Harescombe

Harescombe
The Church of St. John the Baptist
Harescombe is located in Gloucestershire
Harescombe
Harescombe
Location within Gloucestershire
Population247 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSO8310
Civil parish
  • Harescombe
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townGloucester
Postcode districtGL6 6
Dialling code01452
PoliceGloucestershire
FireGloucestershire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Gloucestershire
51°47′28″N 2°14′20″W / 51.791°N 02.239°W / 51.791; -02.239

Harescombe is a small village in Gloucestershire, England.[2] It is situated 5 miles (8 km) south of Gloucester. It is thought the name of the village is derived from a combination of the Celtic term "cwm" (valley) and the Saxon term "here" (army), thus the full meaning of "Harescombe" would be "the Army's Valley".[3]

The community is indeed in a valley as it rests at the foot of the well-known range of the Cotswolds called the Haresfield Beacon and Broadbarrow Green, which 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.[3]

Hilles House was designed by Detmar Blow. He built the mansion for himself after 1914,[4][5]

  1. ^ "Parish population 2011". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  2. ^ Welbore St. Clair Baddeley (1913). Place-names of Gloucestershire: a handbook. J. Bellows. p. 78. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  3. ^ a b Melland Hall, Rev. J. (1885). Transactions – Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. Bristol: C. T. Jeffries and Sons. pp. 67–132.
  4. ^ Musson, Jeremy (2018). Secret Houses of the Cotswolds. Frances Lincoln. pp. 70–75. ISBN 978-0711239241.
  5. ^ "Hilles House and terraced gardens". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2020.