Sapperton, Gloucestershire

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Not to be confused with Salperton
Sapperton
Gloucestershire
Sapperton village hall - geograph.org.uk - 464964.jpg
Sapperton Village Hall
Location
Grid reference: SO947033
Location: 51°43’44"N, 2°4’38"W
Data
Population: 412  (2011)
Post town: Cirencester
Postcode: GL7
Local Government
Council: Cotswold
Parliamentary
constituency:
The Cotswolds

Sapperton is a village in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, about four and a half miles west of Cirencester. It is most famous for Sapperton Canal Tunnel and the village's connection with the Cotswold Arts and Crafts Movement in the early 20th century.

Sapperton had a population of 412 at the 2011 census.

The parish includes the villages of Sapperton and Frampton Mansell. The outlying hamlet of Daneway lies in the parish of Bisley, but is nearer to the village of Sapperton and often considered a part of it.

History and architecture

The Domesday Book of 1086 lists the village as Sapleton.

There are many interesting buildings in Sapperton associated with the leading designers of the Arts and Crafts movement in the area, as well as the church, primary school, and a pub.

Sir Robert Atkyns, the county historian and author of The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire (1712), lived in the manor house of the village, now demolished, in the early 18th century. The manor was later acquired by the Earl Bathurst, whose descendant stills own most of the village and land.

Most of the buildings in the eastern part of the village were built (or rebuilt) under the patronage of the Bathurst family in the Cotswold Arts and Crafts style. Upper Dorvel House and Beechanger, designed and built by the brothers Ernest (died 1925) and Sidney Barnsley (died 1926), and the Leasowes, built by their colleague Ernest Gimson (d. 1919) are to the north-east of the Church.

Norman Jewson (1884-1975), friend and associate of Gimson, and son-in-law to Ernest Barnsley, lived at Bachelors' Court. His memoir, By Chance I did Rove (1952; twice reprinted) of village life and his association with the Gimson circle at the turn of the twentieth century is recognised as a minor classic of Cotswold literature.

Parish chuch

The parish church, St Kenelm's, was last rebuilt during Queen Anne's reign. It contains a monument to Sit Robert Atkyns the topographer.and another to Sir Henry and Lady Anne Poole.[1]

On film

The village was used for filming most of the outdoor scenes in Cider with Rosie (1998), set in the 1920s and 1930s, with the main street gravelled to overcome the modern road surface.[2]

See also

Outside links

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about Sapperton, Gloucestershire)

References

  1. A History of the County of Gloucester - Volume pp 96-98: {{{2}}} (Victoria County History)
  2. Barbara Hooper, Cider with Laurie: Laurie Lee Remembered (1999, p. 181