Abbey, and was used for some years as a parrot stand by a parishioner. When the bird died it was restored to its previous purpose.

The oak panel on the side of the lectern came from the same source and had been used as garden seats.

Nonconformity in Eastleach

A Primitive Methodist chapel was opened on December 11th 1853. It was necessary to build it as the roof of the previous chapel fell in.  The Rt Hon. Lord Le Mauley who owned the land on which the first chapel had stood “kindly consented to favour” the society with the land for the new one as the society had been unable to find suitable freehold land.  The stone built with and slate roofed chapel was 16′ high to the wall plate and seated 120 people.

More information can be found on Eastleach Primitive Methodist chapel | Gloucestershire | My Primitive Methodists

Keble’s Bridge

This clapper bridge connects the two parishes.

It is named after John Keble, a significant figure in the creation of the Oxford Movement in 19th Century Britain.

He was a fellow of Oriel College and, when he was 23, was ordained a Deacon. Riding over from Oxford to St Martin’s, to preach his first sermon, he found a poor and neglected parish. He opened a Sunday School and visited parishioners but, after 8 years of working in Oxford and riding over to Eastleach he felt the call to the ministry so strong that he resigned his fellowship and accepted the curacy of Southrop (combined with Eastleach).

It was here that the seeds of the Oxford Movement were sown.

The parish is part of the 3,850-acre Hatherop Estate.

Sir Thomas Bazley was owner of the estate from 1867 and provided a number of improvements for the villagers, including a water-supply pumped up from the Leach to standpipes, street-lamps put up in 1897, and a Reading Room.

Several buildings in Eastleach Turville as evidence of this. A large number of cottages were built in the late 19th century by Sir Bazley, including  and there is a row by the turning to Southrop which incorporates a small clock-tower. A row of five alms-houses was built on the north side of the street by Bazley in 1871

The estate was acquired by the trustees of the Ernest Cook Trust (an educational charity) in 2002 from the Bazley family.  Following the death of Sir Thomas Bazley in 1996, his children were very keen to retain the community of the estate and avoid breaking it up. They said at the time: “One of the main factors in our decision to sell the estate to the Ernest Cook Trust is our wish to preserve the estate for future generations. We feel that selling to the Ernest Cook Trust is the best way to maintain its special character, as well as retaining the unspoilt nature of the villages of Eastleach and Hatherop, which our father valued so much.

However, at a Parish Council meeting held in April, 2023, over 20 members of the public were in attendance to voice their concerns regarding recent news that the Trust who, own over 20 rental properties in the village are intending to sell some of these properties.

John Betjeman in Eastleach

This is a real treat!

Shell commissioned Betjeman to make a series of short films about Britain. This one is about the parish.

John Betjeman’s Gloucestershire (youtube.com)

Eastleach House

Eastleach House (originally called Ravens Hill)  Bazley family late in the 19th century on the site of an earlier 19th-century farmhouse. It was completed in 1900. Gardner Sebastian Bazley son of Sir Thomas Bazley built the house for his daughter as a wedding present, using stone from two ruined local houses.

It was designed by Walter Cave, and is his only major Cotswold house.

Coates Mill

The mill is the highest on the river Leach.

 The limited local trade of the mill was emphasized in a valuation of 1831, when it was a small building with 2 pairs of stones, but it continued working for many years afterwards and was apparently rebuilt in the late 19th or early 20th century. From 1920 it was occupied by Robert Hinton who used it to make animal feed and built up a successful business, which was made a limited company in 1934. The water-wheel was replaced by diesel power before 1940, and the firm continued to use the mill until 1965 when it concentrated its operations at Southrop. The buildings at the mill were used as cottages in 1976.

Thanks to The Mills Archive Trust for permission to use the photograph (new.millsarchive.org)

The Victoria Inn is still trading in the centre of the village, facing the road from Southrop. The 16th century Victoria Inn was once tied to the Cirencester Brewery. The Cirencester Brewery already owned the Victoria Inn when the brewery became a Limited Company in 1888. It later became a Simonds pub before the ownership passed to the Courage Brewery.

Arkell’s Kingsdown Brewery of Stratton St. Margarets, Swindon bought the Victoria Inn from Courages in 1976.

The Citizen: 21^st October, 1981 – Drawing Pensions at the Pub? Regulars at the Victoria Inn in the Cotswold village of Eastleach Turville may soon be drawing pensions as well as pints. The landlord of the pub had applied for the vacant post of sub-postmaster in the village. Mr George Clark, the Head Postmaster, told a meeting of the City’s Post Office Advisory Committee that there could have been difficulties as the post office must be able to people of all ages. But the post office services would be dispensed from the off-licence part of the pub and children would not have to go through the bar.

Thanks to https://www.gloucestershirepubs.co.uk/pubs for the information.