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Robert Hodges, clothier, was the first occupant of Willow House. He died soon afterwards, and the house was bought by the Rev Dr John Williams, well-respected academic and curate of Stroud, who owned it until 1855. He moved to Woodchester in 1833 and the house was let, first to Christopher Smith, a dyer, then to Charles Goddard, a surgeon.
It opened as a police station in 1859 and was enlarged, with a new sergeant’s house behind, in 1885. In 1894 a smaller building for checking Weights and Measures was added to the north, and this was rebuilt as the Petty Sessional Court in 1908, making the long facade we see today. The road level at Badbrook has been raised more than once since Willow House was built; the house has lost its steps to the front door and its original proportions.
After the new Police Station was built in 1974, and the police moved out, the house was threatened with demolition for a new Ring Road scheme, but survived – renamed Willow Court – and has been used since for various clubs and businesses.
Revised 2018 EMW
From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society
