{{Short description|Market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England}} {{Other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Use British English|date=November 2013}} {{Infobox UK place |country = England |official_name = Winchcombe |static_image = Winchcombecr.jpg |static_image_caption = Gloucester Street, Winchcombe |coordinates = {{coord|51.955|-1.965|display=inline,title}} |population = 5,121 |population_ref = (2021 Census)<ref name="bua2011">{{cite web |title=Winchcombe |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/southwestengland/admin/tewkesbury/E04004432__winchcombe/ |access-date=25 October 2022}}</ref> |shire_district = Tewkesbury |shire_county = Gloucestershire |region = South West England |constituency_westminster = Tewkesbury |post_town = CHELTENHAM |postcode_district = GL54 |postcode_area = GL |dial_code = 01242 |os_grid_reference = SP025285 }}
'''Winchcombe''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ɪ|n|tʃ|k|əm}}) is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, England, situated {{Convert | 7 | mi | 0}} northeast of Cheltenham. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 census and estimated at 5,347 in 2019.<ref>[https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/southwestengland/gloucestershire/E34004146__winchcombe/ City Population. Retrieved 3 December 2020.]</ref> The town is located in the Cotswolds and has many features and buildings dating back to medieval times. In 2021 it was the primary strike site of the eponymous Winchcombe meteorite.
==History== The Belas Knap Neolithic long barrow on Cleeve Hill above Winchcombe, dates from about 3000 BCE.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/belas-knap-long-barrow/history/ |title=English Heritage. Retrieved 21 April 2020. |access-date=21 April 2020 |archive-date=16 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516022753/https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/belas-knap-long-barrow/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The name Winchcombe derives from the Old English ''wincelcumb'' meaning 'corner combe' (valley).<ref>http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Gloucestershire/Winchcomb</ref> In Anglo-Saxon times, Winchcombe was a major community in Mercia, favoured by King Coenwulf of Mercia, the others being Lichfield and Tamworth. In the 11th century, the town was briefly the county town of Winchcombeshire.<ref>Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe, Michelle P. Brown, Carol A. Farr {{ISBN|0-8264-7765-8}}</ref> The Anglo-Saxon St Kenelm, said to be a son of Coenwulf, is believed to be buried here.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-1HS5gCZ1w4C&dq=Saint+Tyfei&pg=PA81 Wasyliw, Patricia Healy. ''Martyrdom, Murder, and Magic: Child Saints and Their Cults in Medieval Europe'', Peter Lang, 2008, p. 75 et seq.]{{ISBN|9780820427645}}</ref>
During the Anarchy of the 12th century, a motte-and-bailey castle was built in the early 1140s for Empress Matilda, by Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford, but its exact site is unknown.<ref>David Walker (1991) [http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v109/bg109005.pdf Gloucestershire Castles] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313112753/http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v109/bg109005.pdf |date=13 March 2012.}} in ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'', 1991, Vol. 109, p. 15.</ref>
In the Restoration period, Winchcombe was noted for cattle rustling and other lawlessness, attributed in part to poverty. Local people seeking a living took to growing tobacco as a cash crop, although the practice had been outlawed since the Commonwealth period. Soldiers were sent in at least once to destroy the illegal crop.<ref>Pepys's Diary, 19 September 1667.</ref>
Fragments of the Winchcombe Meteorite originating from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, fell on a house driveway on 28 February 2021.<ref name="BBC News Science">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56326246 Gloucestershire meteorite is first UK find in 30 years] BBC News Science, 8 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.</ref> The meteorite is a rare carbonaceous chondrite, offering pristine material from the beginnings of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago. This was preserved by its prompt collection by a local resident about 12 hours after falling to Earth.<ref>[https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/march/uk-fireball-meteorite-has-been-recovered-driveway-gloucestershire.html Fireball meteorite that blazed across the UK recovered from a driveway] Natural History Museum, 9 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.</ref> Another fragment was found by researchers on a local farm.<ref>[https://news.sky.com/story/scientists-stunned-as-incredibly-rare-meteorite-is-found-in-the-cotswolds-12240466 Meteorite found in the Cotswolds is the first in the UK for 30 years] ''Sky News'', 9 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.</ref> Some of the meteorite fragments were put on display at the town museum.<ref name=Jenkins>{{cite news|last1=Jenkins |first1=Sammy |last2=Howard |first2=Andy |date=18 January 2022 |title=Winchcombe meteorite sees museum visitors treble |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-64308833 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=18 January 2022}} </ref>
