History of Prestbury

Historic Prestbury

The earliest reference to Prestbury dates to AD899 when a charter refers to the manor which already belonged to the Bishop of Hereford. It was referred to as “Preosdabyrig” which means “the Priest's fortified place” and probably refers to the Bishop of Hereford's residence that predated the construction of the 13^th century moated manor house to the northwest of the present village. The original settlement is thought to be located at Shaw Green, adjacent to the Bishop's moated site, with the Burgage and Bowbridge Lane forming the original thoroughfare (Leech 1981)

Prestbury has been a village since Anglo Saxon times and was recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle in the 9^th century. However the history of Prestbury goes way back through the Roman occupation to the Iron Age and the Beaker people when ancient Britons drove sheep along the trackway (Shaw Green Lane) up to Cleeve Hill. (Historic Prestbury – Valerie Braunholtz)

From 1199 through to 1350 around 379 new boroughs had been created by the king, lords and bishops. Many medieval landowners were quick to promote the development of urban communities on their land, obtaining income from property rents and tolls levied on trade and commerce. In addition to the foundation of a market, many landlords attempted to promote existing villages to borough status.(Source - Gloucestershire Historic Towns Survey – Gloucestershire County Council Sites & Monuments Record)

In Gloucestershire at least 22 small towns acquired borough status during the Medieval period with most charters being granted during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. There is documentary evidence confirming that Prestbury was once a medieval borough in the thirteenth century (1288). The grant of a borough charter conferred a number of privileges, teneurial and legal character, the most important of which was the right to burgage or freehold tenure, for a rent and without labour services. One of the most characteristic features of towns of this period is the burgage plot – long, thin strips of land extending back from the main street which allowed as many burgesses as possible to the street frontage and the trade which it afforded. (Source - Gloucestershire Historic Towns Survey – Gloucestershire County Council Sites & Monuments Record)

The use of the name The Burgage for the street that runs north-south from Lake Street to Tatchley Lane to the west of St Mary's Church, suggests that this part of the settlement at Prestbury had borough status, and by the thirteenth century surviving documents make a distinction between the borough of Prestbury and the rest of the village. The area of the medieval borough is thought to have been The Burgage, but by the sixteenth century Bowbridge Lane and the north side of Deep Street had also been incorporated. It is likely that tenants who did not have burgage tenure built their houses in the rest of Deep Street and along the High Street (Source – Gloucestershire Historic Towns Survey – Gloucestershire County Council Sites & Monuments Record)

Prestbury had been granted a market charter in 1249 with the right to hold a weekly market and a three day fair in August every year. The market was located beside the Winchcombe to Gloucester Road which was known as The Burgage, an important road through the village. The presence of the market allowed the village to prosper with the market tenants forming one of the largest community groups in the area by 1280. It was unusual at the time for a village to have a market as the majority of villages were based solely on subsistence agricultural or mining and relied upon a market town such as Cheltenham. The market declined in the 15^th century partly because of a fire which destroyed the greater part of the Burgage. In the early 16^th century the market was revived but it apparently remained small and by c.1700 had lapsed

Agriculture was the underlying foundation of the local economy up until the 19^th century and into the 20^th century. Crops known to have been grown in the 12^th century included wheat barley and oats. It was also suggested that dairy farming may have been as important as arable. The geology of the area also impacted on the form of the local economy focusing on quarrying the Jurassic marine limestone commonly found in this part of England. The quarries in the area were active from the sixteenth century until the early twentieth century. Road names such as Gravel Pit Lane resonate this part of the village's history while there are also other indications of historic manufacturing and engineering activities (Mill Street)

Prestbury Park, the site of Cheltenham Racecourse was for hundreds of years the Bishops Park well stocked with deer, hare, pheasants and partridge. From 1200 to 1650 there were constant battles between would be poachers of Prestbury Village and the Bishop's gamekeepers. By the 17^th century the park was neglected, the timber gradually cut turning the park area into arable farming land. In 1902 Cheltenham Racecourse Company bought Prestbury Park and held its first two day National Hunt Festival.

Most of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire had started to grew tobacco after the House of Lords discussed that English and Irish farmers may be permitted to grow tobacco for profit in 1598. It proved so popular that by 1619 an Act banning Tobacco growing in England was passed to protect the trade in Virginia. Despite many attempts to halt tobacco growing Prestbury continued to grow tobacco between 1619 and 1664. High levels of cultivation in Virginia in 1680 finally put a stop to tobacco growing in Gloucestershire.

