Hempsted is a suburban village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, on the edge of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

in the county of

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 ...

, England. The parish was abolished in 1966 and absorbed into the parish and city of Gloucester. In 1961 the parish had a population of 508. The current estimated population based on small area data of the 2021 ONS census is 2715.

History

An ancient area of Gloucester, Hempsted was just outside the city. The fine Norman church of St. Swithun was built and paid for by Norman noblemen. The churchyard contains the chest tomb of John Freeman, a Royalist officer, shot at the

siege of Gloucester The siege of Gloucester took place between 10 August and 5 September 1643 during the First English Civil War. It was part of a Royalist campaign led by King Charles I to take control of the Severn Valley from the Parliamentarians. Follow ...

in 1643. During the Middle Ages a persecuted Augustinian monastic order came out of Wales and settled at Hempsted with the blessing of the City authorities. They founded

Llanthony Secunda Llanthony Secunda Priory was a house of Canons regular#Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, Augustinian canons in the parish of Hempsted, Gloucestershire, England, situated about south-west of Gloucester Castle in the City of Gloucester. It was fo ...

Priory and Hempsted became an estate of the priory. The church was extended with a new vestry and a west gallery was added as well as new pews and re-roofing to the design of G.V.Maddox of

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

in 1839. Maddox died at the rectory in Hempsted on 27 February 1864. On 1 April 1966 the parish was abolished to become part of Gloucester, except small parts of the former parish which went instead to neighbouring

Highnam Highnam is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of the city of Gloucester. It is three miles northwest of the city on the A40, on the way to Ross, west of Alney Island and Over Bridge. It is connected by Segregated Bicycle Paths via Ov ...

and

Minsterworth Minsterworth is a village in Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the border of the City of Gloucester, on the north bank of the River Severn (effectively on the western side of the river) and on the A48 road between Gloucester and Chepstow. ...

Transport

Some areas of the village are connected to Gloucester and Alney Island, as well as

Quedgeley Quedgeley is a town and civil parish in the city of Gloucester district in Gloucestershire, England. A thin strip of land between the Severn and the Gloucester Ship Canal occupies the west, and the south-eastern part of the town is Kingsway Vil ...

by Segregated Bicycle Path.

Sport

From 1986 until 2007, Hempsted was home to

Gloucester City A.F.C. Gloucester City Association Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Hempsted, Gloucester, England. The club is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County Football Association and, as of the 2024-25 season, plays in t ...

at their Meadow Park Ground. The club were forced to leave by the

2007 United Kingdom floods A series of large floods occurred in parts of the United Kingdom during the summer of 2007. The worst of the flooding occurred across parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland on 14 June; East Riding of Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and English Midlan ...

before a return home in 2020 to a new Meadow Park stadium. Gordon League Rugby Club bought an area of land in 1932 and have been based in Hempsted since then. Gloucester Rowing Club is also based in Hempsted, on the

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal (also known as the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal) is a ship canal in the west of England, between Gloucester and Sharpness, completed in 1827. For much of its length the canal runs close to the tidal River S ...

References

Areas of Gloucester Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub

History

Transport

Sport

See also

References