Stroud

Stroud was named La Strode in a document of 1221, though most early records use the spelling Stroud. The Old English name Strōd refers to a "marshy land overgrown with brushwood". Although the name is now pronounced to rhyme with "proud", its original pronunciation survives in the Kent town of Strood, which has the same etymology.{{cite book|last = Room|first = Adrian|year = 1988|title = Dictionary of Place Names|isbn = 978-0-747501-70-1|publisher = Bloomsbury}}

Stroud is known for its involvement in the Industrial Revolution.{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo970617/debtext/70617-21.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915070613/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo970617/debtext/70617-21.htm |archive-date=15 September 2017 |title=Hansard 17 June 1997 : Column 185 |access-date=3 November 2023}} It was a cloth town: woollen mills were powered by the small rivers which flow through the five valleys, and supplied from Cotswold sheep which grazed on the hills above. Particularly noteworthy was the production of military uniforms in the colour Stroudwater Scarlet.{{cite web|url=http://www.stroud.gov.uk/info/ihca/4.pdf |title=History of the Industrial Stroud Valleys |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927190939/http://www.stroud.gov.uk/info/ihca/4.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2012 }}[http://www.molli.org.uk/wrapping_the_globe/sw_wool.htm British South West wool industries and manufactured tradecloths] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005230236/http://www.molli.org.uk/wrapping_the_globe/sw_wool.htm |date=5 October 2011 }} Wrapping The Globe Stroud became known for its production of broadcloth, which was widely known as "Stroud cloth" and traded around the world.{{Cite journal|last=Giles|first=Sue|date=2005|title=Wrapping the World: British South West Trade Cloth Around the World|journal=Journal of Museum Ethnography|volume=17|pages=256–258}} The area became home to a sizable Huguenot community in the 17th century, fleeing from persecution in Catholic France,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b21u8R7I9CYC&dq=Huguenot+stroud&pg=PA109 |title=The Huguenots – Their Settlements, Churches and Industries in England |first=Samuel |last=Smiles |authorlink=Samuel Smiles |year=1867 |publisher=John Murray |location=Abermarle Street, London}} followed by a significant Jewish presence in the 19th century, linked to the tailoring and cloth industries.[http://www.jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/susser/stroudhistory.htm The Jewish Community Of Stroud, 1877–1908] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301122927/http://www.jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/susser/stroudhistory.htm |date=1 March 2007 }} Jewish Community and Records UK, Harold Pollins 1996. Retrieved November 2006. There were two synagogues by 1889, but these became disused by around 1908.{{Cite book |chapter=Stroud: Jews |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol11/p141 |first1=A. P. |last1=Baggs |first2=A. R. J. |last2=Jurica |first3=W. J. |last3=Sheils |title=A History of the County of Gloucester |volume=11, Bisley and Longtree Hundreds |editor-first1=N. M. |editor-last1=Herbert |editor-first2=R. B. |editor-last2=Pugh |location=London |publisher=Victoria County History |date=1976 |page=141 |via=British History Online |access-date=3 November 2023}}

Stroud was an industrial and trading location in the 19th century, and so needed transport links. It first had a canal network in the form of the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames & Severn Canal, both of which survived until the early 20th century. Restoration of these canals as a leisure facility by a partnership of Stroud District Council and the Cotswold Canals Trust is well under way{{cite web|url=http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/history.htm|title=Cotswold Canals Trust|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409015732/http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/history.htm|archive-date=9 April 2010}} with a multimillion-pound Lottery grant. Stroud railway station (on the Gloucester–Swindon Golden Valley Line) was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.{{cite web |title=Brunel |url=http://www.visitthecotswolds.org.uk/things-to-see-and-do/history-of-the-area/history/industrial-heritage/brunel/ |publisher=Stroud District Council |access-date=19 July 2020}}

File:Stroud High Street.jpg

Though there is much evidence of early historic settlement and transport, Stroud parish was originally part of Bisley, and only began to emerge as a distinct unit in the 13th century, taking its name from the marshy ground at the confluence of the Slad Brook and the River Frome called "La Strode", and was first recorded in 1221. The church was built by 1279, and it was assigned parochial rights by the rectors of Bisley in 1304, often cited as the date of Stroud's foundation.{{cite web |title=St Laurence: The Future |url=https://www.stlaurencefuture.org.uk/the-original-church.html |publisher=St Laurence Parish Church, Stroud |access-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111064027/https://www.stlaurencefuture.org.uk/the-original-church.html |archive-date=11 January 2020 |url-status=live }}

Historic buildings and places of interest in the area include the Neolithic long barrows at Uley, Selsley Common and Nympsfield to the west; Roman era remains at Frocester, West Hill near Uley, and Woodchester; the medieval buildings at Beverston Castle; and the outstanding Tudor houses at Newark Park and Owlpen Manor. Woodchester Mansion is a masterpiece of the Gothic Revival by local architect Benjamin Bucknall.{{cite web |title=The Mansion |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1340703 |website=National Heritage List for England |publisher=Historic England |access-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717074551/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1340703 |archive-date=17 July 2020 |url-status=live }}

From 1837 to 1841, Stroud's MP was Lord John Russell of the Whig party, who later became prime minister. Russell was an important politician: he was responsible for passing Acts of Parliament such as the Public Health Act 1848, but he is mainly remembered as one of the chief architects of the Reform Act 1867.{{cite web |title=Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/lord-john-russell-1st-earl-russell |website=Past Prime Ministers |publisher=Gov.uk |access-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531035402/https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/lord-john-russell-1st-earl-russell |archive-date=31 May 2020 |url-status=live }} This Act, also known as the Second Reform Act, gave the vote to every urban male householder, not just those of considerable means. This increased the electorate by 1.5 million voters. Lord John Russell is remembered in the town in the names of two streets, John Street and Russell Street, as well as the Lord John public house. In 1835 the local press referred to Lord John Russell's opportunism in choosing Stroud as his new constituency as 'trying his hand in the vales of Gotham', a reference to a 1798 poem mocking Stroud residents for opening a church organ "before it could speak".{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002221/18830915/040/0004 |title="Gotham" |newspaper=Stroud Journal |date=15 September 1883 |access-date=10 January 2022 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}} "Gotham" was a popular local town nickname and "house" name at Eastcombe Manor school in the 1940s and 1950s.