==Attractions== Winchcombe started life as a Roman hamlet, rising to prominence as an Anglo-Saxon walled town containing Winchcombe Abbey, where a Mercian king and his saintly son were buried. Although the town wall has long vanished, Winchcombe retains much of its medieval layout, with a mixture of timber-framed and Cotswold limestone buildings along its High Street, some dating back to the 15th century.<ref>{{NHLE |desc=GEORGE INN |num=1091502 |access-date=2 December 2020 }}</ref>
Winchcombe's position on the Cotswold Way keeps it popular with walkers and history fans. Frequent visits are made to the heritage GWR steam railway that links it with Broadway and Cheltenham Racecourse, and with Sudeley Castle, the burial place of Queen Catherine Parr, which lies on the outskirts.
Sudely Castle also hosts the annual Fantasy Forest Festival<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-03 |title=Fantasy Forest Sudeley - The UK Fantasy Festival |url=https://fantasyforest.co.uk/sudeley/ |access-date=2026-04-01 |website=fantasyforest.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref>, one of the largest Cosplay / Renaissance Faire festivals in the UK.
==Notable buildings== thumb|Sudeley Castle, 1726 engraving Winchcombe and vicinity contain Sudeley Castle and the remains of Hailes Abbey, once a main place of pilgrimage, due to a phial said by the monks possessing it to contain the Blood of Christ.<ref>[http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/hailes-abbey.htm Sacred Destinations] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829230034/http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/hailes-abbey.htm |date=29 August 2008}} Abbey site.</ref> Nothing remains of Winchcombe Abbey. St Peter's Church in the centre of the town is noted for its grotesques.
Several buildings around Sudeley Hill are Grade II listed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ibb.co/q9nTZWG |title=Listed buildings in Winchcombe. Retrieved 22 May 2020. |access-date=22 May 2020 |archive-date=26 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200826194334/https://ibb.co/q9nTZWG |url-status=usurped }}</ref>
==Walks== Winchcombe is crossed by seven long-distance footpaths: The Cotswold Way, the Gloucestershire Way, the Wychavon Way, St Kenelm's Trail, St Kenelm's Way,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_publication.php?publication_id=3262 |title=Long Distance Walkers Association guide |access-date=20 January 2009 |archive-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719143603/http://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_publication.php?publication_id=3262 |url-status=live }}</ref> the Warden's Way and the Windrush Way. Winchcombe became a member of the Walkers are Welcome network of towns in July 2009 and now holds a walking festival every May.
==Public transport== The town has bus services to Cheltenham, Broadway and Willersey.<ref>{{Cite web |title=606 – Chipping Campden – Willersey – Winchcombe – Bishop's Cleeve – Cheltenham |url=https://bustimes.org/services/606-cheltenham-winchcombe-broadway-willersey-chipp |publisher=Bus Times|access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=26 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200826194335/https://bustimes.org/services/606-cheltenham-winchcombe-broadway-willersey-chipp |url-status=live}}</ref>
thumb|right|Winchcombe railway station Winchcombe had a railway opened in 1906 by the Great Western Railway from Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham as part of a main line from Birmingham to the South West and South Wales. Winchcombe railway station and most others on the section closed in March 1960.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Butt |first=R.V.J. |title=The Directory of Railway Stations |year=1995 |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |location=Yeovil |isbn=1852605081 |id=R508|page=251}}</ref> Through passenger trains continued until March 1968 and goods until 1976, when a derailment caused damage and it was decided to close the section.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honeybourne Line |url=http://www.gwrarchive.org/site/sitel2pg/uk/gwr/honey/honey.php |publisher=The Restoration & Archiving Trust |access-date=26 August 2020}}</ref> By the early 1980s it had been dismantled. The length between Toddington and Cheltenham Racecourse via Winchcombe has been reconstructed as the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Winchcombe |url=https://www.gwsr.com/planning_your_visit/finding_us/winchcombe.html |publisher=GWSR |access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719154109/https://www.gwsr.com/planning_your_visit/finding_us/winchcombe.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It was extended to Broadway in spring 2018. The new station building that opened at Winchcombe on its original site was brought from the former Monmouth Troy railway station.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Winchcombe Station |url=https://www.gwsr.com/planning_your_visit/our_stations/winchcombe_1.html |publisher=GWSR |access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719211059/https://www.gwsr.com/planning_your_visit/our_stations/winchcombe_1.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Nearby is the {{Convert | 693 | yd | adj = on}} Greet Tunnel, the second longest on a British preserved line.
