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. We celebrated our tenth birthday as a formally constituted Group in September 2026.
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 have 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, currently with over 800 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 October – Bisley’s Edwardian Photographer, Frederick Major – Howard Beard
France Lynch Church Rooms, 7.30 p.m.
Well-known local historian and author Howard Beard returns to talk to us in our second meeting of the 2026/7 programme.
Howard will be telling us the story of one of Bisley’s two Edwardian photographers, Frederick Major.
His patch was mainly the village itself and surrounding parishes, plus Stroud. He was active up until at least the end of World War One. Especially notable was his excellent coverage of the Great Snow of 1916.
A short AGM will precede Howard’s talk.
Exhibition and “Drop-In” Afternoon
On Saturday 3 October we held our first daytime local history exhibition and “drop-in” afternoon at France Lynch Church Rooms. Around 100 people visited during the afternoon to look at our displays of old photos, postcards, maps and research into topics such as stick working, local schools and the building of the Manor Farm Estate.
We had a particular focus on gathering memories of the 50s, 60s and 70s, for the next book that we’re planning to write, and we’re very grateful to those who left their details for us to contact them over the next few months to gather more information. Thanks also to those who wrote useful information on the photos we had on the tables looking for the who/what/where/when.
We hope everyone who attended enjoyed the tea, coffee, homemade cake, and the chance to sit down and just have a chat about local history with like-minded people. This type of afternoon had previously been a great success for the Local History Group in neighbouring Eastcombe and we think this has proved we can do the same for Chalford Parish.
Here’s a few photos of the day.
We meet monthly except August and December, normally on the third Wednesday of the month.
Our 2026/27 programme is here and other local history events which may be of interest are here.