By the time of the English Civil War (1642-1649) Prestbury was staunchly Parliamentarian. In 1643 King Charles I held Plymouth, Bristol and Tewkesbury, and most of the north, but was reluctant to march on London without taking Gloucester City which had firmly refused his demand for surrender. The city was besieged but Parliament had raised an army of 15,000 men under the Earl of Essex to relieve the city.

Following a skirmish near Stow-on-the Wold the men reached Cleeve Hill on September 4^th. The vanguard of the army arrived in Prestbury in a sorry state, hungry and soaked to the skin. Unable to get their guns down Cleeve Hill in darkness they had to spend the night on the hill in a severe storm. The following day they advanced through Southam and Prestbury to Cheltenham where there was still resistance. However the firing of the guns from Cleeve had not only encouraged the people of Gloucester but had caused Charles to order the seige to be abandoned.

In September some of the Parliamentarians occupied the manor house which formerly belonged to the Bishop of Hereford. Royalist troops were also in the village and bullet holes in some of the village houses support the tradition that there was fighting in the streets of Prestbury. Anticipating that a Royal despatch rider would attempt to pass on his way from Sudeley to Gloucester they stretched a rope across the Burgage from the inn to a house opposite. When the horseman came galloping through the night his horse tripped and fell delivering its rider and despatches into the hands of the Parliamentarians. Ever since the sounds of racing hoofbeats have been heard pounding up The Burgage only to come to a sudden halt outside the pub, just one of the many ghostly claims to the title of Prestbury being “the most haunted village in Britain”(Sourced from Florence Jackson's Portrait of Prestbury).

An important part of the history of the village in the 18^th century was the discovery of a spring with medicinal properties. By 1751 a landowner established the Hyde Spa which was a popular tourist destination for many years due to the water have stronger properties than the waters found in Cheltenham. Unfortunately by the late nineteenth century the Spa had acquired a bad reputation and was pulled down.

Prestbury had more than one connection with medicinal springs and spa establishments. Part of the Pittville Estate was in the parish of Prestbury and in 1830 Joseph Pitt of Cheltenham opened a spa at another spring near the south boundary of the parish with an elaborate pump room as part of a comprehensive development for a residential estate.

In 1842 Richard Beamish opened a hydropathic establishment in The Burgage. It was modelled on ones established in Europe after a Silesian farmer, Vincent Priessnitz, discovered animals responded to treatment with cold water bandages. Patients were expected to stay at least a fortnight at the hydropathic centres and treatment was vigorous. Called at 5am stripped, wrapped tightly in a cold wet sheet, then packed more tightly into blankets, they were released after an hour to sit in a small bath while pitchers of cold water were poured over them. Exercise was part of the treatment so after patients had dressed they were given flasks and ordered to walk to one of the hill springs to drink water on the spot. There was a frugal breakfast when they returned and various kinds of baths during the day. Some leisure time was allowed from mid afternoon, then a simple supper and early to bed. The treatment centre closed in 1845 being outmatched by other establishments (Source – Florence Jackson's “A Portrait of Prestbury”).

Cheltenham's development as a fashionable spa resort had several contradictory effects upon Prestbury. The market and fairs had declined in the face of competition posed by those at Cheltenham and Winchcombe but Prestbury profited from the lack of accommodations available in the spa resort itself, gradually becoming a favoured residential area, set at the foot of the Cotswolds and close to the racecourse.

Modern Prestbury

The centre of the modern settlement of Prestbury has remained almost unchanged in form since the later Medieval period. Twenty six acres of the old historic part of Prestbury has been designated as a Conservation Area containing some sixty Grade II listed buildings/structures, two Grade II* listed buildings/structures as well as some locally listed buildings/structures. To the north of the Conservation Area lies the remains of a moated site which is one of six scheduled ancient monuments located within the Borough of Cheltenham. Although the majority of buildings date to the 17^th & 18^th centuries, a few earlier structures have survived from the 14^th & 16^th centuries.

