{{Short description|Village in Gloucestershire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}} {{Use British English|date=March 2015}} {{Infobox UK place | country = England | static_image_name = Harescombe_Church.jpg | static_image_caption= The Church of St John the Baptist | coordinates = {{coord|51.791|-02.239|display=inline,title}} | official_name = Harescombe | population =247 | population_ref=(2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11124229&c=GL6+6NL&d=16&e=62&g=6428093&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1427808498096&enc=1|title=Parish population 2011|access-date=31 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111439/https://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11124229&c=GL6+6NL&d=16&e=62&g=6428093&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1427808498096&enc=1|archive-date=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> | civil_parish=Harescombe | shire_district= Stroud | shire_county= Gloucestershire | region=South West England | constituency_westminster=Stroud | post_town=Gloucester | postcode_district =GL6 6 | postcode_area=GL | dial_code=01452 | os_grid_reference= SO8310 }}
'''Harescombe''' is a small village in Gloucestershire, England.<ref name="Baddeley1913">{{cite book | author=Welbore St. Clair Baddeley | title=Place-names of Gloucestershire: a handbook | url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924030976504 | accessdate=24 June 2011 | year=1913 | publisher=J. Bellows | page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924030976504/page/n113 78]}}</ref> It is situated {{convert|5|mi|0}} south of Gloucester. The village rests at the foot of the well-known range of the Cotswolds called the Haresfield Beacon and Broadbarrow Green.
== Etymology == In the Domesday book, it was listed as ''Hersecome'' meaning "Hersa's" (a name) + "valley" (from the Celtic term "cwm").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ekwall |first=Eilert |title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names |date=1985 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-869103-7 |edition=4. ed., repr |location=Oxford |page=219}}</ref>
It was once thought that the first part of the name derived from Saxon term "here" (army), thus the full meaning of "Harescombe", giving the place the meaning, "the Army's Valley".<ref name="Melland Hall 1885 67–132">{{cite book |last=Melland Hall |first=Rev. J. |url=https://archive.org/stream/transactionsbris10bris/transactionsbris10bris_djvu.txt |title=Transactions – Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society |publisher=C. T. Jeffries and Sons |year=1885 |location=Bristol |pages=67–132}}</ref>
== History == Haresfield Beacon and Broadbarrow Green were sites of ancient British and Roman encampments. These encampments were a part of a chain of fortresses expressly mentioned by Tacitus as having been raised by Ostorius Scapula between the Severn and Avon Rivers: old British works adapted by the Romans to their own requirements.<ref name="Melland Hall 1885 67–132" />
Hilles House was designed by Detmar Blow. He built the mansion for himself after 1914,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Musson |first1=Jeremy |title=Secret Houses of the Cotswolds |date=2018 |publisher=Frances Lincoln |isbn=978-0711239241 |pages=70-75}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hilles House and terraced gardens |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1090823 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314033832/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1090823 |archive-date=14 March 2016 |accessdate=6 September 2020 |website=National Heritage List for England |publisher=Historic England}}</ref>
==The Church of St John the Baptist== The Church of St John the Baptist in Harescombe was constructed in the 13th century. It was consecrated in 1315. The walls are ashlar limestone, and the roof is of stone slate. The church has an unusual bellcote and a small octagonal stone spire, as well as small octagonal pinnacles on the four sides. Small iron crosses were added to these pinnacles in 1870–71 when Francis Niblett restored the church.<ref>{{cite book|last=Verey|first=David|title=Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds|year=1979|publisher=Penguin|isbn=0-14-071040-X}}</ref> The belfry has two bells, one of which has been determined to be the oldest bell (circa 1180) in Gloucestershire.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Beacon Benefice|url=http://www.beaconbenefice.org.uk/harescombe/index.asp|accessdate=29 June 2011|archive-date=13 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113114552/http://www.beaconbenefice.org.uk/harescombe/index.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Several of the memorial inscriptions on markers in the adjacent graveyard date from the 17th century, with the oldest being for Thomas Roberts, Gent., dated 20 January 1632.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blacker|first=Rev. Beaver H|title=Gloucestershire Notes and Queries|year=1881|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, and Co., Ltd.|location=London}}</ref>
The Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade II* listed building with English Heritage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Listed Buildings in Stroud|url=http://www.stroud.gov.uk/info/listed_buildings/harescombe.pdf|access-date=29 June 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216055827/http://www.stroud.gov.uk/info/listed_buildings/harescombe.pdf|archive-date=16 December 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category-inline|Harescombe}}
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Category:Stroud District Category:Villages in Gloucestershire