King's Stanley is a

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 ...

and 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 ...

, England, to the south of Stonehouse and southwest of the town of

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...

Geography

The village is part of what is known locally as 'The Stanleys', along with its western neighbours

Leonard Stanley Leonard Stanley, or Stanley St. Leonard, is a village and parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is 4 miles (5.5 km) southwest of the town of Stroud. Situated beneath the Cotswold escarpment overlooking the Severn Vale, the surrounding ...

and Stanley Downton. The parish includes the village of Middleyard and the smaller settlements of Selsley West and Selsley, all three lying east of King's Stanley along the minor road towards Stroud. The settlements are on the south side of the valley of the River Frome. In the south of the parish the land rises steeply, and the high plateau south of Selsley is known as Selsley Common.

History

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, an estate called ''Stantone'' is recorded as held by Turstin FitzRolf. The name "Stanley" derives from the Saxon words for "stone" and "clearing", with the likely

etymological Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

source of the name being the use of stone within construction in the village. The prefix "King's" was added to the name by the year 1236, due to the prior ownership of the locale by the crown in the period 1160-1188, and to distinguish from the neighbouring

. The Stanley Mills woollen mill in the north of the parish, on the Frome opposite Ryeford, was built in the early 19th century. Its principal building is

Grade I 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, Hi ...

Amenities

Marling Close, which contains the local playing fields on which the cricket and football teams play, was donated to the village by local magnates The Marlings who also helped found Marling School, and is now in the care of the Marling Trust. The village is home to the oldest

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church in Gloucestershire that started meeting in 1640. The 12th-century parish church of St George at King's Stanley is a

building. The 19th-century All Saints Church at Selsley has stained glass by Morris & Co. and is also Grade I listed. King's Stanley is home to a C of E Primary School, established by amalgamating the Infant and Junior Schools on the site of the old Junior School. The Primary School was inspected by Ofsted in October 2009, and judged to be "Outstanding". In 2014 it was rated "Good".

Notable people

* Anthony Keck, 18th-century architect who had his workshops at King's Stanley throughout his life and is buried in St. George's in the village. * Sir Charles Murray Marling (1862–1933), diplomat and ambassador, was born at King's Stanley. * Damien Kay, lead singer of The Outcast Band.

References

External links

Parish council websiteBritish History Online
- King's Stanley entry.
Stroud Voices mid 20C oral history from local residents
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Stroud District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire