About

Preston on Stour (part of Gloucestershire until 1931) is an estate village and one of the most unspoilt in the country, having seen very little new building since the mid-nineteenth century. 

According to the Domesday Book, Preston was owned by Deerhurst Priory, near Tewkesbury. With the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII, the manor of Preston on Stour and neighbouring Alscot (across the river) were sold.  In 1747 both Preston and Alscot, along with the manors of Whitchurch, Wimpstone and Crimscote, were bought by James West, MP, the son of a London Cloth Merchant.  His family have owned the estate ever since.

Domesday Book Entry for Preston (1086)

The oldest building in the village is a timber-framed cottage dating back to the 16^th century and is reputed to have been a priest's house.  The 17^th century framed cottage next to it is now the only thatched building in the village.  There are two adjoining cottages made of wattle and daub and two terraces of 18^th or early 19^th century brick cottages. There are also several sizable properties such as the old vicarage, and the old manor house.

In the 1850s, James Roberts West rebuilt the main street of Preston as a model village. The school, at the southern end of the village, was the earliest feature, built in the 1840s.  Eight pairs of two-storied cottages, evenly spaced on each side of the road running up from the school to the green, were built between 1852 and 1856.

The church has a medieval tower but remainder was rebuilt in 1753-4 by Edward Woodward and is a very early example of the Gothic revival.  It contains several notable memorials.

A page from the 1901 census, listing inhabitants in the main street.  Highlighted is William Paxton, then aged 19, who was killed on 1^st July 1916 and whose name appears on the village war memorial at the top end of the main street.