Lechlade

"LECHLADE, (or Leachlade), a parish, post and market town, in the hundred of Brightwells-Barrow, county Gloucester, 12 miles from the Farringdon Road railway station, and 22 S.E. of Cheltenham. It is situated on the Thames and Severn canal, and at the confluence of the rivers Leach and Thames, which latter here becomes navigable. It contains the hamlet of Lemhill Farm, and was held at the time of the Domesday Survey by Henry de Ferrars, whose wife, Isabel, founded a priory here for Black Canons. It subsequently passed to the Mortimers, Richard Earl of Cornwall, the Talbots, Despencers, Queen Catherine of Arragon, &c., and came through the Wheates to G. Milward, Esq., of Lechlade House, the present proprietor.

The town stands on the margin of the Thames, and on the road from Cirencester to London, near St. John's Bridge. It consists principally of two long and wide streets crossing at right angles, and contains a savings-bank. It formerly had a brisk carrying trade on the Thames, but this has recently been diverted into other channels. The inhabitants are now principally engaged in agriculture and in dairy farming. The pastures in the vicinity are luxuriantly rich. There is a mineral spring. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £71.0.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £597, in the patronage of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was built about the middle of the 15th century. It has a spired tower remarkable for its symmetrical beauty, containing five bells. The interior of the church, which was entirely restored in 1829, contains a stone pulpit and two brasses, one bearing date 1440. The parochial charities produce about £93 16s. 7d. There is a National school. The Independents and Baptists have each a place of worship.

A court-leet is held once in three years, when a constable and tithing men are appointed by George Milward, Esq., the lord of the manor. In a meadow near St. John's Bridge, which had formerly a chapel or hospital attached, were discovered, towards the end of the last century, the remains of a Roman bath, consisting of brick pillars and a mosaic pavement. Thomas Coxeter, the antiquary, was born here in 1689. Market day is Friday. A fair is held on the 9th September for cattle and toys."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]