The Grade I listed[4]parish church of St. James the Great dates from the 13th century. The modern building is largely of 14th and 15th century construction and carries the Tudor coat of arms on the outside below the guttering, indicating that some of its construction was funded by the Tudor royals. The original church spire collapsed in January 1699 during a bell-ringing session, causing casualties. The current belltower, in an imposing Gothic survival style, was built by Thomas Sumsion of Colerne in 1708–09.
Dursley Town Hall, a structure complete with statue of Queen Anne and bell turret, dates from 1738, when the town's markets attracted farmers and traders from miles around. It is now maintained by the Dursley Town Council.[5]
In 1856 a short branch line railway opened,[6] called the "Dursley Donkey" by locals, linking Dursley and Cam to the Bristol–Gloucester main line at Coaley Junction. The branch line was closed in 1968 and Coaley Junction station was also closed at about this time. However, in 1994 a new station called Cam and Dursley was opened on the main line, 330 yards north of the site of Coaley Junction.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Dursley was a large-scale manufacturing town; engines built here by the Lister engine company founded in 1867 were used around the world.
That company's successor, Lister Petter, was based in the town until 2014, though much of the original 92-acre (37 ha) factory site was acquired in 2000 by the South West Regional Development Agency and then in 2011 by Stroud District Council. It is now being developed as a large housing development with some industrial units.[7] The Towers, a large gothic-style house, formerly part of the Lister Petter estate, still overlooks the town and has been converted into flats and a residential care home.[8] The Lister Hall theatre is named after the company.
Church of St James the Great
Other large factories based in the town included Mawdsley's, an electrical equipment manufacturer; Bymack's, an upholsterers; and the Bailey Newspaper Group, a newspaper printer, all of which have reduced or closed operations.
Dursley's main watercourse is the River Ewelme which becomes the River Cam when it enters Cam. The town is surrounded by woodland and countryside, and the Cotswold Way long distance trail passes through Dursley town centre.
In March 2010 Sainsbury's opened a newly built 20,000 sq ft supermarket within walking distance of the town centre.[9] Other recent arrivals include Lidl (November 2009, in premises on Kingshill Road previously occupied by the Regal Cinema and then Kwik Save[10]) and Iceland (July 2010, replacing Somerfield in the town centre[11]). The Co-op has operated a smaller store in Rosebery Road since 2002. The town centre also has a number of independent shops and cafes.
A range of markets are held at the Market Place in the centre of the town; a farmers' market is held there on the second Saturday of every month and a craft market on the fourth Saturday of each month. There is an active Transition group in Cam and Dursley (part of the global Transition town network) which looks after Dursley's Secret Garden, among other projects.
Dursley has a number of licensed premises and the Old Spot pub is regularly voted Gloucestershire 'Pub of the Year'.[12] The pub was named as 2007 CAMRANational Pub of the year.[13]
Author J. K. Rowling, born in nearby Yate, named the Dursley family in the Harry Potter books after the town due to disliking the place. She has jokingly remarked, "I don't imagine I'm very popular in Dursley".[18]
In Richard II there is reference to "the wolds of Gloucestershire", and when Bolingbrook asks how far it is to Berkeley as "these wild hills and rough uneven ways draw out for miles", the reply given is "there stands the castle beyond that tuft of trees". Many people understand this as a conversation taking place on Stinchcombe Hill overlooking the Vale of Berkeley and its castle.
.jpg)