The long barrow at Randwick measures about {{convert|56|by|26|m}}, and stands {{convert|4|m}} high at the north-east end. Excavations in 1883 found an opening to the north-east, from which there was access to a simple square chamber of one cell containing disarticulated human remains. Traces of the chamber can still be seen, although it is not accessible. Additional burials were found adjacent to the barrow on the south-west side.{{NHLE |desc=Randwick Hill long barrow, round barrows and dyke |num=1002107 |grade=scheduled |access-date=3 November 2023}}

The Iron Age tribesmen of Gloucestershire made their final stand against the massive Roman invasion on Minchinhampton Common. Survivors eventually fled to the north. Some earthworks, known as 'the Bulwarks', and the Longstone of Minchinhampton are evidence of these ancient fortifications.{{cite web |title=Minchinhampton • Ancient and Historical Monuments in the County of Gloucester Iron Age and Romano-British Monuments in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/ancient-glos/pp81-84|pages=81–84 |website=British History Online |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London |access-date=19 July 2020}}

Woodchester Roman Villa is one of many Roman villas discovered in Gloucestershire. It was occupied between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. There is now nothing visible of the villa above ground and the site is occupied by a churchyard. The villa's most famous feature is the Orpheus mosaic, the second largest of its kind in Europe and one of the most intricate. It dates to {{circa|325 CE}} and was re-discovered by Gloucestershire-born antiquarian Samuel Lysons in 1793. It has been uncovered seven times since 1880, the last time in 1973, but there are no plans to reveal it again. It depicts Orpheus charming all forms of life with his lyre and has been praised for its accuracy and beauty.{{NHLE |num=1004839 |desc=Woodchester Roman villa |grade=scheduled |fewer-links=yes |access-date=3 November 2023}}{{cite web |title=Woodchester Villa |url=https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=115125 |website=Pastscape |publisher=Historic England |access-date=19 July 2020}}

In 1979, several portions of Roman tessellated pavement, Roman tiles, coins, pottery, etc. were discovered in the grounds of the house at Brown's Hill, one mile north of Stroud, suggesting the existence of a Roman villa.

Remains of another Roman villa have been found in the parish of Painswick, on a farm called Highfield, about {{convert|1/2|mi|m|abbr=off}} northwest of the town. Walls were found, crossing one another at right angles; also many flue tiles, and some Roman coins.{{Cite book |chapter=Painswick: Introduction |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol11/pp56-65 |first1=A. P. |last1=Baggs |first2=A. R. J. |last2=Jurica |first3=W. J. |last3=Sheils |title=A History of the County of Gloucester |volume=11, Bisley and Longtree Hundreds |editor-first1=N. M. |editor-last1=Herbert |editor-first2=R. B. |editor-last2=Pugh |location=London |publisher=Victoria County History |date=1976 |pages=56–65 |via=British History Online |access-date=3 November 2023}} It was opened some years ago in a rough and hurried way, and covered up again. A short account of it appeared in the public press at the time.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

The excavation at a site at Ebley Road in Stonehouse has revealed evidence of some of the earliest Roman activity known in the Stroud Valleys. A large rectangular enclosure dating back to the 1st century AD was found and more than a dozen human skeletons were unearthed at the end of 2010.{{cite news |title=Archaeological dig uncovers Roman activity near Stroud |date=8 March 2011 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-england-gloucestershire-12676843 |publisher=BBC |access-date=19 July 2020}}

At the 2001 UK census, Stroud civil parish had a total population of 12,690.{{cite web

|title = KS01: Usual residential population

|url = http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=794923&c=GL5+1JP&d=16&e=15&g=448964&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779

|publisher = Office for National Statistics

|access-date = 6 October 2010

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110526002537/http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=794923&c=GL5+1JP&d=16&e=15&g=448964&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779

|archive-date = 26 May 2011

|df = dmy-all

}}

For every 100 females, there were 96.4 males. Ethnically, the population is predominantly white (98.2%).{{cite web

|title=KS06: Ethnic group

|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8283&More=Y

|publisher=Office for National Statistics

|access-date=6 October 2010

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804211441/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8283&More=Y

|archive-date=4 August 2009

}}

At the 2011 census in the wider borough of Stroud, 107.026 people were white British, 591 Irish, 2.752 white other, 364 Caribbean, 129 African, 429 Asian and 300 other Asian, all from mixed multiple ethnic groups. Of these, 177 were Indian, 28 Pakistani, 53 Bangladeshi, and 193 Chinese, with 33 being of Arab origin. 20.6% of the population were under the age of 16 and 8.3% were aged 75 and over; the mean age of the people of the urban area was 39.5. 92.6% of residents described their health as "fair" or better, similar to the average of 92.8% for the wider district.{{cite web

| title = KS08: Health and provision of unpaid care

| url = http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8289&More=Y

| publisher = Office for National Statistics

| access-date = 6 October 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629183322/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8289&More=Y

| archive-date = 29 June 2011

| url-status = live

}}{{cite web

| title = Neighbourhood statistics: Stroud Local Authority

| url = http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=276974&c=stroud&d=13&e=16&g=448817&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1286321954895&enc=1

| publisher = Office for National Statistics

| access-date = 6 October 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110612141341/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=276974&c=stroud&d=13&e=16&g=448817&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1286321954895&enc=1

| archive-date = 12 June 2011

| url-status = live

}}

The average household size was 2.4.{{cite web

| title = KS16: Household spaces and accommodation type

| url = http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8341&More=Y

| publisher = Office for National Statistics

| access-date = 6 October 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629183331/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8341&More=Y

| archive-date = 29 June 2011

| url-status = live

}}

Of those aged 16–74, 24.5% had no academic qualifications,{{cite web

|title=KS13: Qualifications and students

|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8326&More=Y

|publisher=Office for National Statistics

|access-date=6 October 2010

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804232415/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8326&More=Y

|archive-date=4 August 2009

}}

lower than the national average of 28.9%. Of those aged 16–74, 2.6% were unemployed and 28.4% were economically inactive.{{cite web

| title = KS09a: Economic activity

| url = http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8292&More=Y

| publisher = Office for National Statistics

| access-date = 6 October 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090805122910/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8292&More=Y

| archive-date = 5 August 2009

| url-status = live

}} At the 2011 census, 107,026 people were described as white British, plus 591 being from the Irish Republic. 2,752 were white other, 364 Caribbean, 129 African, 429 Asian and 300 other Asian, all from mixed multiple ethnic groups. Of these, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh accounted for 258 people. Chinese and Arab people accounted for 226 people.

There are two definitions for the town of Stroud.{{cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/search.html?q=Stroud+%22maps%22+United+Kingdom&cntry=United+Kingdom|title=City Population - Site Search|website=citypopulation.de|access-date=31 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331173358/https://www.citypopulation.de/search.html?q=Stroud+%22maps%22+United+Kingdom&cntry=United+Kingdom|archive-date=31 March 2018|url-status=live}} The narrowest definition is the parish, which had a population of 13,259 in 2011 and only includes the town centre and inner suburban areas.{{cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/php/uk-parishes-southwestengland.php?adm2id=E04004380|title=Stroud (Parish, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location|website=citypopulation.de|access-date=31 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331173726/https://www.citypopulation.de/php/uk-parishes-southwestengland.php?adm2id=E04004380|archive-date=31 March 2018|url-status=live}} The urban subdivision had a population of 32,670 and includes many suburbs often considered part of the town.{{cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/php/uk-england-southwestengland.php?cityid=E35001346|title=UNITED KINGDOM: South West England: Stroud|website=citypopulation.de|access-date=31 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331173440/https://www.citypopulation.de/php/uk-england-southwestengland.php?cityid=E35001346|archive-date=31 March 2018|url-status=live}} The urban area, which includes Stonehouse that has a largely separate identity, and other surrounding villages had a population of 60,155.{{cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/UK-EnglandUA.html?cityid=16528|title=United Kingdom: Urban Areas in England – Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information|website=citypopulation.de|access-date=31 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331173340/https://www.citypopulation.de/UK-EnglandUA.html?cityid=16528|archive-date=31 March 2018|url-status=live}} Despite its extensive urban area, Stroud is surrounded by the greenbelt of the Cotswolds to the north, south and east.

