Rodborough Common
Posted by on January 01 1970 00:07:00
Rodborough  Common Offered to the National Trust

Rodborough Common was given to the National Trust in 1937 by Mr Bainbridge Fletcher, however it is little known that this gift was dependent on the establishment of an endowment fund of £700 to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the common. The Times of London supported this appeal and published a full list of the doners. The Treasurer was Walter R Payne was was Secretary of the Stroud Building Society and lived in the Curtal, Private Road, Rodborough. In 1941 the National Trust declared the whole of the Rodborough, Min chinhampton commons estate inalienable.

Times July 16 1936
Rodborough Common
Cotswold Land Offered to National Trust

An appeal has been launched for funds to enable Rodborough Common, Stroud Gloucestershire, to be handed over to the National Trust. The sum required is £700, of which £250 has been raised locally, to form an endowment fund for the upkeep and maintenance of the common.

The well-known Minchinhampton Common, which adjoins Rodborough is already vested in the National Trust. The success of the present appeal would add over 250 acres on the top of the Cotswolds to Trust property and preserve for ever the natural wild beauty of the common and the rights of the public. Mr Bainbridge Fletcher, the owner of the common, has offered it to the Trust, but their acceptance is conditional on an endowment fund being provided. The annual expenditure required would not be large; there would be certain expenses incurred in the prevention of encroachment, the cutting of thistles and weeds, the fencing of dangerous quarries, the prevention of damage and nuisances, and generally in keeping the common tidy.
The treasurer of the fund is Mr W R Payne of the Curtal, Rodborough. Donations may be sent to him or to the Rodborough Common Account at Lloyds Bank, Stroud

There is a photo of the common looking towards Woodchester in the Times 16 July 1936


Times Thursday January 14 1937

Rodborough Common
Cotswold Land for the National Trust

It was announced in the Times of July 15 1936, that an appeal was being made for funds to enable Rodborough Common, near Stroud, Gloucestershire to be handed over to the National Trust, and that the sum needed was £700, of which £250 had been raised locally. The honorary treasurer of the fund, Mr W R Payne of Rodborough, now states that, largely owing to the the assistance of The Times, the amount of the endowment fund required has been fully subscribed or promised, and that arrangements are being made by the National Trust for the future control and regulation of the common.
The full list of subscriptons, making a total of £713 0s 5d is as follows:-

£100 Stroud Rural District Council
£30 RJ Tyrrell, Rodborough
£50 11s 3d Rodborough Jubilee Fund
£26 5s Messrs Strachan and Co Ltd
£25 each F J Steel, J S Daniels, W R Payne, AR Lee, E B Worth, Stroud Urban District Council
£20 each GA Mathews F M Smith Bruce Swanwick, C Ashman Carter
£15 15s Cainscross and Ebley Cooperative Society
£11 7s 3d part proceeds of Rodborough Fair
£11 1s William Knight
£10 10s A Mann and Mrs Mann
£10 each Lord Vesty; John Rowell, ROP  Paddison,
£5 5s W. G Downing, A Margetson (in memory of Wm Margetson; Rotary Club of Stroud; JM Margetson (Goldalming)
£5 each  Ernet Davies, J Brooke, Mrs RM Mole (in memory of Mrs Boyd), RA Cameron (Liverpool), GF Abell (London), Mrs MH Wills, S Chew Hooper, FG Yeo, SS Marling, G Trevor Wellington, Frank Shaylor, FL Daniels, R J Caruthers-Little
£3 3s each Mrs L Watson and Rev C E Watson, Mrs AG Keely and Mrs Hughes (in memory of Mrs Horden)
£3 each Miss EG Whiting, Mrs GFG Pollard, (St Mawes)
£2 2s each Mrs SV Bride, C Mildred, A Gladman, Mrs M Davies, Stroud Central School for Girls, Miss AM Stephens, C B Robinson (Birmingham), AR Smale, AA Horder, Wm Bellows, Mr and Mrs Lindsey Winterbotham, JN Tod, Albany WArd, Mrs and Mrs J Lionel Daniels, AG Pritchard, Robert Dodd, AB Cooke.
£2 each Mrs JM Chambers, HHG Bennett (London), CA Hayward
£1 10s Dr W Hooper, Redhill, Surrey
£1 1s each B Hudson, R Bird, RE Garnett, Miss EC Yeo, Miss SM Daviss, FC Hodges (Guildford), FJ Okey (Boscombe), AGA Bennett (London) AL Drew, AR  Taylour, HC Hunt (London), the Rev LV Miller, HW Clarke, W Newall (Fourstones, Cumberland), Mrs Clarke, Miss LH Stern, Miss M Butterworth (Bristol) Mrs HLF Cubitt, Miss MA Wilkins, Cheltenham Science Society, Smith and Lee Ltd, R Russell Smith, The Misses Payne, Anon per FAM, The Misses Anderson, Miss ML Cowlin (Bristol), Fredk King, Miss AM James, FW Beck, Mrs CH Griggs.
£1 each GW Pearce, WA Strange, LEP Wolferson, Mrs Semmence, Miss GM Strickland, KP Humpidge, Mrs GH Cowen, Fred Harper, HW Stephens, JS Corrigan, Danvers Bidlake,
10s 6d each CJ Tanner, GE Jones, Mrs C Hensmen (Bedford)
10s each  HP Davis, RB Chandler (Weston Super Mare), The Misses Hodges, RP Elliot, Mrs EM Browne, F B; Miss Saumarez, Smith (Steyning), Miss Bramley, Miss A Baker, The Rev GH and Mrs Crossland, Miss LE Beedham, Mrs B Harrison (in memory of Charles Bass), Mrs VF Prescott (Cheltenham), Mrs B Hillier, Antil, AE James, FC Humpidge, Miss MC Lewis, AD, Dr HH Mould, AF Butler (London).
5s each  Mrs A Graham Major Crawley Boevey; Miss Purnell-Edwards, Miss Mills, Miss Meyr, Miss Franklin
2s 6d each  R J Weston, G Chandler, Miss MP Fitxgerald
1s    Nurse Miles, Miss H



Chas Townley