Cranham, Gloucestershire
Historical Description
Cranham, a parish in Gloucestershire, on the Cotswolds, 2½ miles NE of Pamswick, 6 S of Gloucester, and 6 NNE of Stroud. It has a post office under Stroud; money order and telegraph office, Painswick. Acreage, 1914; population, 324. The manufacture of flower pots is carried on. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. The church was restored in 1866, and has a good peal of six bells.
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 | Cranham St. James | |
| Hundred | Rapsgate | |
| Poor Law union | Stroud |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1666.
The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.
Churches
Church of England
St. James the Great (parish church)
The church of St. James the Great, restored in 1866, was entirely rebuilt in 1894-5, with the exception of the tower and south aisle, which, together with the chancel, was lengthened 3 feet, and a north aisle and vestry added; a fine new oak roof was erected over the nave, the church reseated throughout with oak benches and the ancient oak screen repaired: the church is now in mixed styles, and consists of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, porch, vestry and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells and a clock, placed in 1897 in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of H.M. Queen Victoria. The cost, amounting to about £3,000, was chiefly borne by T. Dyer Edwardes esq. of Prinknash Park: the stained east window was erected by W. S. Hall esq. to the memory of his father: Mr. Hall also presented an organ, at a cost of £300: there are 120 sittings.
Congregational
Congregational Chapel
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 Cranham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cranham (St. James))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Cranham 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.