Hill, Gloucestershire

Hill
Gloucestershire
St Michael's Church, Hill
Location
Grid reference:	ST645950
Location:	51°39’11"N, 2°30’50"W
Data
Population:	117  (2011)
Post town:	Berkeley
Postcode:	GL13
Dialling code:	01454
Local Government
Council:	South Gloucestershire

Hill is a village in Gloucestershire, midway between the towns of Thornbury and Berkeley. The parish stretches from the banks of the River Severn to an outcrop of the Cotswold escarpment. The 2001 census recorded a population of 114.

Hill is approximately five miles from the M5 motorway which links to Gloucester, Cheltenham and Bristol.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Hill:

HILL, a parish in Thornbury district, Gloucester; adjacent to the river Severn, 4 miles N of Thornbury, and 5½ W by S of Dursley Junction r. station. Posttown, Berkeley. Acres, 2, 476; of which 510 are water. Real property, £4, 146. Pop., 216. Houses, 44. The property is divided among a few. The manor belongs to Herbert Jenner, Esq. Hill Court is an ancient mansion, supposed to occupy the site of a monastery of the 12th century. The living is a donative in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £250.* Patron, Herbert Jenner, Esq. The church is ancient but good; and has a tower and spire.

History

In the Domesday Book, Hill is recorded as Hilla, then later between the years of 1250 to 1455 is referred to frequently as Hulla. It was not until after 1773 until it was more commonly known as Hill.

The Manor of Hill, known as Hill Court, was included in a grant of the Barony of Berkeley, bestowed upon Robert Fitzharding by King Henry II after his ascension to the throne in 1154. The manor was transferred down successive generations of the Berkeley family until it came into the possession of Robert Poyntz of nearby Iron Acton in 1418. The Poyntz family gave up the Manor at the beginning of the 17th century, Richard Fust subsequently assuming the lordship in 1609. Built in 1863, the present Hill Court, home of the Jenner-Fust family, replaced an earlier building.

On 18 January 1816, a group of sixteen poachers were encountered by a party of gamekeepers belonging to Colonel Berkeley and Lord Ducie at Catgrove, a wooded area in the parish of Hill. Some of the poachers were in possession of firearms, which led to an assistant gamekeeper named William Ingram, a member of Colonel Berkeley's contingent, to be shot dead. The poachers, all of whom had blackened faces, fled the scene. Most, but not all, were subsequently apprehended and taken into custody. In total 11 men stood trial, all of whom were found guilty, leading to two of the guilty party being executed the following day and the remaining convicts faced transportation to Australia.

Parish church

The parish church is St Michael the Archangel. The church was originally constructed in the 13th century and is a Grade II* listed building. The church has undergone restorations; the nave was rebuilt in 1759 and the mortuary chapel was stored in the early 18th century both by Sir Francis Fust. The chancel was restored in 1870 by Ewan Christian, followed by the rebuilding of the porch and addition of buttresses in 1909 by William Weir and Temple Moore.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hill, Gloucestershire)