WHEN WAS MINSTERWORTH FIRST SETTLED?
There is no clear evidence of habitation here in prehistoric times but that is not so surprising. This low-lying river-side territory would then have been an inhospitable, marshy and dangerous area into which Bronze Age and Iron Age man would have ventured from their nearby hillforts with some trepidation and probably only to hunt.
So what about the Romans? Old Ordnance Survey maps of Minsterworth consistently show traces of a “Roman road” passing through the village although to date no firm archaeological discoveries of the road have been made. But given the proximity of Minsterworth to Roman Gloucester and to the known arterial Roman road leading west from there (largely following the line of the A40 through Over, Churcham and Birdwood), it would be surprising if the area of Minsterworth wasn’t well known to the Romano-Brits.
The first real archaeological evidence of Roman activity in Minsterworth came in 1937 when a water filtration plant was being installed in association with bathing and paddling pools for a leisure ground adjacent to the old Appletree pub (then described as a ‘roadhouse’). Workmen came across the remains of three male humans accompanied by pottery consistent with an early Roman date, suggesting that at least a Roman cemetery might have existed at the site. A more important discovery pointing to actual Roman occupation in the area happened in 2016 when archaeologists carried out an archaeological investigation in connection with a proposed new housing development on the same field next to the Appletree. Their initial findings turned out to be very exciting. Among various features found were field boundary ditches, grain storage pits, a large quantity of Roman pottery from the 1st to 4th centuries and a quantity of iron slag indicating iron smelting took place on the site. But more important, at the western end of the paddock (where the water filtration plant was located and those burials were found) they discovered evidence of a stone wall, building debris, roof tiles and bits of lime wall plaster. Such evidence strongly suggests the existence of a building, possibly a small villa farm, occupied for several centuries during the Roman period. For evidence of larger community however, we have to look to later, early medieval, times.
The Domesday Book, commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 contains details of Minsterworth: two small ones known as Murcott and Dunny, and a third larger one un-named but identifiable by analysis as Minsterworth. Importantly, for two of the estates Domesday also gives us the names of their pre-1066 Saxon owners, indicating that there were well-established Saxon estates here before the Normans came. The place name Minsterworth first appears in documents of the 11th century although St Peter’s Minster or Abbey in Gloucester which held the Minsterworth estate, and after which the place is named, was founded as early as the 7th century. Thus we get a glimpse of an Anglo-Saxon settlement existing some time before the Normans came, consisting of three separate small communities or hamlets forming a stretched-out parish of Minsterworth. According to Domesday in 1086, it was inhabited, by 4 villeini (farmers), 5 bordari (cottagers|) and 2 servi (slaves) plus their respective families. Theirs would have been a harsh subsistence living, deeply rooted in the land and devoted entirely to serving their feudal overlords.
May 2003/April 2020
So what about the Romans? Old Ordnance Survey maps of Minsterworth consistently show traces of a “Roman road” passing through the village although to date no firm archaeological discoveries of the road have been made. But given the proximity of Minsterworth to Roman Gloucester and to the known arterial Roman road leading west from there (largely following the line of the A40 through Over, Churcham and Birdwood), it would be surprising if the area of Minsterworth wasn’t well known to the Romano-Brits.
The first real archaeological evidence of Roman activity in Minsterworth came in 1937 when a water filtration plant was being installed in association with bathing and paddling pools for a leisure ground adjacent to the old Appletree pub (then described as a ‘roadhouse’). Workmen came across the remains of three male humans accompanied by pottery consistent with an early Roman date, suggesting that at least a Roman cemetery might have existed at the site. A more important discovery pointing to actual Roman occupation in the area happened in 2016 when archaeologists carried out an archaeological investigation in connection with a proposed new housing development on the same field next to the Appletree. Their initial findings turned out to be very exciting. Among various features found were field boundary ditches, grain storage pits, a large quantity of Roman pottery from the 1st to 4th centuries and a quantity of iron slag indicating iron smelting took place on the site. But more important, at the western end of the paddock (where the water filtration plant was located and those burials were found) they discovered evidence of a stone wall, building debris, roof tiles and bits of lime wall plaster. Such evidence strongly suggests the existence of a building, possibly a small villa farm, occupied for several centuries during the Roman period. For evidence of larger community however, we have to look to later, early medieval, times.
The Domesday Book, commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 contains details of Minsterworth: two small ones known as Murcott and Dunny, and a third larger one un-named but identifiable by analysis as Minsterworth. Importantly, for two of the estates Domesday also gives us the names of their pre-1066 Saxon owners, indicating that there were well-established Saxon estates here before the Normans came. The place name Minsterworth first appears in documents of the 11th century although St Peter’s Minster or Abbey in Gloucester which held the Minsterworth estate, and after which the place is named, was founded as early as the 7th century. Thus we get a glimpse of an Anglo-Saxon settlement existing some time before the Normans came, consisting of three separate small communities or hamlets forming a stretched-out parish of Minsterworth. According to Domesday in 1086, it was inhabited, by 4 villeini (farmers), 5 bordari (cottagers|) and 2 servi (slaves) plus their respective families. Theirs would have been a harsh subsistence living, deeply rooted in the land and devoted entirely to serving their feudal overlords.
May 2003/April 2020