Owlpen, Gloucestershire
Historical Description
Owlpen or Oldpen, a parish in Gloucestershire, under the Cotswolds, 3 miles E of Dursley, and 3½ S of Frocester station on the Bristol and Birmingham section of the M.R. Post town, Dursley; money order and telegraph office, Uley. Acreage, 811; population, 108. The property belonged anciently to the Earls of Berkeley; was given by one of them to the Owlpen s; passed by marriage first to the Daunts, next to the Stoughtons, and remains in the possession of the Stoughton family. Owlpen Park is the chief residence. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the rectory of Uley, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. The church was rebuilt in 1828, and restored in 1875, and is in the Early English style. In 1894 some fine glass was introduced into the nave. The apse was beautifully decorated in costly mosaic and an organ erected.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Gloucestershire | |
| Hundred | Berkeley | |
| Poor Law union | Dursley |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Owlpen 1687-1837, Gloucestershire is available to browse online.
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Owlpen 1837-1897, Gloucestershire is available to browse online.
The register dates from the year 1668.
The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.
Churches
Church of England
The Holy Cross (parish church)
The church of the Holy Cross, rebuilt in 1828, is an edifice of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing one bell: a reredos of alabaster was presented to the church in 1887 as a memorial to Thomas Anthony Stoughton esq. by his widow, and the walls of the chancel were at the same time inlaid with mosaic: there are memorial windows to Sir John Russell Reynolds M.D., F.R.S. d. 1896, and to Col Harrison Walke John Trent-Stoughton, d. 1899: the chancel and vestry were added in 1875, and the church restored at a cost of £1,000, under the direction of Mr J. P. St. Aubyn, architect: there are 180 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 Owlpen from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Owlpen 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.