Stroud has a significant artistic community that dates back to the early 20th century. Jasper Conran called Stroud "the Covent Garden of the Cotswolds";{{cite web|url=http://www.stroudtown.com/|title=Stroud Town Centre|access-date=8 March 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313025623/http://stroudtown.com/|archive-date=13 March 2016|url-status=live}} the Daily Telegraph has referred to it as "the artistic equivalent of bookish Hay-on-Wye";[https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2008/04/11/made_in_england_introduction_feature.shtml Made in Gloucestershire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018073250/http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2008/04/11/made_in_england_introduction_feature.shtml |date=18 October 2015 }} BBC Gloucestershire while the London Evening Standard likened the town to "Notting Hill with wellies".{{cite news |last1=Lillywhite |first1=Maisie |title=This is where Gloucestershire's Earth Strikes will take place |url=https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/meet-young-people-business-owners-3327694 |access-date=19 July 2020 |work=Gloucestershire Live |date=19 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205214612/https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/meet-young-people-business-owners-3327694 |archive-date=5 December 2019 |url-status=live }} The town has a large and diverse number of creative artists and musicians.{{cite web |title=Our Leading Artists |url=http://www.visitthecotswolds.org.uk/things-to-see-and-do/history-of-the-area/the-arts/lynn-chadwick/our-leading-artists/ |website=Discover Stroud District |publisher=Visit Cotswolds |access-date=19 July 2020}}

File:Kite aerial photo of Stroud Leisure Centre.JPG

File:Museum in the Park, Stroud.jpg

The town was one of the birthplaces of the organic food movement and was home to Britain's first fully organic café.{{cite web |url=http://www.wildinthecotswolds.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=357&Itemid=80 |title=Stroud |website=Wild in the Cotswolds |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213052941/http://www.wildinthecotswolds.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=357&Itemid=80 |archive-date=13 February 2009}} The Biodynamic Agricultural Association is based in the town.{{cite web |url=http://www.biodynamic.org.uk/ |title=Home page |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081102182513/http://www.biodynamic.org.uk/ |archive-date=2 November 2008 |publisher=Biodynamic Agricultural Association}}

For many years Stroud has hosted a fringe festival on the second weekend in September. A new committee took over in early 2015 and now holds the festival on August Bank Holiday each year. The festival has been expanded to cover art and literature, as well as a diverse range of unsigned bands who lack a contract with a record label.{{clarify|date=June 2021}} With a number of outdoor stages, and the majority of the venues in town taking part, over 400 performers can be seen free of charge over the course of the weekend. The town also hosts an annual series of lectures and exhibitions on contemporary textiles and textile culture called SELECT, run by Stroud International Textiles,{{cite web |url=http://www.sitselect.org/ |title=SITSelect |access-date=28 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001085557/http://www.sitselect.org/ |archive-date=1 October 2017 |url-status=live }} an event that exhibits international textiles.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13273430 |title=International textile festival gives English town a boost |date=5 May 2011 |work=BBC News |access-date=28 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126202918/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13273430 |archive-date=26 November 2017 |url-status=live }}

The Stroudwater Textile Trust was founded in 1999 to link the past and present of textiles in the Five Valleys{{cite web |url=http://stroud-textile.org.uk/about-us/ |title=About Us |publisher=Stroudwater Textile Trust |date=2013 |access-date=28 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928193424/http://stroud-textile.org.uk/about-us/ |archive-date=28 September 2017 |url-status=live }} and to manage the opening of several mills in which historic textile machinery, including a working waterwheel, has been restored and is demonstrated. The Trust has produced a DVD, Rivers of Cloth, using archive film and interviews which was due to be released in early 2011 and a photographic survey of surviving woollen mills was undertaken for a book, Wool and Water, published in 2012.{{cite book |first=Jennifer |last=Tann |title=Wool & Water: The Gloucestershire Woollen Industry And Its Mills |publisher=The History Press |date=2012 |isbn=978-0752462158 }}

File:Subrooms.jpg ]]

The Subscription Rooms at the centre of the town centre provide a venue for a variety of entertainment.{{cite web|url=http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/whats-on/|title=Entertainment and events in Stroud |website=subscriptionrooms.org.uk|access-date=3 November 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324184953/http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/whats-on/ |archive-date=24 March 2018|url-status=live}} There is also a small theatre, the Cotswold Playhouse, which is home to the amateur Cotswold Players; it occasionally hosts visiting professional companies.{{cite web |url=http://www.cotswoldplayhouse.co.uk |title=Stroud District (Cowle) Museum |publisher=Stroud District Council |access-date=28 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929093053/https://www.cotswoldplayhouse.co.uk/ |archive-date=29 September 2017 |url-status=live }}

On the fringes of the town are Stratford Park, originally the park of a small local weaver, now home to a leisure centre with an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool, and the Museum in the Park.{{cite web |url=https://www.museuminthepark.org.uk |title=Museum in the Park |publisher=Stroud District (Cowle) Museum |access-date=10 August 2023}} Housed in a Grade II listed 17th-century wool merchant's house, the museum collection tells the story of the Stroud District's history. It has over 4,000 objects on display, including dinosaur bones, historical paintings and one of the world's first lawnmowers. In addition to the main displays there is a modern extension which includes a purpose-built art gallery showing a varied programme of exhibitions. Behind this is a contemporary walled garden.

The Redlers industrial estate is the site of the original Dudbridge Mills, beside the River Frome. From the mid-18th century onwards it housed the three mills of Daniel Chance: one corn, one gig and a dyehouse with eight drying racks. It was acquired in 1794 by John Apperley, whose family used the site for wool- and cloth-making for the next 140 years. In 1801 an industrial accident killed a young worker.

Stroud citizens have a history of protest going back to the Stroudwater Riots of 1825.{{cite book |title=Stroudwater Riots of 1825 |first1=John |last1=Loosley |first2=Ian |last2=Mackintosh |others=Illustrated by Jane Ford |publisher=Stroud Museum Association |date= 1993 |isbn=0-9521149-0-9}}{{cite book |title=The Cloth Industry in the West of England from 1640 to 1880

|authorlink=Julia de Lacy Mann |first=Julia de Lacy |last=Mann |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=1971 |isbn=978-0-86299-447-1}} In the late 1970s Stroud Campaign Against The Ringroad prevented Gloucestershire County Council's attempt to introduce new traffic plans. A few years later Stroud District Council tried to demolish 18th-century buildings in the town centre. Stroud High Street Action Group, with some rooftop protests and a high court judgement, demonstrated against this. The restored buildings are now a feature of the High Street. After a short occupation a compromise was reached in the demolition of buildings in Cornhill with many being saved, including one identified as a medieval house. This campaign led to the formation of the Stroud Preservation Trust which has been instrumental in saving many of the town's oldest buildings such as Withey's house, the Brunel Goods Shed and the Hill Paul building.{{cite book| title=Towns and villages of England – Stroud |first=Peter |last=Walmsley |publisher=Alan Sutton |date=1994 |isbn=0-7509-0589-1}}

