Rodborough

File:Rodborough fort.jpg

Built on a hill, Rodborough village is near Rodborough Common, a public recreation area popular with walkers. Most of the common land was donated to the National Trust in 1937 by Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher (1878–1950), a naval officer and entomologist.{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=Rodborough Common |url=http://www.stroud-history.org.uk/readarticle.php?article_id=164 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828075935/http://www.stroud-history.org.uk/articles.php?article_id=164 |archive-date=28 August 2020 |access-date=30 December 2007 |website=Stroud History}} On the common is Rodborough Fort, a folly built in 1761 that is now a private house.{{cite web |title=History of Rodborough Fort |url=https://rodboroughfort.co.uk/?page_id=17 |publisher=Rodborough Fort |accessdate=28 August 2020}}

Rodborough Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/sssi/sssi_details.cfm?sssi_id=1002627 Natural England SSSI information on the citation, map and units of assessment]

The parish has two primary schools,{{cite web |title=Rodborough Community Primary School |url=https://www.rodborough-primary.com/ |publisher=Rodborough Community Primary School |accessdate=28 August 2020 |archive-date=6 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806000136/http://www.rodborough-primary.com/ |url-status=live }} several public houses, a large hotel called The Bear of Rodborough Hotel{{cite web |title=The Bear of Rodborough |url=https://www.cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-bear-of-rodborough/ |publisher=Cotswold Inns |accessdate=28 August 2020 |archive-date=5 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705053552/https://www.cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-bear-of-rodborough/ |url-status=live }} and a community hall.{{cite web |title=Community Hall and Pitch – Bookings |url=https://rodborough.gov.uk/community-hall-bookings/ |publisher=Rodborough Parish Council |accessdate=28 August 2020 |archive-date=28 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828075937/https://rodborough.gov.uk/community-hall-bookings/ |url-status=live }} It is home to the historic Winstones Ice Cream Factory.{{cite web |title=Winstones Cotswold Ice Cream |url=https://www.winstonesicecream.co.uk/ |publisher=Winstones Cotswold Ice Cream |accessdate=28 August 2020 |archive-date=9 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109175924/http://www.winstonesicecream.co.uk/ |url-status=live }} It has a large and active Christian community who attend the Church of England parish church of St. Mary Magdalene or Rodborough Tabernacle United Reformed Church, and its various clubs and societies include a football club, a Scout group and a mother and toddler network.

The local newspaper is the Stroud News & Journal and the parish council also produces a quarterly newsletter called The Commoner.{{cite web |title=The Commoner |url=https://rodborough.gov.uk/the-commoner/ |publisher=Rodborough Parish Council |accessdate=28 August 2020 |archive-date=28 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828075938/https://rodborough.gov.uk/the-commoner/ |url-status=live }}

Rodborough is served by Rodborough Parish Council, Stroud District Council and Gloucestershire County Council. Until 1974 much of the parish was part of the Stroud Urban District Council and today it forms part of the Stroud urban area, along with Stroud and Cainscross.

An electoral ward in the same name exists. All of this ward is within the civil parish and a reduced population therefore applies: at the 2011 Census it was 4,543.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/rodborough-e05004396#sthash.9UmhuKJJ.dpbs|title=Ward population 2011|accessdate=30 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402124308/http://www.ukcensusdata.com/rodborough-e05004396#sthash.9UmhuKJJ.dpbs|url-status=live}}

Sir John Dean Paul, 1st Baronet (1775–1852), of Rodborough, was a landowner, banker, and painter. [https://dvpp.uvic.ca/prs_1486.html Paul, John Dean (1775-1852), First Baronet of Rodborough (M)], University of Victoria, accessed 25 July 2021

The Gothic Revival architect Benjamin Bucknall was born in Rodborough in 1833. He designed the uncompleted Woodchester Mansion and a number of houses and Roman Catholic churches and convents, particularly in Gloucestershire and South Wales. In later life he worked in Algiers.{{cite web |title=The architects |url=https://www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/history/architects/ |publisher=Woodchester Mansion |accessdate=28 August 2020 |archive-date=28 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828075959/https://www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/history/architects/ |url-status=live }} The Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who wrote The Railway Series of children's books that inspired the TV series Thomas & Friends, moved to 30 Rodborough Avenue in 1965 and lived there until his death on 21 March 1997.{{cite web |title=Rev. Awdry |url=http://www.rodboroughparishchurch.org.uk/history/rev-awdry/ |publisher=Rodborough Parish Church |accessdate=1 January 2019 |archive-date=17 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217135103/http://www.rodboroughparishchurch.org.uk/history/rev-awdry/ |url-status=live }}

{{reflist}}

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• [http://www.rodborough.gov.uk/ Rodborough Parish Council]
• [https://stroudvoices.co.uk/#rodborough Stroud Voices mid 20th century oral history from Rodborough residents]
• [http://www.cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/property/the_bear_of_rodborough?/bear Bear of Rodborough Hotel]
• [http://www.rodboroughfort.co.uk/ Historic photos of Rodborough Fort]
• [http://www.theoldendowedschool.org.uk/ The Old Endowed School in Rodborough]
• [https://stiles.mister.red/#15/51.7286/-2.2090 map of Stone Stiles (centred on Rodborough)]

Category:Stroud District

Category:Civil parishes in Gloucestershire

Category:Folly castles in England