1001 little known facts about Hartpury

..... well eventually, maybe. Here are a few to be getting on with:

• Over Old Road is nothing to do with Over. Before the Second World War there were two finger posts near Corner House pointing up this road. The first said "Maisemore" and the second said "over old road" because this was the original turnpike road to Maisemore and thence to Gloucester. [The current A417 between Hartpury only being constructed in 1822]. During the War all directional signposts were removed to confuse the enemy in case of an invasion and so the sign to Maisemore was removed. After the war we were left with a sign saying "over old road" which appears to have stuck.
• At a meeting of the Gloucestershire Agricultural Society on 25 November 1834 it was agreed to give an award for the greatest number of children reared without recourse to Parish relief. One of the two awards made was to Mr William Evans of Hartpury who had eight children. He received £1.

• Hartpury Farm may be found in Chedworth, in the Cotswolds.

• Will Harvey, the war poet, was born at Murrells End House in 1888. His most popular poem, Ducks, begins

  From troubles of the world
  I turn to ducks,
  Beautiful comical things
  Sleeping or curled
  Their heads beneath white wings
  ........

• The Population of Hartpury was at its historical peak in 1851 when the Census registered 884 residents. At the time of the 1991 Census there were 651 residents. All this changed when the results of the 2001 Census were published as students are now enumerated at their colleges. Thanks to Hartpury College the population of Hartpury is now recorded as 1298.

• Hartpury Court may also be found in Elwood, a suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia.

• Mary Gwynne Holford, the last member of the Gordon Canning family to live at Hartpury House, initiated the work for the supply of artificial limbs at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton.

• The main road between Hartpury and Maisemore (now part of the A417) was opened in 1822. Before that the main road was along the top of Woolridge - the Over Old Road.

• In 1786, according to the Gloucester Journal,

  A farmer of Hartpury, returning on Thursday evening from Barton Fair, was so excessively drunk, that he fell from his horse over the parapet of Westgate Bridge into the Severn, and was drowned. The body could not be found till Friday night.

• Arthur Dent, according to the 1891 Census, lived in Woolridge Farm. There is no mention, however, of Ford Prefect or Zaphod Beeblebrox.

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