In 1989 Stroud District Council tried to fell at midnight thirteen trees in Stratford Park near the road, which attracted national and international attention. Local Save The Trees campaigners had got in position first and prevented the felling, which was intended to allow road-widening. Campaigners occupied the trees for the next six weeks while, with the help of Friends of the Earth, introducing the County Surveyor to 'traffic calming' which he agreed to adopt instead of changing the road alignment. During the next five years County Surveyors' figures showed a fifty per cent decrease in accidents along this part of Stratford Road. The trees still survive.{{cite book |title=West Country Rebels |first=Nigel |last=Costley |date=2012 |publisher=Breviary Stuff Publications |isbn=978-0-9570005-4-4}}

In 2000 Stroud District Council gave permission for the Victorian landmark Hill Paul building to be demolished. After thwarting demolition, local activists formed a company and sold enough shares at £500 each to take an option on the building, which they passed on to a local developer. The building has now been restored and converted into apartments (see photo on the right).{{cite web|url=http://digitalstroud.com/landmarks.php?pageid=517&topid=6&pid=333|title=Digital Stroud|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401005716/http://digitalstroud.com/landmarks.php?pageid=517&topid=6&pid=333|archive-date=1 April 2012}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dYRr4NZdbAC&q=Hill+Paul+stroud&pg=PA215|title=The Vernacular Architecture and Buildings of Stroud and Chalford |publisher=Trafford Publishing |date=2006 |isbn=9781412099516 |access-date=13 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324120622/https://books.google.com/books?id=3dYRr4NZdbAC&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=Hill+Paul+stroud&source=bl&ots=ZbfbFEsrrv&sig=WTp3ulbKmIrypBVho1wZD9PzcjY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result |archive-date=24 March 2017 |url-status=live |last1=Paterson|first1=Nigel Mccullagh}} The full records of the Hill Paul building campaign are with the Gloucestershire Archivist at D9242/Accession 11679/3.

The Save Stroud Hospitals Taskforce has been campaigning since spring 2006 against a range of cuts to health services in and around Stroud, with thousands of people taking part in street demonstrations. Stroud Maternity Hospital was saved in September 2006.{{cite web |url=http://www.savestroudhospitals.org/ |title=Final decision on Weavers Croft |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305021649/http://www.savestroudhospitals.org/ |archive-date=5 March 2016 |publisher=Save Stroud Hospitals |url-status=usurped |access-date=3 November 2023}}

The Uplands Post Office branch in Stroud was one of 26 in the county to shut as part of a nationwide programme to cut losses.

Following local opposition, the Post Office agreed to talks with civic chiefs to look at how it could reopen. The town council agreed to provide £10,000 of funding for the service in 2008 and up to £25,000 for 2009. In November 2008 it was confirmed that Stroud has become only the second place in Britain to save one of its Post Offices.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7682413.stm |title=Post office saved in town |date=21 October 2008 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=3 November 2023}}

In September 2010 the BNP scrapped plans to move their national media centre to Stroud after protests by local residents.{{cite web|url=http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/8421168.JUST_IN__BNP_scraps_plans_for_media_office_in_Stroud_following_opposition/|title=JUST IN: BNP scraps plans for media office in Stroud following opposition|author=Tamash Lal|work=Stroud News and Journal|access-date=29 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101002001040/http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/8421168.JUST_IN__BNP_scraps_plans_for_media_office_in_Stroud_following_opposition/|archive-date=2 October 2010|url-status=live}}

In February 2012 NHS managers agreed to halt plans for Stroud General Hospital to be run by a social enterprise after local residents mounted a legal challenge in the High Court.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2012/feb/10/plans-halted-nhs-services-social-enterprise|title=Plans to move NHS services to social enterprise halted|work=The Guardian|date=10 February 2012|access-date=11 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111172417/https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2012/feb/10/plans-halted-nhs-services-social-enterprise|archive-date=11 January 2020|url-status=live}}

There is still a small textile industry (the green baize cloth used to cover snooker tables and the cloth covering championship tennis balls is made here), but today the town functions primarily as a centre for light engineering and small-scale manufacturing, and a provider of services for the surrounding villages. Stroud is a Fairtrade Town.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

The Stroud and Swindon Building Society had its headquarters here until it merged with the Coventry Building Society in September 2010. The building is now the headquarters of the renewable energy provider Ecotricity.{{cite web|url=https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/about-ecotricity/our-eco-credentials/ecotricity-offices|title=Ecotricity offices|website=ecotricity.co.uk|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620231909/https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/about-ecotricity/our-eco-credentials/ecotricity-offices|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=live}}

Damien Hirst owns the 'Science' facility in Stroud which produces his art.{{cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-21/damien-hirst-jumping-the-shark|title=Damien Hirst: Jumping the Shark|author=Andrew Rice|work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek|date=21 November 2012|access-date=26 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125042411/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-21/damien-hirst-jumping-the-shark|archive-date=25 November 2012|url-status=dead}}

In September 2009, the Stroud Pound Co-operative launched the Stroud Pound{{cite web|url=http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Gloucestershire-town-gets-currency/article-1333162-detail/article.html|title=Stroud Pound featuring Laurie Lee launches in Gloucestershire-news-This is Gloucestershire|work=Gloucester Citizen|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121193415/http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Gloucestershire-town-gets-currency/article-1333162-detail/article.html|archive-date=21 November 2009}} as an attempt to reinforce the local economy and encourage more local production. The currency's design follows that of the Chiemgauer, in being backed on a one-for-one basis by the national currency, having a charge for redemption which is donated to local charities, and including a system of demurrage to encourage rapid circulation.

File:StroudBread.jpg

File:The old Market House (geograph 3764040).jpg]]

A farmers' market, launched by Jasper Conran and Isabella Blow on 3 July 1999,{{cite web|url=http://www.fresh-n-local.co.uk/about/awards.php |title=Fresh n Local |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402093620/http://www.fresh-n-local.co.uk/about/awards.php |archive-date=2 April 2012 }} takes place every Saturday at the Cornhill market. It was nominated for the national Farmers' Market of the Year in 2001 and won it in 2007 and 2013. It also won the Cotswold Life magazine award for the best farmers' market in Gloucestershire in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010. The market featured in an episode of BBC TV's The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain in September 2009, and won the Best Food Market award at the BBC Food & Farming Awards 2010.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/ffa/2010|title=BBC – Radio 4 – Food & Farming Awards 2010|access-date=25 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401054750/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/ffa/2010//|archive-date=1 April 2017|url-status=live}} It is certified by FARMA.

In addition to the farmers' market there is a smaller market held (Fri & Sat) in The Shambles, an area adjacent to the steep High Street. John Wesley preached from a butcher's block in The Shambles on 26 June 1742.[http://www.glosgen.co.uk/stroud.htm Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. Genealogy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720024759/http://www.glosgen.co.uk/stroud.htm |date=20 July 2011 }} Glosgen The Old Town Hall is one of the oldest existing buildings in Stroud: originally referred to as the market house, it was built in 1596 and is still in occasional use today.Notes and Recollections of Stroud: Paul Hawkins Fisher: {{ISBN|0-904387-06-2}}

File:Stroud Market.jpg

File:Art&Science.jpg

"There was a school at Stroud in 1576 but the schoolmaster, who did not have a licence and failed to teach the catechism, was then dismissed..."[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=19067&strquery=stroud Stroud: Education, A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 11] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213015001/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=19067&strquery=stroud |date=13 February 2009 }}: Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (1976), pp. 141–144.

