Editing Dursley (section)

==History==
[[File:DursleyMarket.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Dursley Town Hall]]]]
Ancient historical sites in the vicinity give evidence of earlier occupation. [[Uley Bury]] is an [[Iron Age]] [[hill fort]] dating from around 300 BC. The area also has neolithic [[long barrow]]s; one called "[[Uley Long Barrow|Hetty Pegler's Tump]]" can be entered. Roman remains exist at [[Frocester]], West Hill near [[Uley]], [[Woodchester]] and [[Calcot Manor]].

Dursley once had a castle, built by Roger de Berkeley in 1153.<ref name="Dursley Location Information">[http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/john.wilkes/dursley.htm#preface Dursley Location Information<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051025074814/http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/john.wilkes/dursley.htm |date=25 October 2005 }}</ref>

Dursley gained [[borough]] status in 1471 and lost it in 1886. From 1837 to 1851, it was the administrative centre of Dursley Registration District which recorded vital records of people living in the parishes of [[North Nibley]], [[Coaley]], [[Slimbridge]], [[Stinchcombe]], [[Uley]], Dursley, [[Cam, Gloucestershire|Cam]], [[Nympsfield]], [[Kingswood, Stroud District|Kingswood]], [[Wotton-under-Edge]] and [[Owlpen]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/phillimoremaps/?f-F0005DFD=Dursley |title=Smith, Cecil R. Humphery. The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers. Digitized images. Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, Canterbury, Kent, England. Accessed 13 April 2013 via paid subscription site: Great Britain, Atlas and Index of Parish Registers. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. |website=[[Ancestry.com]] |access-date=14 April 2019 |archive-date=21 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821100411/https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8830/?f-F0005DFD=Dursley |url-status=live }}</ref> From 1886 until 1974 it was the administrative centre of Dursley [[Rural district|Rural District]] (RDC). In 1974 the RDC became part of [[Stroud District]].

The [[Grade I listed]]<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1290832|desc=Church of St James|access-date=14 April 2019}}</ref> [[Church of England parish church|parish church]] of St. James the Great dates from the 13th century. The modern building is largely of 14th and 15th century construction and carries the Tudor coat of arms on the outside below the guttering, indicating that some of its construction was funded by the Tudor royals. The original church spire collapsed in January 1699 during a bell-ringing session, causing casualties. The current belltower, in an imposing [[Gothic survival]] style, was built by Thomas Sumsion of [[Colerne]] in 1708–09.

[[Dursley Town Hall]], a structure complete with statue of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] and bell turret, dates from 1738, when the town's markets attracted farmers and traders from miles around. It is now maintained by the Dursley Town Council.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/474ef311-4448-4dfb-949f-7002370dab72  |title=Dursley Town Trust|publisher=National Archives| access-date= 7 August 2021}}</ref>

In 1856, a short [[Dursley and Midland Junction Railway|branch line railway]] opened,<ref>[http://cotswoldedge.org.uk/dursley/Dursley_Donkey.htm citing from Branch lines of Gloucestershire] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080331065730/http://cotswoldedge.org.uk/dursley/Dursley_Donkey.htm |date=31 March 2008 }} {{ISBN|0-86299-959-6}}</ref> called the "Dursley Donkey" by locals, linking Dursley and Cam to the [[Bristol]]–[[Gloucester]] main line at [[Coaley]] Junction. The branch line was closed in 1968 and Coaley Junction station was also closed at about this time. However, in 1994, a new station called [[Cam and Dursley railway station|Cam and Dursley]] was opened on the main line, 330 yards north of the site of Coaley Junction.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Dursley was a large-scale manufacturing town; engines built here by the [[R A Lister and Company|Lister engine company]] founded in 1867 were used around the world. 

That company's successor, [[Lister Petter]], was based in the town until 2014, though much of the original {{convert|92|acre|ha|adj=on}} factory site was acquired in 2000 by the [[South West of England Regional Development Agency|South West Regional Development Agency]] and then in 2011 by [[Stroud District|Stroud District Council]]. It is now being developed as a large housing development with some industrial units.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southwestrda.org.uk:80/area-teams/gloucestershire/delkin-village/index.shtm|title=Littlecombe, Dursley|date=2005|website=South West RDA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504103753/http://www.southwestrda.org.uk/area-teams/gloucestershire/delkin-village/index.shtm|archive-date=4 May 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=16 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Towers, a large gothic-style house, formerly part of the Lister Petter estate, still overlooks the town and has been converted into flats and a residential care home.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southwestrda.org.uk/news/release.asp?releaseid=1458|title=New Lease of Life for Historic Lister Petter Home|date=20 February 2006|website=South West RDA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504103750/http://www.southwestrda.org.uk/news/release.asp?releaseid=1458|archive-date=4 May 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=16 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The [[Lister Hall]] theatre is named after the company.
[[File:St James the Great Dursley.jpg|thumb|upright|Church of St James the Great]]

Other large factories based in the town included Mawdsley's, an electrical equipment manufacturer; Bymack's, an upholsterers; and the Bailey Newspaper Group, a newspaper printer, all of which have reduced or closed operations.