THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES AND CLERGY OF CHELTENHAM by Alan Munden

In this new book, Alan Munden explores the development of the Anglican churches in Cheltenham, from the ancient parish church of St Mary and the numerous churches of the Victorian era, to those consecrated in the 20th century. The introductory section covers patronage, varieties of Evangelicalism and churchmanship, hymnbooks, church seating, frequency of services, team ministries and clergy 1799-2020, including the famous, infamous and the barely known. Sections on each church follow, with the history of the building, plus listings of incumbents with biographical details and their clerical careers. Alan adds colour with extra snippets of information—one poor clergyman being married to an ’adventuress’ who defrauded her husband, the court case reported as ‘one unequalled for duplicity and criminal deception by a wife.’
Alan is a regular contributor to the CLHS Journal, and 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of his curacy at the parish church, now The Minster.
The print version (172 pp) is available now at a price of £7. Later this year we will place an online edition on our website, which will include dates of incumbencies but will exclude the detailed clergy biographies and clerical careers. Print copies will continue to be available for purchase.

CHELTENHAM IN THE GREAT WAR by Neela Mann

What did the people in Cheltenham do during World War I, how did they cope and what was happening here?
Order this book direct from the author at a discount.

CHELTENHAM REVEALED ‘The Town and Tithing’ Plan c. 1800 Carolyn Greet and James Hodsdon

This publication, with twenty comprehensively annotated maps, brings to wider attention a hitherto overlooked large-scale survey of our town at the end of the 18th century. At a scale of 20 inches to the mile (about 1: 3200) it shows public and private premises, gardens, orchards and arable and pasture fields.

Copies are available for purchase @ £5.00 each. Please click the button to submit your order.

VCH PAPERBACK CHELTENHAM BEFORE THE SPA by Beth Hartland and Alex Craven

The familiar image of Cheltenham, a large and prosperous former spa town, world-famous on account of its Georgian and Regency architecture, its festivals and educational establishments, masks an earlier history. Although numerous descriptions of the town have been published, most say little about the centuries before the 1740s, when it began to develop into a fashionable resort. This is the fullest account ever attempted to chronicle those centuries, from the late Saxon period until the 18th century. In this period Cheltenham developed into a successful small town, ranged along a single main street, with a market and trades serving not only its own needs but also those of the surrounding countryside. This new study draws on a range of documentary sources preserved in local and national archives, many of them never examined in detail before. It therefore helps to explain the foundations upon which present-day Cheltenham was constructed.

Please contact Sue Brown if you would like to obtain a copy.