The village has long been a favoured residential area reflected in the high proportion of substantial 17^th century and later houses. Between the First & Second World Wars the number of houses in the parish increased rapidly, and a small housing estate was built at Lower Noverton. During the 1950's a large housing estate was built between Bouncers Lane and Prestbury Road and by 1961 the number of houses in Prestbury had increased by half. The main feature of this period of expansaion was the construction of groups of semi-detached brick houses and bungalows although the building of larger detached houses in various styles also continued. By 1964 the area of the parish between the centre of Cheltenham and the village was almost completely built up although little expansion has taken place to the north or east of the settlement.

Prestbury with a range of facilities and amenities remains a desirable area to live and although overshadowed by Cheltenham has managed to retain its own unique identity.

Population & Employment Profile

In 2001 the population of Prestbury Parish was just under 7,000 with 5,300 people living within close proximity of Prestbury Village. The UK census revealed that almost 24% of the population as in the age group 45-59 followed by 19% in the 30-44 group. The age group 65-74 and 75-84 contained 11% and 10% of the population respectively, both of which are approximately 3% higher than the same groups in neighbouring Cheltenham. Approximately 14% of the population were under the age of 16 and part of the dependent school population which shows the continuing need for schools and other facilities for younger people in the Prestbury area.

Prestbury has a varied employment profile with the majority of jobs in the tertiary or services sector. A number of businesses are located within the village itself and at Brookfield Farm located at its northern edge. Although the village no longer has its own industry as such other than tourism, a surprisingly high number of people work within a two kilometre radius of the village with a significant number commuting to Cheltenham and further afield. 15% of the working population worked in manufacturing, followed by approximately 12% working in each of retail, real estate, public administration, health and social work with a further approximate 10% working in education.

Prestbury's Racing Links

Prestbury had a long association with the Racecourse with many of the local stables sited nearby and trainers and jockeys connected with the Village. Although the once familiar sight of stable lads setting off each morning to exercise horses on Cleeve Hill is rarely seen nowadays, Prestbury could boast of several successful partnerships which between them produced a dozen Grand National winners.

Tom Oliver, George Stevens, William Holman and William Archer all lived in Prestbury. Tom Oliver won the Grand National on Gay Lad in 1842, Vanguard in 1843, and on Peter Simple ten seasons later. He not only trained horses, but jockeys and prize fighters too. Tom Pickernell rode in 17 Grand Nationals and like his friend, Adam Lindsay Gordon, he rode Tom Oliver's horses.

George Stevens won the Grand National five times, on Freetrader in 1856, Emblem in 1863, Emblematic in 1864, and The Colonel in 1869 and 1870. Bonfires blazed on Cleeve Hill to celebrate his victories.

William Archer was only 17 when he became jockey and stud manager to the Tsar of Russia at £100 per year but he returned to England and won the Grand National on Little Charley in 1858. His marriage to Emma Hayward, eldest daughter of the landlord of The King's Arms with Tom Oliver as best man, was described as “a marriage blessed in heaven for racing folk”, and brought him to Prestbury. His three sons, Fred, William and Charles, all made names for themselves, Fred being as famous in his day as Lester Piggot.

Numerous tales are told in Prestbury about Gold Cup winners but there is always a special glow of pride about those trained in the village and many people recall the tremendous excitement when John Roberts' horse, Four Ten, ridden by Tommy Cusack, won the Gold Cup in March 1954.

Although the racing stables in the village are now long gone, local villagers fondly remember the times when they were so much part of their lives.

Grateful acknowledgement for source material to –

Florence E Jackson – A Potrait of Prestbury

Jo Grimster, Carole Powell, Kate Bishop and all who contributed to Twentieth Century Memories of Prestbury.

Prestbury's Royal Visits

In 1788 King George III, Queen Charlotte and three of their daughters visited Cheltenham for five weeks. During their stay the Royal party attended theatre plays and went sightseeing on social excursions in the neighbouring areas. Sometimes the King would indulge his interest in farming by riding off alone to call on local farmers. It believed that on one of these sightseeing trips the King and Queen Charlotte visited Prestbury and took tea at “The Grotto” tea rooms in Mill Street.

During October 1980 the village celebrated the 700^th anniversary of the first named Vicar of St Mary's Church, records of earlier names having been lost. The whole village turned out to greet Prince Charles who came to read the Lesson at the 11 o'clock service. Crowds packed the street afterwards when His Royal Highness made his way to the three chairs placed outside The Thatched Cottage in Deep Street for Miss Cobb and centenarians Miss Dymock and Miss Luke, for that was the time when the Vicar could boast that his congregation ranged in age from six weeks to over one hundred years.