==Governance== [[File:Winchcombe museum - geograph.org.uk - 745423.jpg|thumb|Winchcombe Town Hall]] An electoral ward in the same name stretches from Alderton in the north to Hawling in the south. Its total population at the 2011 census was 6,295.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/winchcombe-e05008575#sthash.hMoyA1pv.dpbs |title=Ward population 2011 |access-date=2 April 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402203915/http://www.ukcensusdata.com/winchcombe-e05008575#sthash.hMoyA1pv.dpbs |url-status=live}}</ref> Winchcombe Town Hall is now host to Winchcombe Folk and Police Museum.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Town Hall|num=1091507|access-date=18 September 2023}}</ref>
==Schools== Winchcombe has a secondary school – Winchcombe School in Greet Road, east of the town centre. Winchcombe Abbey Church of England Primary School lies near the town centre in Back Lane, next to Winchcombe Library and Cowl Lane.
==Media== Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from the Sutton Coldfield and local relay TV transmitters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Sutton_Coldfield|title=Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate= 25 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Winchcombe|title=Freeview Light on the Winchcombe (Gloucestershire, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate= 25 October 2023}}</ref>
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Gloucestershire on 104.7 FM, Heart West on 102.4 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South West on 107.5 FM, and Radio Winchcombe, a community based radio station which broadcast to the town on 107.1 FM.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://radiowinchcombe.co.uk/|title=Radio Winchcombe|access-date=25 October 2023}}</ref>
The town is served by the local newspaper: Gloucestershire Echo.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/gloucestershire-echo/|title=Gloucestershire Echo|date=11 June 2014|website=British Papers|accessdate=25 October 2023}}</ref>
==Community== The community station Radio Winchcombe began broadcasting in April 2005 for 20 days a year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.radiowinchcombe.co.uk/ |title=Winchcombe Radio |access-date=15 February 2007 |archive-date=10 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310154424/http://www.radiowinchcombe.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Full-time broadcasting was approved in December 2011 and began on 18 May 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ofcom awards four new community radio licences |url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2011/ofcom-awards-four-new-community-radio-licences-9 |publisher=Ofcom |access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=11 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811144413/https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2011/ofcom-awards-four-new-community-radio-licences-9 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Winchcombe has a Michelin selected restaurant at ''5 North Street''. From 2004 to 2017, it held a one star rating.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Norman |first1=Matthew |title=5 North St, Gloucestershire, restaurant review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/10449777/5-North-St-Gloucestershire-restaurant-review.html |access-date=28 September 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London |date=19 November 2013 |archive-date=7 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007215348/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/10449777/5-North-St-Gloucestershire-restaurant-review.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/two-top-gloucestershire-restaurants-lost-565028 | title = Two top Gloucestershire restaurants have lost their Michelin stars | last = Gibbon | first = Tom | date = 2017-10-02 | website = GloucestershireLive | access-date = 2024-02-19}}</ref> There are several other frequented eating places.<ref>[https://www.winchcombe.co.uk/eat-drink/. Descriptions. Retrieved 10 March 2021.]</ref>
Winchcombe Town F.C. plays in the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.glosnsl.co.uk/ |title=Gloucestershire Northern Senior League |access-date=31 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520004507/http://www.glosnsl.co.uk/ |archive-date=20 May 2009 |url-status=usurped}}</ref>
In 2023 a community funded project purchased the methodist church in the centre of Winchcombe to provide a community performing-arts centre<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic day as church is bought {{!}} Winchcombe Arts Community Hub |url=https://wach.org.uk/2023/07/12/offer-to-buy-accepted/ |access-date=2026-03-27 |language=en-GB}}</ref>, this operates under the name Isbourne Arts<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Story of Isbourne Arts |url=https://isbournearts.org/the-story-of-isbourne-arts-in-the-beginning/}}</ref>.
