Alderley (also previously known as Alderleigh ) is a village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, about fourteen miles southwest of Stroud and two miles south of Wotton-under-Edge. It is situated on the Cotswold Way near to the villages of Hillesley and Tresham and lies underneath Winner Hill between two brooks, the Ozleworth and Kilcott.

History

The village has an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is referred to as Alrelie meaning "Woodland clearing where alders grow" (from OE alor + lēah). Records show that the village is located in the hundred of Grimboldestou with a total population of sixteen (16) households (7 villagers, 5 smallholders, 4 slaves) whilst also boasting 2 lord's plough teams, 7 men's plough teams, 12 acres of meadows and 1 mill; in 1066 the Lord of the Estate was the Saxon thegn Wigot of Wallingford, whereas in 1086 it was the wealthy Norman landowner Miles Crispin. In a later 1309 document the village is referred to as Alreleye, and in a 1345 document as Alrely. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the village contained a number of woolen mills, and in Samuel Rudder's A New History of Gloucestershire published in 1779 he states that Alderley had been home to the clothing industry for hundreds of years. In A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis published in 1831, Alderley is described thus: As part of the local government changes of the early 1970s, Alderley was the only parish of Sodbury Rural District not to form part of the newly-created district of Northavon in the county of Avon, instead joining Stroud district in Gloucestershire.

Architecture

The village contains several interesting buildings: