MEDIEVAL TOWN PLAN

The town plan, laid out in the 12th century by William Crassus, locally a very powerful man, remains largely unaltered today - fewer than 30, such examples exist elsewhere in the country.

The plan forms a grid pattern, whereby long strips of land with narrow dwellings front onto the wide market street. The feudal system of burgage plots created a medieval middle class of tenants who paid rent to the local landlord, putting them socially above the local peasants and enabling them to earn a living at their crafts and businesses - not unlike today.

Chipping Sodbury's Town Hall is a grade II listed building which dates back to 1452 (when it was a Guild Hall). Like a number of other buildings in the town, it was given a more modern frontage by Victorian improvers.

The first market cross was erected on this site in 1350. It was demolished and replaced with the current cross in 1553. Over the years it has been removed to various places but was re-erected in its original place in 1920 as the town war memorial

On the hills above Sodbury is an impressive iron age camp covering about 10 acres, dating back to 450 B.C. Mystery surrounds the reason for its location but it provides spectacular views and forms part of the 50 miles long Cotswold Way.

TYNDALE

William Tyndale translated the Bible into English. He was a chaplain and tutor for the Walshe family at the manor in the hamlet of Little Sodbury from 1521-23. The publication of the English New Testament caused a furore at the time and lead to his death at the stake. A monument to his memory stands high above Stinchcome, a small village just a short distance away, deep within the folds of the Cotswold Hills.

Built on the site of the demolished Duke William Inn in 1862, it is one of the finest examples of 19th century police stations in the country. In the early 1900s the court room was added, and the window, high above the entrance, bears the inscription - "Petty Sessional Court".