==Notable people== In birth order: *King Coenwulf of Mercia, reigned 796–821, buried in Winchcombe Abbey *Saint Kenelm (c. 786–811), a martyred boy-king of Mercia, was interred at Winchcombe, which became a major centre for his medieval cult. *Robert Tideman of Winchcombe (died 1341) was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff in 1393 and translated to the see of Worcester in 1395. *Ralph Boteler, 1st Baron Sudeley (c. 1394–1473), Lord High Treasurer of England and builder of Sudeley Castle and St. Peter's Church in Winchcombe. *Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos (c. 1548–1594), an English courtier in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, was born and was buried at Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe. *Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos (c. 1580–1621), remembered as "King of the Cotswolds" for his wealth *Clement Barksdale (1609–1687), born in Winchcombe, became a religious author, polymath and Anglican priest. *Christopher Merret (1614/1615–1695), born in Winchcombe, a naturalist, produced the first lists of British birds and butterflies. *Richard Eedes (died 1686), a Presbyterian minister and religious author with royalist sympathies, died at Winchcombe. *Emma Dent (1823–1900), antiquarian, collector and author of ''The Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley'', restored Sudeley Castle with her husband and built or improved many houses in the town, including the Dent Almshouses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dent |first=Emma |date=1877 |title=Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLYLAAAAYAAJ |publisher=John Murray |access-date=29 July 2020 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728182502/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rLYLAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> *George Backhouse Witts (1846–1912), a civil engineer and archaeologist who specialized in the barrows of Gloucestershire, was born in Winchcombe. *Edward Griffiths (1862–1893) played cricket for Gloucestershire in 1885–1889. *William Yiend (1865–1939), born in Winchcombe, was an international rugby union forward. *John Alfred Valentine Butler (1899–1977), born in Winchcombe, was a physical chemist who contributed to electrode kinetics through the Butler–Volmer equation. *Michael Cardew (1901–1983), master potter, moved to Winchcombe to revive a derelict pottery and 17th-century English slipware tradition. *John Kingsley Cook (1911–1994), a prominent wood engraver, was born in Winchcombe. *Sidney Tustin (1913 – 2005) worked at Winchcombe Pottery from 1926 until 1979 *Ray Finch (1914–2012), master potter, bought Michael Cardew's pottery in 1939, and after the Second World War worked there for the rest of his life making stoneware. *Colin Pearson (1923–2007), master potter, worked at Winchcombe under Ray Finch until 1954. *Seth Cardew (1934–2016), a master potter born in Winchcombe, was the son of Michael Cardew and brother of the composer Cornelius Cardew. *Cornelius Cardew (1936–1981), composer, was born in Winchcombe, the son of Michael Cardew.
===See also=== *Winchcombeshire
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons}} {{Wikivoyage}}
*[https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=5549382 Photos of Winchcombe and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk]
{{Cotswold Way|Cheltenham|Broadway|{{convert|13.5|km|mi|abbr=on}}|{{convert|19|km|mi|abbr=on}}}} {{Gloucestershire}} {{authority control}}
Category:Winchcombe Category:Towns in Gloucestershire Category:Borough of Tewkesbury Category:Market towns in Gloucestershire