Stroud has a well-known tradition of enjoying "the alternative". Its inhabitants celebrate being different and thinking differently...and the history of religion in Stroud bears this tradition out.
It is of no surprise then, that the 1851 Religious Census declared that, of all parts of Gloucestershire, Stroud was the most non-conformist. Even in the reign of Elizabeth 1, churchwardens were documented in 1576, as objecting to practices in church worship; "idolatry" in church windows and tombs were considered to be too Catholic.
From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local
History Society
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