Whitminster

Whitminster is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, on the A38 trunk road about six miles south of Gloucester. The parish population at the 2011 census was 881. It was formerly known as Wheatenhurst, the name being changed officially in 1945. Wheatenhurst manor, with Whitminster House and the parish church of St Andrew, lies about a mile to the west of the modern village.

It has one pub, 'The Old Forge', a village shop, a chip shop, a Chinese restaurant and takeaway, an Indian takeaway and a recently refurbished hotel, The Whitminster Inn.

Whitminster is a fast-growing village due to its proximity to the M5 motorway, with Bristol, South Wales and the Midlands all within an hour's drive.

History

The village was originally known as Wheatenhurst, recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Witenherst. The name means "white wooded hill", or possibly "wooded hill of a man named Hwita". The name was corrupted to Whitnester and then Whitmister, and by the 17th century evolved by popular etymology to Whitminster. There was never a minster here. Either or both names were used of the parish until the 20th century, but the village on the A38 came to be known as Whitminster, whereas the smaller group of houses west of the main road in the centre of the parish came to be known as Wheatenhurst.

The manor of Wheatenhurst was held by Beorhtric at the time of Edward the Confessor and post-Conquest it was held by Hearding in pledge from Beorhtric.

Literature

Whitminster is the location used in the short ghost story titled The Residence at Whitminster by M. R. James, published in his third collection of ghost stories, A Thin Ghost and Others, in 1919.

External links

• Whitminster Community Wiki and Forum Whitminster Online
• Victoria County History: Wheatenhurst or Whitminster
• Whitminster (Wheatenhurst) GENUKI
• Whitminster Stroud District Council
• Whitminster Village Website