Dumbleton is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...
in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
county of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
. The village is roughly 20 miles from the city of
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...
. The village is known to have existed in the time of
Æthelred I
Æthelred (; ang, Æþelræd ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of '' æþele'' and '' ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to:
Anglo-Saxon England
* Æthelred and Æthelberht, legendary pri ...
who granted land to
Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey ( '' " St Mary's Abbey " '' ) was a Benedictine monastery located in the centre of Abingdon-on-Thames beside the River Thames.
The abbey was founded c.675 AD in honour of The Virgin Mary.
The Domesday Book of 1086 informs ...
, and it is mentioned in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
.
Dumbleton is on the edge of Dumbleton Hill, a foothill of the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Ju ...
and is within the Cotswolds
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of th ...
. Dumbleton is mainly residential, although there is a successful Cricket Club, Garden Club, an Infants’ School, a Social Club, a Village Hall, and an Estate Office. The village also contains the main entrance to
Dumbleton Hall, which now functions as a hotel.
The civil parish includes the villages of
Great Washbourne
Great Washbourne is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Dumbleton, in the Tewkesbury district, in Gloucestershire, England, east of Tewkesbury and west of Evesham. In 1931 the parish had a population of 65.
History
Washbo ...
and
Wormington, all of which were separate civil parishes until 1935.
Parish church

St Peter's Church is of
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
origin with mainly 13th-century additions. The chancel was rebuilt in 1862.
In 1960 it was designated a Grade I
Listed Building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
.
The travel writer
Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor is buried in the churchyard with his wife
Joan (née Eyres Monsell) and brother-in-law
Lord Monsell. Inside St Peter's Church is a memorial to their relative, Arctic explorer
Gino Watkins. The merchant banker and political fundraiser
Lord Hambro is also buried in the churchyard. A large painted monument dedicated to Sir Charles Percy son of the
Earl of Northumberland
The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most ...
and Dorothy Cocks, his wife, is also to be found within the church. The colourful monument of two figures kneeling over their deceased child is situated within a deep round-headed niche flanked by free-standing Corinthian columns.
The
redundant St Mary's Church, Little Washbourne is also in the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
of Dumbleton. The parish was in the possession of
Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey ( '' " St Mary's Abbey " '' ) was a Benedictine monastery located in the centre of Abingdon-on-Thames beside the River Thames.
The abbey was founded c.675 AD in honour of The Virgin Mary.
The Domesday Book of 1086 informs ...
until the
Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The Old Rectory

The origin and development over the years of the Old Rectory is still subject to debate. The home as it stands was constructed in the 17th century. It is divided into two wings, north and south. The south wing incorporates a 16th-century timber-framed house with detailed decorative patterning.
A blocked window at the rear of the house has a painted
trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
of another window from which the Revd. Charles Cocks is seen looking out. His likeness was copied from a painting found in
Eastnor Castle
Eastnor Castle, Eastnor, Herefordshire, is a 19th-century mock castle. Eastnor was built for John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers, who employed Robert Smirke, later the main architect of the British Museum. The castle was built between 1811 and 1820 ...
. The trompe l'oeil painting was painted by artists Roy Amiss and Benoit Gardner.
Both the north and south portions of the Old Rectory are
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
by English Heritage.
Dumbleton Hall

The original Dumbleton Hall can be traced from around 1534, as the home of the Cocks family for over 200 years. After the death of Sir Richard Cocks in the late 18th century, the Hall fell into disrepair and was eventually demolished.
Rebuilt in the mid 19th century using Cotswold stone, Dumbleton Hall became home to the Eyres family and in the 1930s, the Hall was well known for its popular house parties with regular guests including
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architectu ...
, later to become Poet Laureate.
During the Second World War, the Hall was allegedly considered as a suitable alternative venue for the House of Lords. It is also suggested that Hitler 'reserved' the Hall as a private residence upon his victory in Europe.
Following the death of the last member of the Eyres family to own the Hall, Caroline Mary Sybil Eyres-Monsell, Viscountess Monsell, formerly married to
Bolton Eyres-Monsell, 1st Viscount Monsell
Bolton Meredith Eyres-Monsell, 1st Viscount Monsell, (22 February 1881 – 21 March 1969) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Chief Whip until 1931 and then as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Biography
His parents were Lt. C ...
, the Hall was sold and her son
Graham and daughter
Joan Joan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters
*: Joan of Arc, a French military heroine
* Joan (surname)
Weather events
* Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multi ...
moved into the Mill House on the Dumbleton Hall estate. They were buried in Dumbleton as was Joan's husband Sir
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's great ...
.
The Hall became a hotel in 1959.
Dumbleton Hall is Grade II* listed by English Heritage.
Governance
The village falls in the 'Isbourne'
electoral ward. This ward runs east–west and stretches from the
Worcestershire boundary to
Teddington
Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...
. The total population of this ward taken at the 2011 census was 1,955.
External links
Dumbleton Society*
GENUKI GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the empha ...
br>
DumbletonDumbleton Garden ClubDumbleton Village HallDumbleton Cricket ClubDumbleton Village Club
References
* David Verey, ''Gloucestershire: the Vale and the Forest of Dean, The Buildings of England series edited by
Nicholas Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ( ...
, 2nd ed (1976)
{{authority control
Villages in Gloucestershire
Civil parishes in Gloucestershire
Borough of Tewkesbury