One of the most frequent royal visitors to Prestbury was the Queen Mother who made a detour on her way to the races every March to stop outside the Bakery Stores. It all began in 1969 when Philip Delaney had a grocery business in Leckhampton and invited his customers to gather outside on Gold Cup Day to see the Queen Mother drive past at 4.30pm. Unfortunately bad weather upset his plan and the royal car sped by before that time.

Feeling responsible for the disappointment he had unwittingly caused, Philip wrote to the Queen's secretary, Sir Martin Gilliatt, explaining what had happened and to his delight was promised that the royal car would slow down the following year. When the great day arrived flags and daffodils were provided by Philip for the children, but when he was invited to step into the royal car he still had an armful of flowers which he presented to the Queen Mother.

The custom continued, but flowers were replaced by a box of the Queen Mother's favourite chocolates. Sadly Philip thought the visits would cease when his lease expired and he moved to Prestbury but to his delight and that of John Fogarty of the Bakery Stores he was informed that in future the Queen Mother would make a detour on her way to the Races and would stop outside the Bakery Store.

For many years there was great activity at the beginning of March every year. The white outside walls of the Bakery Store got “freshened up”, large photographs of the Queen Mother appeared in the window, flags unfurled above the thatched roof and a large notice proclaimed :

PRESTBURY WELCOMES THE QUEEN MOTHER

The Royal visitor often got out of the car to chat to Philip and also to John and Anne Fogarty. In 1986 John fulfilled a long felt wish when the Queen Mother accepted his invitation to step inside to see one of Prestbury's oldest shops.

Source material Prince Charles & Queen Mother gratefully acknowledged –

Florence E Jackson – A Potrait of Prestbury.

History of Racing and Cheltenham Racecourse

Colonel William Fitzhardinge Berkeley established racing on Cleeve Hill in 1819 giving an annual subscription on 1990's values of £100,000. A course was mapped out and an annual three day event took place under the patronage of the Duke of Gloucester. A crowd of some 20,000 attended each meeting with Punch & Judy shows, candy sellers, booths and travelling minstrels surrounding the course.

The Reverend Francis Close, Cheltenham's newly appointed Parish Priest, was determined to stop the racing as he thought gambling was immoral and that it was obscene that such vast amounts of money should change hands when many people in the town were living in abject poverty. His first sermon on the subject entitled”The Evil Consequences of Attending the Racecourse Exposed” preached to a packed church with 3,500 copies distributed around the town.

The result was that in 1829 the annual race meeting was disrupted when a large group of his disciples hurled abuse, rocks and empty bottles at the riders and horses. Whether or not it was a direct answer to prayer, or the work of a zealous arsonist, the following year the grandstand caught fire the night before the annual meeting and was burned to the ground. Racing at Cleeve Hill was abandoned and Francis Close had won the day.

But the fiery vicar hadn't reckoned on the popularity of his arch rival, the swashbuckling Colonel Berkeley. Racing at Cleeve Hill had been on the flat but the dashing Colonel thought this was too tame and in 1845 he instigated Cheltenham's first steeplechase which took place from Noverton Lane in Prestbury across country to the Hewletts.

For a number of years different venues were found for meetings and it wasn't until Mr Baring Bingham bought Prestbury Park in 1898 that racing was once again truly established. He built the grandstand, erected rails around the course and in 1902 a two day Cheltenham Festival was held. This was the forerunner of the Cheltenham scene enjoyed today.

(Extracts from “Racing's obstacle course” and “Coarse side of a fine horseman” - In the Town articles by Derek Dawson, Gloucestershire Echo, Lifestyle)

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In 1902 The Cheltenham Racecourse Company bought Prestbury Park, a grandstand and clubhouse were built in 1908 and a racecourse station, on the main railway line, opened in 1912. In 1964 Racecourse Holdings (now Jockey Club Racecourses) was formed to secure the future of Cheltenham.

Sixty permanent staff rising to approximately 1,000 for a race meeting are employed with 5,000 racegoers at the Festival Meeting. The Festival Meeting is worth an estimated £50 million to the local economy and hosts the largest tented village of any kind at a sporting event. Over 2 million is spent each year on temporary facilities alone. Festival drinkers get through 18,000 bottles of champagne and 214,000 pints of Guinness.

Throughout the year over 700,000 people are welcomed to the Racecourse.

Click here for Prestbury links with the Racecourse.