There are six primary schools in the town:

• Uplands Community Primary School{{cite web|url=http://www.uplandsprimarystroud.co.uk/|title=Uplands Primary School Stroud|website=uplandsprimarystroud.co.uk|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620232009/http://www.uplandsprimarystroud.co.uk/|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=live}}
• Callowell Primary School{{cite web|url=http://www.callowellschool.co.uk/|title=Welcome to Callowell Primary School|website=callowellschool.co.uk|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620203729/http://www.callowellschool.co.uk/|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=live}}
• Gastrells Community Primary School{{cite web|url=http://www.gastrellsprimaryschool.co.uk/|title=Gastrells Primary School – A Flying Start to a Life of Learning|website=gastrellsprimaryschool.co.uk|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521061041/https://gastrellsprimaryschool.co.uk/|archive-date=21 May 2018|url-status=live}}
• Rosary Catholic Primary School{{cite web|url=http://www.rosaryschool.org.uk/|title=Rosary Catholic Primary School - Home|first=Rosary Catholic Primary School|last=website|website=rosaryschool.org.uk|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620231933/http://www.rosaryschool.org.uk/|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=live}}
• Severn View Academy{{cite web|url=http://www.severnviewacademy.org|title=Severn View Primary Academy|website=severnviewacademy.org|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620203734/http://www.severnviewacademy.org/|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=usurped}}
• Stroud Valley Community School{{cite web|url=http://www.stroudvalleyschool.co.uk/|title=Stroud Valley Community School|website=stroudvalleyschool.co.uk|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620203750/http://www.stroudvalleyschool.co.uk/|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=live}}

Schools in surrounding areas include:

• Rodborough Community Primary school
• St Matthew's School (Cainscross){{cite web|url=http://www.st-matthews.gloucs.sch.uk/|title=St Matthew's Church of England Primary School|website=St Matthew's Church of England Primary School|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620233416/http://www.st-matthews.gloucs.sch.uk/|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=live}}
• Cashes Green Primary school (Cainscross)
• Foxmoor Primary School (Cainscross)
• Whiteshill Community Primary school
• Randwick CE Primary school
• Gastrells Community Primary school{{cite web|url=http://www.gastrellsprimaryschool.co.uk|title=Gastrells Primary School – A Flying Start to a Life of Learning|website=gastrellsprimaryschool.co.uk|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521061041/https://gastrellsprimaryschool.co.uk/|archive-date=21 May 2018|url-status=live}}

Further schools include Amberley Parochial School, Nailsworth School and Woodchester School.

There are three secondary schools in Stroud.

Archway School{{cite web|url=http://www.archwayschool.net/|title=Archway School|access-date=28 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325003150/http://www.archwayschool.net/|archive-date=25 March 2012|url-status=live}} is a County Council maintained comprehensive school offering an 11-to-18 education for children in Stroud, Rodborough and Cainscross.

There are also two state-funded selective schools, Marling School and Stroud High School. These former grant-maintained and foundation schools became academies in 2011. Both schools can trace their history back to the founding of Marling School in 1889 and Stroud High School which was founded in 1904 as the Girls' Endowed School. They continued to be grammar schools long after the comprehensive school became the norm in secondary education, and their future was the subject of long-running controversy.[http://www.marling.gloucs.sch.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=112 The History of Marling School] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616050723/http://www.marling.gloucs.sch.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=112 |date=16 June 2010 }} The two schools previously shared a mixed sixth form, called the Downfield Sixth Form, which worked in a three-way consortium with Archway Sixth Form and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.

Other secondary schools include Maidenhill School in Stonehouse, Thomas Keble School in Eastcombe, and the private Wycliffe College in Stonehouse.

File:Kite aerial photo of Thomas Keble School.jpg

File:Kite aerial photo of Marling School.JPG

File:SGS Stroud Campus Aerial Photo.jpg

Tertiary education in the town is provided by South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.

The University of Gloucestershire has campuses a few miles to the north (in Cheltenham and Gloucester) and the Royal Agricultural University west of Cirencester is {{convert|12|mile}} to the east.

There are multiple bus routes around Stroud, and to nearby towns as well as Gloucester, many of which are operated by Stagecoach West.{{Cite web|url=https://www.geopunk.co.uk/timetables/town/stroud|title=Buses in the Stroud Post Town – View Bus Services and Stops}}

The town is also served by Great Western Railway trains from Stroud railway station, with frequent services to

Gloucester, Cheltenham, Swindon, Reading and London Paddington. The railway link was established in 1845. Up to then, Stroud had its own time which was set by a sundial at the top of Gloucester Street. There was also an observatory across the road from the hospital where now is a car park. As Stroud time was roughly 9 minutes behind GMT and people kept missing the train, a railway clock was put up in 1858 at the bottom of High Street. It was later moved across King Street to the top of Gloucester Street. The clock fell into disrepair over the years. It was finally saved by Captain Michael Maltin, who restored the clock in 1984 and found a new home for it in the Stroud library. Stonehouse railway station is on the western edge of the town and in the wider urban area.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

The A46 road links Stroud to Cheltenham in the north and Bath to the south, with the A419

connecting Stroud to Cirencester in one direction and the M5 motorway at Junction 13 in the other.

National Express coaches serve the town on routes 401 (Bristol – London Victoria) and 445 (Hereford – London Victoria). Stroud also lies on the traffic-free section of Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 45.

Stroud was connected to the canal system when the Stroudwater Navigation opened in 1779. It then became part of a through canal route from Bristol to London when the Thames and Severn Canal added a route over the Cotswolds in 1789. The canal closed in 1954 but the Cotswold Canals Trust is leading a project to reopen the entire length of the trans-Cotswold route. A visitor centre and restored lock are located in the town.

Novelists Sue Limb, Jilly Cooper and Katie Fforde, children's authors Jamila Gavin, John Dougherty Cindy Jefferies and Clive Dale, poet Jenny Joseph, and The Guardian{{'}}s food critic Matthew Fort have followed in the footsteps of the Rev. W. Awdry, and W. H. Davies and made the Stroud area their home.

