BISLEY, a parish (formerly a market-town) in
the hundred of BISLEY, county of GLOUCESTER, 11
miles (S. E.) from Gloucester, and 97 (W.) from London,
containing 5421 inhabitants. The town is situated
partly on the acclivity of a hill, and partly in the vale
beneath it, which is watered by a small stream. The
streets are irregularly formed, and contain few houses
of respectable appearance. The inhabitants are chiefly
employed in the manufacture of broad cloth, which is
carried on to a considerable extent. The Thames and
Severn canal passes through the parish, and, near the
extremity of it, enters a tunnel, through which it is
conducted for nearly two miles and a half under Salperton
hill. A market was formerly held here, but it
has been discontinued: the fairs are on May 4th and
November 12th. The town is within the jurisdiction
of a court of requests held at Cirencester, for the
seven hundreds of Cirencester, established by an act
passed in the 32nd of George III., for the recovery of
debts under 40s.: constables and other officers are
appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese
of Gloucester, rated in the king's books at £19- 10. 5.,
and in the patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated
to All Saints, is a spacious and handsome
structure, partly in the decorated, and partly in the
later, style of English architecture, with a tower surmounted
by a .lofty spire; among other interesting
monuments is a statue of one of the family of Nottingham.
In the churchyard there is an octagonal
cross, handsomely panelled in trefoil, and surmounted
with an ancient font, erected over a well, in which a
man having been drowned, the cemetery was placed
under an interdict for three years, during which time
the dead were carried to Bibury for interment. There
is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The
free school is supported by a portion of the produce of
lands left for the repair of the church, the payment of
the clerk, and the salary of the schoolmaster, who receives
at present £13. 14. per annum. A Blue-coat
school for clgthing and instructing ten boys, endowed
jn 1820, by Mr. Taylor, has been incorporated with the
free school, and the master receives a salary of £ 12.12.
per annum, for instructing the boys. The common, then
consisting of one thousand two hundred acres, was
given to the poor of this parish by Roger Mortimer,
Earl of March, in the reign of Edward III.; a considerable
part of it has been enclosed. At Lilly-house, a
hamlet near the town, a vaulted chamber was discovered,
with several adjoining apartments, having tesselated'
pavements, and niches in the walls j some other relics
of antiquity, supposed to be Roman, have also been
found at Custom-Scrubs, another adjacent hamlet.