A Visitors Guide To Tetbury

A small town situated on the top of a hill near to a tributary of the Bath Avon. The  recorded history of Tetbury begins in 681, when King Ethelred of Mercia issued a charter granting land near "Tette's Minster" to the Abbot and Monks of Malmesbury. Yet there is evidence that the town was in existence as early as the Iron Age when there was a hill fort here, although  not  much archaeological investigation  has taken place.

The centre of the town has basically remained unchanged since the 16th and 17th centuries when the town was at the height of prosperity as a major wool town. most of the buildings that survive in the main street were there during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I but it can be difficult to establish the age because of the 18th and 19th century fronts. 

The trading of wool ratherThe trading of wool rather then the manufacture of cloth was the original source of the towns wealth  and it was the decline in the local cloth making that began the inevitable loss of  the wool trade in the town during the 1800's and the town eventually became less prosperous having been unable to attract much industry from the revolution that began to sweep the rest of the country.

Nevertheless the town has remained much the same as a century or more ago although  having grown in size it still retains much of its heritage. The area is once again prosperous although industry still shuns the town and major high street stores are missing, Tetbury is still a wealthy place with many antique shops replacing older businesses and several of the small general shops display the Prince of Wales Feathers for services to HRH Prince Charles who lives just outside the town at nearby Doughton.

The skyline is dominated by the parish church of St.Mary the Virgin, and the spire can be seen on any approach to the town. The spire, the fourth highest in the country along with  the tower were dismantled and rebuilt in 1891 over one hundred years after the medieval church was rebuilt. 

Links
Map of Tetbury
www.tetbury.org.uk 
www.tetburyonline.co.uk 
www.tetbury.com