Author Laurie Lee's novel Cider with Rosie is set in the nearby Slad valley, and Booker Prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst is from the town. Poets Dennis Gould, Ted Milton, Michael Horovitz, Frances Horovitz and Adam Horovitz have lived in the area.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Stroud is home to the Bardic Chair of Hawkwood, an annual competition held at Hawkwood College in May to select that year's Bard who then has the responsibility to promote the bardic arts in the Stroud area.{{cite news |last1=Airey |first1=Matty |title=This year's Bardic Chair of Hawkwood to be announced |url=https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/12918396.this-years-bardic-chair-of-hawkwood-to-be-announced/ |access-date=4 May 2021 |work=Stroud News and Journal |date=29 April 2015 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504144501/https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/12918396.this-years-bardic-chair-of-hawkwood-to-be-announced/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=The search is on for the Bard of Hawkwood 2017! |url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/things-to-do/whats-on/the-search-is-on-for-the-bard-of-hawkwood-7208972 |website=Great British Life |date=29 March 2017 |publisher=Cotswold Life |access-date=4 May 2021}} The folk-rock music group The Outcast Band come from Stroud, and also regularly headline the Stroud Fringe Festival.{{cite news |title=Headliners announced for this year's Stroud Fringe |url=https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/leisure/music/10989000.headliners-announced-for-this-years-stroud-fringe/ |access-date=1 February 2024 |work=Stroud News and Journal |date=5 February 2014 |quote=Based in Stroud, The Outcast Band are festival veterans, and have headlined the Fringe before. In 2010, their show brought one of the biggest Friday night crowds we have ever seen, and we are delighted they are bringing their fast-paced, foot-stomping folk-punk-rock back to the Bank Gardens on the Saturday of this year's Fringe. |archive-date=1 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201211058/https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/leisure/music/10989000.headliners-announced-for-this-years-stroud-fringe/ |url-status=live }}

Stroud Rugby Club, founded in 1873, plays in the Western Counties North league. Their home ground is Fromehall Park, near the town centre.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Stroud Cricket Club is over 150 years old and plays its home games at Farmhill. The club has three senior teams, with the first eleven playing its cricket in the South West Premier league.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Since 1982 Stroud Athletic Club has organised an annual half marathon which takes place in October. Nearly 2,500 runners, from all over the country, entered in 2007. Members of the club include the UK number one Olympic Marathon runner Dan Robinson.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Stroud Swimming Club was officially formed in 1978, but can trace its origins back to 1905 when it was known as Stroud Swimming and Water Polo Club. In 2006 and 2007 club members made up two-thirds of the County team that finished in silver and bronze places respectively in the National Open Water Championships.{{cite web |title=Severnside Tritons Swimming Club |url=https://uk.teamunify.com/team/recstsc/page/about/club-history |publisher=Swin England |access-date=19 July 2020}}

Stroud Hockey Club was founded in 1928 and has produced some top-class hockey players including Simon Mason. The club has three men's teams, three women's teams and a boys Badgers and a girls Vixens team, and under 8s, 10s and 12s for rising club stars. The club's home ground is at Stratford Park Leisure Centre, with training on Tuesday evenings during the season.

Forest Green Rovers is the nearest professional football club and play in {{English football updater|ForestGR}}. Their home ground is in Nailsworth, around 3.5 miles away. A lot of supporters live and come from Stroud and it is owned by Dale Vince who also owns Ecotricity.{{Cite news|last=correspondent|first=Jillian Ambrose Energy|date=30 October 2020|title=Ecotricity founder to grow diamonds 'made entirely from the sky'|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/30/ecotricity-founder-to-grow-diamonds-made-entirely-from-the-sky|access-date=23 November 2020|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=23 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123132345/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/30/ecotricity-founder-to-grow-diamonds-made-entirely-from-the-sky|url-status=live}}

The Stroud and District Football League is a local football competition for clubs in the area. The league was established in 1902 and is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA. It has a total of six divisions with the highest, Division One, sitting at level 14 of the English football league system. It is a feeder to the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League (GNSL) along with The North Gloucestershire League and The Cheltenham League.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Labour's Dr Simon Opher unseated Conservative Siobhan Baillie in the 2024 general election. Siobhan Baillie{{Cite web|url=https://www.stroud.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/elections/election-results/election-results-2019|title=General ElectionResult: Siobhan Kathleen Baillie|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619165712/https://www.stroud.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/elections/election-results/election-results-2019|archive-date=19 June 2019|url-status=live}} was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stroud, having beaten ex-Labour MP, David Drew, at the 2019 general election.{{cite news |title=Stroud |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000980 |publisher=BBC |access-date=13 December 2019 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806023758/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000980 |archive-date=6 August 2019 |url-status=live }} Drew had previously represented the constituency from 1997 until 2010, when Conservative Neil Carmichael was elected, and from 2017 to 2019.

In March 2008, a community radio station, Stroud FM, was launched, broadcasting 24 hours a day on 107.9FM. The station, staffed by volunteers and funded by donations, focussed on local news and music, as well as national and international music, but closed in February 2014 due to a lack of funds. Both BBC Radio Gloucestershire and Heart West have dedicated FM and DAB transmitters serving the town.

Local TV coverage is provided by BBC West and ITV West Country.

There are now three local newspapers covering the town: the weekly Gloucester Citizen, now called Stroud Citizen to replace Stroud Life, published by Gloucestershire Media (part of the Northcliffe Group); the Stroud News & Journal, published by Newsquest Media (Southern) Limited, part of the American Gannett Company and Stroud Times a hyper-local independent publication that launched online in March 2021 and in print the following year.

Stroud Life launched in 2008 and closed in October 2017. Most of its distribution was free direct to homes, but a significant share (about one-third) was sold through the news trade.{{cite web |url=http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/stroud-life/ |publisher=British Newspapers Online |title=Stroud Life |date=15 February 2014 |access-date=8 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004210943/http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/stroud-life/ |archive-date=4 October 2017 |url-status=live }}

The Stroud News and Journal was formed by a merger in 1959 of the Stroud Journal (which started in 1854 as a Liberal-supporting newspaper) and the Stroud News (which started in 1867 and generally supported Conservative and Unionist interests).

Stroud Times was launched as an online-only venture in 2021 by Ash Loveridge, Carl Hewlett and Matt Bigwood all of whom formerly worked at The Stroud News and Journal.{{cite web |url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2021/news/new-title-vows-to-shun-clickbait-agenda-as-journalists-go-up-against-old-paper/ |publisher=Hold The Front Page |title=Journalists vow to shun pop-up ads and 'clickbait' as they go up against old paper |date=24 March 2021 |access-date=20 December 2022}}

In a March 2021 guide, The Sunday Times named Stroud the best place to live in the UK. The newspaper praised the town's green spaces and independent spirit, as well as the quality of Stroud's schools.{{cite web |title=Independent spirit makes Stroud the UK's best address |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-56536909 |website=BBC News |access-date=28 March 2021 |date=26 March 2021 |archive-date=28 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328003927/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-56536909 |url-status=live }}

• Polly Higgins, barrister, author, and environmental lobbyist, lived near Stroud for the last few years of her life.{{cite web |url=https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/17589118.stroud-eco-warrior-polly-higgins-dies/ |title='We must build on her legacy' – MP's tribute to Polly Higgins |author=Matty Airey |newspaper=Stroud News & Journal |date=22 April 2019 |access-date=24 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427213938/https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/17589118.stroud-eco-warrior-polly-higgins-dies/ |archive-date=27 April 2019 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/prominent-gloucestershire-lawyer-who-fought-2789451 |title=Prominent Gloucestershire lawyer who fought for the environment dies aged 50 after short cancer battle |author=John Hawkins |publisher=Gloucestershire Live |date=23 April 2019 |access-date=24 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423215717/https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/prominent-gloucestershire-lawyer-who-fought-2789451 |archive-date=23 April 2019 |url-status=live }}
• Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, lives in Stroud.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/20/stroud-cotswold-town-that-spawned-radical-protest |title=Stroud, the gentle Cotswold town that spawned a radical protest |author=Tom Wall |newspaper=The Guardian |date=20 April 2019 |access-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420201035/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/20/stroud-cotswold-town-that-spawned-radical-protest |archive-date=20 April 2019 |url-status=live }}

