Cliffords Mesne
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Cliffords Mesne (Clifford's Mesne on some maps) is an English village in
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
, in
Newent Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The town is north-west of Gloucester. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population ...
civil parish, two miles (3.2 km) south-west of the town. The village became the home of the autobiographical author
Winifred Foley Winifred Mary Foley (born Winifred Mason; 25 July 1914 – 21 March 2009) was an English writer. She is known best for an autobiographical account of her childhood in the Forest of Dean: ''A Child in the Forest'' (1974). Forest life Winifre ...
from the mid-1970s, after the success of her first book of Gloucestershire reminiscences, ''A Child in the Forest''.


Facilities

Cliffords Mesne possessed a
public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, the ''Yew Tree Inn'' (now closed). The village is close to May Hill, which is owned by the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
, and to the now-closed-to-the-public International Centre for Birds of Prey. The village hall was refurbished in 2013 and holds regular social and musical events.


Heritage

The small
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church is dedicated to
St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...
. Designed by E. S. Harris, it was built in 1882 of stone, with a central bellcote, a nave, a chancel, a south porch and a south vestry. It has contemporary stained glass dedicated to a local falconer and a memorial tablet to two local men who died on active service in the Second World War. The church parish is merged with Gorsley. It shares clergy with the benefice of Newent and lies in the
Diocese of Gloucester The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Province ...
. An earlier stone church, built in Gothic style in 1872 and extended in 1877, became the village school, which is now closed. The building serves as a non-denominational village hall. Two outlying buildings are
Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
: Ravenshill Farmhouse, north of the village, most of which dates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries; and an 18th-century cider house at Hay Farm, south-west of the village. The combined population of Cliffords Mesne and Gorsley was 1320 in 1876.Morris & Co. Commercial Directory & Gazetteer of Newent, 1876
Retrieved 22 August 2011.
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References

{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Newent