Welcome to the website of Chalford Parish Local History Group, which is designed to provide information on our meetings, on other local history events in the area and to be a source of general information about the history of the Chalford Parish.
The Group was formally constituted in September 2016 after a series of very successful meetings had been held beginning in May of that year. We currently over 120 people on our mailing list and everyone is welcome at all our meetings.
We also have a Facebook Group here which anyone is welcome to join, with currently just over 700 members. This is a private Group so you will need to join it to see posts.
This website continues to evolve as we add new material so do keep returning or try following some of the links at the top of the page.
Next Meeting
21 January – MOD War Detectives (Alexia Clark)
The MOD War Detectives are a small team based at Imjin Barracks near Gloucester, who are tasked with identifying missing British Service Personnel from the two World Wars and the Korean War. With over 527,000 men still missing this is no small task. Join us to find out more about how and why this work takes place, and what happens following the identification or recovery of a casualty of war. The photo shows the recent burial of eight Scottish soldiers, two of whom had been identified by the team using DNA. The great nephew of one of them is from Stroud.
New Book Publication
We are delighted to announce the publication in September 2025 of our latest book, Old Maps of Chalford. This was inspired by the response to Roger Carnt’s talk on that very subject in October 2024 and the subsequent discovery that we have so many rich sources of local maps, many of which are not available except by going to see them in person in archives and collections. Seven of the Committee have now put together this book which draws on a wide variety of local maps from the 16th century onwards. The 72 page A4 landscape publication is in full colour with numerous pictures and full page reproductions of many of the maps. It is available (price £10) at our meetings as well as via Chalford Parish Centre (Geralds Way), Eastcombe Stores, and Chalford Village Shop. Now also available at R&R Books, Stroud.
We meet monthly except August and December, normally on the third Wednesday of the month.
Our current programme is here and other local history events which may be of interest are here.