• Arabella Holzbog, actress, born in Stroud
• Geoffrey Hutchings, actor, lived in Stroud{{cite web|url=http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/8276228.Stroud_s_Benidorm_star_Geoffrey_dies_suddenly_aged_71/|title=Stroud News and Journal – Stroud's Benidorm star Geoffrey dies suddenly aged 71|date=16 July 2010 |access-date=28 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324151952/http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/8276228.Stroud_s_Benidorm_star_Geoffrey_dies_suddenly_aged_71/|archive-date=24 March 2012|url-status=live}}
• Tim McInnerny, actor (Blackadder), attended Marling School{{cite news | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article1803440.ece | title=Times Online : Tim McInnerny Interview | work=The Times | location=London | first=Jasper | last=Rees | date=20 May 2007 | access-date=24 May 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616213006/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article1803440.ece | archive-date=16 June 2011 | url-status=dead }}
• Tamzin Malleson, actress, grew up in Chalford, attending Archway School, and now lives near Minchinhampton with partner Keith Allen
• William Moseley, actor, The Chronicles of Narnia
• Colin Prockter, actor, Doctor Who, co-wrote Luna, lives in Stroud
• Emma Samms, actress, lives in Stroud
• Sophie Ward, actress, lived in France Lynch{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_19990103/ai_n9704875/|title=Bnet|work=Sunday Mirror|date=3 January 1999|access-date=2 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018073250/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_19990103/ai_n9704875/|archive-date=18 October 2015|url-status=live}}

• Leo Baxendale, creator of Minnie the Minx, lived nearby{{cite web|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v20/n02/letters.html|title=Fermat's Last Stand|work=London Review of Books|access-date=14 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724070512/http://www.lrb.co.uk/v20/n02/letters.html|archive-date=24 July 2008|url-status=live}}
• Lynn Chadwick, sculptor{{cite web|url=http://www.lynn-chadwick.com/|title=Art Directory|access-date=2 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924173225/http://www.lynn-chadwick.com/|archive-date=24 September 2009|url-status=live}}
• Damien Hirst, artist, has a studio in Chalford and another in Stroud{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article879669.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2|title=Times Online – Life & Style | work=The Times | location=London | date=24 August 2003 | access-date=24 May 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
• Mary Morton, sculptor{{cite web |title=Morton, Mary, 1879–1965 {{!}} Art UK |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/morton-mary-18791965 |website=artuk.org |access-date=23 October 2022 |language=en}}
• Tim Noble, artist{{cite web|url=http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/noble_webster_articles.htm|title=Selected Works by Noble and Webster|access-date=27 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102043249/http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/noble_webster_articles.htm|archive-date=2 January 2010|url-status=live}}
• Jack Russell, former Gloucestershire and England cricketer, now artist, attended Archway School{{cite web|url=http://www.123exp-biographies.com/t/00034510068/|title=Biography Research Guide|date=18 April 2016}}
• Alan Thornhill, sculptor{{cite web|url=http://www.alanthornhill.co.uk/thoughts%20on%20creativity.htm |title=Thoughts on the Aesthetic Experience and On Creativity |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725051410/http://alanthornhill.co.uk/thoughts%20on%20creativity.htm |archive-date=25 July 2013 }}
• Paul Hervey-Brookes, plantsman and garden designer{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Kate |title=Painswick gardener Paul Hervey-Brookes wins gold at Chelsea Flower Show |url=https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/10433231.painswick-gardener-paul-hervey-brookes-wins-gold-at-chelsea-flower-show/ |access-date=19 July 2020 |work=Stroud News |date=22 May 2013}}

• Rev. W. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, moved to the area{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-the-rev-w-awdry-1274321.html | title=The Independent : Obituary | location=London | first=Brian | last=Sibley | date=22 March 1997 | access-date=24 May 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602001519/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-the-rev-w-awdry-1274321.html | archive-date=2 June 2011 | url-status=live }}
• Jilly Cooper, author, moved to the area
• Katie Fforde, author, moved to the area{{cite web|url=http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/hot-seat-Katie-Fforde/article-354274-detail/article.html|title=In the hot seat: Katie Fforde|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715035243/http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/hot-seat-Katie-Fforde/article-354274-detail/article.html|archive-date=15 July 2014}}
• Matthew Fort, food writer, critic, and Guardian food columnist{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/sep/30/foodanddrink | title=Around Britain with a fork | work=The Guardian | location=London | first=Matthew | last=Fort | date=30 September 2006 | access-date=24 May 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716102312/http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/sep/30/foodanddrink | archive-date=16 July 2014 | url-status=live }}
• Jamila Gavin, children's author, moved to Stroud{{cite web|url=http://www2.newsquest.co.uk/stroud/picture_special/PICTURE_SPECIAL26.html |title=Newsquest – Iran lifts strict religious veil |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625114026/http://www2.newsquest.co.uk/stroud/picture_special/PICTURE_SPECIAL26.html |archive-date=25 June 2007 }}
• Adrian Liddell Hart, author and adventurer
• Basil Liddell Hart, military theorist
• Alan Hollinghurst, author, born in Stroud{{cite web|url=http://www.britishcouncil.org/italy-arts-alanhollinghurst.htm |title=British Council |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220134328/http://www.britishcouncil.org/italy-arts-alanhollinghurst.htm |archive-date=20 December 2010 }}
• Adam Horovitz, poet
• Frances Horovitz, poet and broadcaster, lived near Stroud, 1971–80
• Michael Horovitz, political poet and publisher, used to live in the area
• Jenny Joseph, poet, writer of "I Shall Wear Purple", lived in nearby Minchinhampton
• Laurie Lee, author, born in Stroud and grew up in the Slad Valley, the setting of Cider with Rosie

• Edwin Beard Budding (1795–1846), inventor of the lawnmower and adjustable spanner, born and died in Stroud{{cite web|url=http://www.parksandgardens.ac.uk/274/explore-31/historical-profiles-176/people-at-the-cutting-edge%3a-lawnmower-designers-483.html|title=Parks & Gardens UK : People at the cutting edge: lawnmower designers|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226090458/http://www.parksandgardens.ac.uk/274/explore-31/historical-profiles-176/people-at-the-cutting-edge%3A-lawnmower-designers-483.html|archive-date=26 February 2012}}
• Arnold Redler (1875–1958), founder of the conveying company Redler Limited in Stroud in 1920 and inventor of the en-masse conveyor{{cite web|url=http://www.redler.com/en/aboutus/ |title=En Masse Conveying |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606185829/http://www.redler.com/en/aboutus/ |archive-date=6 June 2010 }}
• Lyndon Smith (born 1964), academic, born in Stroud.{{Cite book|date=2001|title=Who's Who in Science and Engineering: 2002-2003|isbn=0837957605|publisher=Marquis Who's Who; 6th edition|page=906}}

