          
A
Guide to Nailsworth
compiled by
Ann Makemson (Town Archivist)
Introduction
Welcome, I am delighted to take you on a journey through history.
Whilst we are very much a town whose inhabitants plan for the
future, our preceding activity is important because it influences
our daily life in many ways. As you journey around the town you
will see much evidence of human activity and changes to our
landscape to power local industry. For instance, some of our
busiest roads were once pack horse routes. The mills, originally
connected by walking routes for the weavers, are now private
residences, light industry and shops. Our lakes (ponds) which were once
dammed to power the water wheels are used for recreational purposes
and are perfect wild life habitats.
 The A46 connects Bath, Cheltenham and Lincoln. Nailsworth is
located astride it four miles south of Stroud. Our population
numbers around 6,500 and the town is successfully managed by the
Town Council. Nailsworth is a busy town; it has its own Town Crier,
Town Information Centre, Archive Collection, Silver Band, Library,
Fire and Police Stations. A Farmers Market is held monthly and a
Country Market weekly. The Nailsworth Festival is organised
annually during the last week in April and an Armistice Procession
every November. There are two free newspapers: Nailsworth News,
produced and distributed by volunteers, and The Fountain, published
by the Town Council. We are also proud of achieving the title of a
Fair Trade town, selling these goods from several shops.
Nailsworth
is twinned with the French town of Leves; a suburb of Chartres and
exchange visits take place regularly. Our twin town recently gifted
a beautiful piece of stained glass depicting the coats of arms of
the two towns. This hangs in the library window.
We are well known
for our hospitality and to symbolise this there is a giant copper
kettle which hangs from a shop in George Street.  It has an 82
gallon capacity and was originally used to advertise an ironmongers
shop. There is also an ornately carved stone drinking fountain that
was erected in 1862 in Fountain Street.
The
Town's Origins
The name Nailsworth or ’Naeglesleag’is derived from the ley or
pasture of Naegl, which name came from the Saxon word for nail. By
1197 a more modern spelling had appeared in an official document,
showing that the ley of the landowner had now become a small hamlet,
or ‘worth’. This is the origin of the name Nailsworth as suggested
in the Oxford dictionary of place-names. The town is fortunate to
have its own shield. The upper part of the shield shows three sheep
on a green background, depicting our connection with wool production
and its three parishes from which the town was formed. The lower
section is a copy of the original Coat of Arms of Lord Windsor, who
in 1543 was granted the manors of Hampton and Avening and many acres
of land surrounding Nailsworth.
The Parish of Nailsworth was created in 1892 from parts of Avening,
Horsley and Minchinhampton. Anyone wishing to carry out research on
Nailsworth before this date needs to look into the history of these
three areas. The Nailsworth boundary encloses 1,598 acres and
includes the hamlets of Inchbrook, Windsoredge, Shortwood,
Newmarket, Rockness, Harleywood, Watledge and Upper and Lower Forest
Green. The deep valleys formed by the Horsley Stream, the Miry
Brook in the Newmarket Valley and the Avening Stream all converge in
the town centre, flowing into the Nailsworth stream and on into the
river Frome.
 The valley bottom, being originally marshland, compelled people to
inhabit the drier hillside slopes near to the springs where they
could obtain clean drinking water for themselves and their animals.
The high or top level springs issue from the beds of great oolitic
limestone. This water is ‘hard water’. The lower level springs
filter down through the Cotswold Sands giving pure and softer water,
emerging where they hit the fuller’s earth. Good examples of these
are found in the stone water spouts in Watledge. The water
temperature remains fairly constant at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit
or 5 degrees Centigrade all year round.
In 1500 Nailsworth was a small hamlet set in the marshy valley and
surrounded by thick forests of beech, oak, ash, sycamore and hazel
covering most of the hillsides. The main pasture land was on the
hilltops with a few meadows and cultivated land in the lower valley
bottoms. Although some of the woodland has now gone, local names
suggest where they once stood: Harley Wood, Walkley Wood, Colliers
Wood, Forest Green and Shortwood. Highwood and Hazelwood remain,
covering quite large areas where deer have been seen.
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