Blaisdon
Baisdon lies about 8 miles South West of Gloucester
on the edge of the Severn flood plain. Before the Norman
Invasion it was known as Blethes Dene, meaning 'wooded
place'.
The village turns towards the rich farmland of the
Vale of Gloucester, and its land is predominantly fertile,
once with many orchards growing the 'Blaisdon Plum'.
Always small, the village is protected by the barriers
of the River Servern and Forest of Dean.
The centuries were hardly noticed here, and even the
Civil War of 1642 passed by it. The early houses were
timber framed, built with Forest Oak, but a disastrous
fire on 7th July 1699 destroyed most of the village.
Subsequent rebuilding was in stone or brick, but some
timber framed buildings remain. In the 18th Century
the village estate was owned by Robert Hayle and John
Wade, whose daughter Anna Gordon ran the estate until
its sale in 1865.
The Great Western Railway connected the village to
the Hereford-Gloucester branch line in 1852, and steam
trains could be heard in the village until 1964.
A rising industrialist, Henry Crawshay acquired most
of Blaidson in the 1860's, and rebuilt the nave of the
church in 1866. Baisdon Hall was built in 1876 for his
son Edwin. By 1890 the hall and most of the estate had
passed to Peter Stubbs, who built the entrance Lodge
to Blaisdon Hall, the Village hall and the Forge. At
the stud farm he bred Blaisdon Conqueror - the worlds
largest shire horse, whose bones lie in the British
Museum. On his death in 1906 Peter Stubbs eldest daughter,
Mary Helen Macwer inherited the main hall and built
the estate houses in the village centre, and the Gamekeepers
Lodge. With her husband Colin, she ran the Estate until
her death in 1928.
The Salesians of Don Bosco acquired Blaisdon Hall
as a seminary in the 1930's, and ran the Stud farm as
a mixed farm school. A valued part of the village community,
all visitors were made welcome at their home, until
they left in 1995. Hartpury Agricultural College took
the hall until 1999 when it returned to private ownership.
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