• Peter Hennessy, historian of government, attended Marling School{{cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=191667§ioncode=26|title=The Times Higher Education – My revolting past: pipes, tweed and velveteen jeans|date=8 October 2004|access-date=1 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926015801/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=191667§ioncode=26|archive-date=26 September 2012|url-status=live}}

• Milk Teeth, grunge rock band formed at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College
• Emily Barker, singer, songwriter, lives in Stroud{{cite web |title=Emily Barker and band perform in aid of Stroud Valleys Project |url=https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/glos/the-prince-albert-rodborough/emily-barker-and-band-perform-in-aid-of-stroud-valleys-project/e-kadpjj |publisher=Ticket Source |access-date=19 July 2020}}{{cite web |title=BAFTA winner Emily headlines Easter fest |url=http://www.stroudlife.co.uk/BAFTA-winner-Emily-headlines-Easter-fest/story-18200142-detail/story.html |publisher=Stroud Life |access-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724144027/http://www.stroudlife.co.uk/BAFTA-winner-Emily-headlines-Easter-fest/story-18200142-detail/story.html |archive-date=24 July 2014}}
• Geoffrey Burgon, composer[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/dec/20/letters-art-value Letter to] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214222925/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/dec/20/letters-art-value |date=14 February 2017 }} The Guardian 20/12/08
• Eamon Hamilton, frontman of Brakes and former keyboard player of British Sea Power, raised in Stroud{{cite news |title=Local boy made good |url=https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/6702776.local-boy-made-good/ |access-date=19 July 2020 |work=Stroud News and Journal |date=26 April 2006}}
• Pendragon, progressive rock band{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/gloucestershire/hi/people_and_places/music/newsid_8504000/8504425.stm|title=BBC – Pendragon return to Stroud for Prog Rock gig|date=8 February 2010|access-date=4 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715063805/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/gloucestershire/hi/people_and_places/music/newsid_8504000/8504425.stm|archive-date=15 July 2014|url-status=live}}
• Gerry Rafferty, singer/songwriter, died in Stroud in January 2011, at the home of his daughter Martha
• Josh Record, singer/songwriter{{Cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/apr/29/josh-record|title = Josh Record (No 1,502)|date = 29 April 2013|access-date = 9 August 2014|work = The Guardian|last = Lester|first = Paul|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140811022551/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/apr/29/josh-record|archive-date = 11 August 2014|url-status = live}}
• Sade, singer, songwriter of the band Sade, moved to Slad, near Stroud in 2010[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7005060.ece Sade emerges from her country retreat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423032725/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7005060.ece |date=23 April 2011 }} Sunday Times 31 January 2010
• Tom Smith, lead singer of Editors, grew up in Stroud[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/22/popandrock Violently happy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202012446/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/22/popandrock |date=2 December 2016 }} The Guardian 22 June 2007
• Martha Tilston, folk singer and daughter of Steve Tilston, moved to the area
• Sarana VerLin, Detroit singer-songwriter, violinist, and organizer of Stroud Americana Festival, moved to Stroud{{cite web|url=http://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/leisure/music/13243618.International_Line_up_Announced_for_Stroud_Americana_Festival/|title=International Lineup for Stroud Americana Festival|work=Gloucestershire Gazette|date=2 June 2015 |access-date=11 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713122406/http://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/leisure/music/13243618.International_Line_up_Announced_for_Stroud_Americana_Festival//|archive-date=13 July 2015|url-status=live}}

File:John canton.jpg on the Old Town Hall in the Shambles]]

• John Canton (1718–1772), physicist{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/93213/John-Canton|title=Britannica Online|access-date=2 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515051114/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/93213/John-Canton|archive-date=15 May 2010|url-status=live}}
• Sir Martin Evans, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, born in Stroud{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1351374/Sir-Martin-J-Evans|title=Britannica Online|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604165851/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1351374/Sir-Martin-J-Evans|archive-date=4 June 2009|url-status=live}}
• Henry Miles (1698–1763), dissenting minister and writer on science, born and educated in Stroud

• Dominic Dale, snooker player{{cite web|url=http://southwestsnookeracademy.com/wp/|title=Account Suspended|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619072556/http://southwestsnookeracademy.com/wp/|archive-date=19 June 2013}}
• Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, ski jumper, lives in nearby Woodchester{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Eddie-Eagle-Edwards-return-Olympics/article-1556070-detail/article.html |title=Eddie the Eagle to return to the Winter Olympics |publisher=This is Gloucestershire |date=27 November 2009 |access-date=13 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912191120/http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Eddie-Eagle-Edwards-return-Olympics/article-1556070-detail/article.html |archive-date=12 September 2012 }}
• Alastair Hignell, sportsman and commentator[http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/stroud/sport/Hignell-claims-BBC-award/article-547096-detail/article.html Hignell claims BBC award] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715090115/http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/stroud/sport/Hignell-claims-BBC-award/article-547096-detail/article.html |date=15 July 2014 }} Stroud Life
• Frank Keating, sports journalist at The Guardian{{cite news |last1=Light |first1=John |title=Guardian writer Frank Keating cut his teeth on the Stroud News |url=https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/sport/10192381.guardian-writer-frank-keating-cut-his-teeth-on-the-stroud-news/ |access-date=19 July 2020 |work=Stroud News and Journal |date=29 January 2013}}
• Jackie Lewis, racing driver
• Stuart Nelson, footballer, Notts County{{cite web|url=http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/sport/8269484.Nelson_grateful_for_Hockaday___s_help/?ref=mr|title=Stroud News and Journal – Nelson grateful for Hockaday's help|date=14 July 2010 |access-date=14 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324152001/http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/sport/8269484.Nelson_grateful_for_Hockaday___s_help/?ref=mr|archive-date=24 March 2012|url-status=live}}
• Emily Pidgeon, athlete{{cite web|url=http://www.athleticos.org/speaker/8294-Emily-Pidgeon/video/350039-Emily-Pidgeon-Stroud-2009-National-U23-5000m-Champion|title=UK athletics videos, races, interviews, articles – athleticos}}
• Dan Robinson, Olympic marathon runner
• Laurence Shahlaei, winner of Britain's Strongest Man
• Harry Lovell-Hewitt, Judo Commonwealth bronze medalist

Stroud is twinned with:

• Saint-Ismier, Isère, France
• Stroud, Oklahoma, US
• Duderstadt, Lower Saxony, Germany
• Stroud, New South Wales, Australia

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Stroud, Gloucestershire}}

{{EB1911 poster|Stroud}}

• [http://www.stroudtown.gov.uk/ Stroud Town Council]
• [http://www.stroud.gov.uk/ Stroud District Council]
• [https://stroudtimes.com/ Stroud Times]
• [https://www.museuminthepark.org.uk Museum in the Park]

{{Cotswold Way|Dursley|Painswick|14 km (9 miles)|~13 km (8 miles)}}

{{Gloucestershire}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Towns in Gloucestershire

Category:Civil parishes in Gloucestershire

Category:Cotswolds

Category:Stroud District