Road and Rail
Most of the lanes we use today have evolved from the packhorse
tracks which meandered along the hillsides and occasionally dipped
down into the valleys. It was along these routes that the earliest
inns and beer houses could be found as travelling was thirsty work!
Extra horses were required to help pull the heavy loads up the
hills. Examples of these are Whips Lane, Star Hill and Tetbury
Lane. There were several blacksmiths shoeing horses and making
wagon wheels, some of the equipment that was used is displayed in
Wheelwrights Corner. In 1780 Turnpike Roads were being laid
in more direct routes along the valley bottoms. Tolls collected at
the turnpike cottages were used to keep the roads in good repair,
tollhouses remain in Pensile Road and Horsley Road. The ladder hill
climb adjacent to The W always happens in February.
 The Midland Railway
came to Nailsworth in 1867 running along the valley via Dudbridge to
Stonehouse and connecting with the G.W.R. from Bristol to
Birmingham. In 1885 a branch line connected at Dudbridge and ran
into Stroud where passengers could catch trains to Gloucester or
Paddington. Although Nailsworth passenger station closed in 1947,
the station house remains fully restored
and in use as a private
dwelling.
There was also a busy goods yard near Egypt Mill with a large brick
built engine shed, cattle dock and a large goods shed belonging to C. W. Jones and Co. Goods handled were cattle, sheep, pigs, wool,
corn, coal, bricks and cement, as well as supplies for all the
shops.
A regular sight was ‘the pig run’; pigs would disembark at
the goods yard and be herded up The Rollers and down to Newmarket
and Hilliers. The
 goods yard closed in 1966, but the C. W. Jones
building is still in use and provides bed and breakfast for Egypt
Mill guests.
The Railway Hotel is no longer an hotel but a private
residence. The track bed of the old railway line provides a popular
cycle track and linear wildlife path to Stonehouse and Stroud.
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