Cowley, Gloucestershire
Historical Description
Cowley, a village and a parish in Gloucestershire, on Ermine Street, under the Cotswolds, 3¼ miles S of Charlton Kings station on the G.W.R., and 5¼ S by E of Cheltenham, with a post office under Cheltenham; money order office, Charlton Kings; telegraph office, Birdlip. Acreage, 1898; population, 270. Cowley Manor House, the seat of the lord of the manor, is a handsome mansion, situated in extensive grounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; gross value, £287 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is Early English, and was restored in 1872.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Gloucestershire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Cowley St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Rapsgate | |
| Poor Law union | Cheltenham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1676.
The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is an edifice of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells: in the chancel, within an arch in the north wall, is a tomb with the recumbent effigy of a male figure with a lion couchant at his feet; the inscription is entirely lost: on the north side of the chancel arch are spiral stairs, formerly leading to the rood loft; the interior walls of the chancel exhibit paintings, executed when the church was restored in 1872: there are 100 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Cowley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cowley (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Cowley are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Gloucestershire online:
- Gloucester Citizen
- Gloucester Journal
- Gloucestershire Chronicle
- Gloucestershire Echo
- Cheltenham Chronicle
- Cheltenham Looker-On
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of the county of Gloucester, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.