Cam (St. George)

CAM (St. George), a parish, in the union of Dursley, Upper division of the hundred of Berkeley, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 1 mile (N.) from Dursley; containing 1851 inhabitants. This place is distinguished as the scene of a battle fought between the Saxons and the Danes, in the reign of Edward the Elder. The parish takes its name from a rivulet that divides it into Upper and Lower, and falls into the Severn at Frampton: it comprises 2531a. 1r. 26p., of which 2025 acres are pasture, 263 arable, and 242 common land; the soil is in general a strong clay. There are several quarries of white and of brown freestone, which, when kept dry, is of good quality for building; and facility of communication is afforded by the Gloucester and Bristol railway, which crosses the lower part of the parish. A considerable portion of the land lies low, but the meadows afford excellent pasture, and the district is noted for the superiority of its cheese. The majority of the inhabitants are employed in the finer branches of the clothing-trade, and the weavers of the place are among the best workmen of this part of the kingdom. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4.; net income, £150; patron and impropriator, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The great tithes have been commuted for £500, and the bishop's glebe consists of 23a. 2r. The church, which has been improved and newly pewed at a considerable expense, is an ancient structure in the later English style: in the porch was a figure of the patron saint carved in wood, which, in the reign of Edward VI., was taken down and removed to Colnbrook, from which circumstance the George inn in that town received its name. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. In 1730, Mrs. Frances Hopton bequeathed an estate for a school, now producing nearly £200 per annum.