Bisley

What to see

The wells are on Wells Road, below the village. Five spouts pour from a Gothic stone screen carved with the words "O ye wells, bless ye the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever", given its stone head in 1863 by Thomas Keble, the vicar, and listed Grade II. Since then generations of children from Bisley Blue Coat School have carried flower-covered stars, numbers and letters, spelling out the year and the word Ascension, down to them on Ascension Day; our story on well dressing at Bisley has the day in full.

Up on George Street is the lock-up of 1824, two cells under an ogee gable with a ball on top, each cell with iron gates and a grille above, built to replace an older blind-house by the churchyard. It is listed Grade II*, as is the Bear across the street, an early seventeenth-century building with a four-bay stone colonnade along its front. It was the village's courthouse and assembly room before it was an inn: the Bear is recorded as a pub from 1631, and the manor court met there between 1766 and 1838.

All Saints, on Church Hill, is mostly thirteenth and fourteenth century, with a fourteenth-century tower and broach spire that is the landmark of the uplands for miles around. The Revd W. H. Lowder rebuilt much of it in 1862, possibly with G. F. Bodley's help. In the churchyard stands a Poor Souls' Light, a late thirteenth-century stone lantern whose candles, its list entry says, were once lit during masses said for the poor; it is listed Grade II* in its own right. West of the church are Over Court and Jaynes Court, two former manor houses, both private.

A morning here

Start at the wells on Wells Road and walk up into the village, where George Street has the lock-up, the Bear and a milestone a few metres from the lock-up door. Climb Church Hill for All Saints and the Poor Souls' Light, and take the steps down past the wall of Jaynes Court. The streets are short, so an hour covers the village; the Bear serves food from midday, and the village has a farm shop.

Lypiatt Park, a mile west, is a Grade I mansion begun in the mid-sixteenth century and given its Gothick look by Jeffry Wyatville between 1809 and 1815. Its list entry records it as the home of the sculptor Lynn Chadwick, with his work on show in its rooms. It is private, but its lodge and gateway on the Stroud road are listed, and the lanes round the park are quiet walking.

Walks

Our Eastcombe and Toadsmoor valley walk, a 6.5-mile (10.5km) figure of eight through the beech woods below Eastcombe, starts 2 miles south of Bisley and passes Toadsmoor Mill, one of the old cloth mills of the valley. North-west over the hill, the Laurie Lee Wildlife Way loops round the Slad valley from Bulls Cross, about 5 miles away by road. East of the village the lanes lead down to Daneway and Sapperton, where the Wildlife Trust's reserves at Daneway Banks and Siccaridge Wood lie by the old canal.

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Food and drink

The Bear on George Street is the pub to know: cask ales including Timothy Taylor Landlord and Butcombe, a real fire, a garden, a dartboard and two rooms for bed and breakfast. It opens from midday to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm Monday to Thursday, midday to 11pm on Friday and Saturday and midday to 7pm on Sunday. It came under new management in March 2025; CAMRA last recorded food times in October 2025, so ring to check when the kitchen is serving.

The Stirrup Cup on Cheltenham Road is the village's other pub, recorded as the New Inn from 1774 and renamed in the twentieth century. It has had an unsettled year: CAMRA recorded it closed from 10 June 2026 and seeking new tenants, and a new company, Stirrup Ltd, was registered to run it in August 2026. In October 2026 the village website listed it open again under Jason Linehan, who also runs the Great Western Arms at Blockley, and its own website shows it open from 5pm to 11pm Wednesday to Friday, midday to 11pm on Saturday and midday to 9pm on Sunday, closed on Monday and Tuesday, with dinner from 6pm to 9pm Wednesday to Saturday and a Sunday roast from midday to 4pm. Bisley had 15 pubs and 35 beershops in 1838; by 1972 only these two were left.

When to come

Ascension Day is the day, a Thursday 39 days after Easter: it fell on 14 May in 2026 and is expected on 6 May in 2027, with the times to be confirmed. In 2026 a short service in All Saints at 1.15pm was followed by the procession of the school's pupils, in period costume, with the clergy and the Avening Silver Band, to the wells; the flowers are blessed, and tea is served in the WI village hall afterwards. The bearings can be seen in the school playground before the service. Our page on Bisley Well Dressing has the times for the next one.

Otherwise Bisley is quiet, a place for a pub lunch and a walk on a clear day. It sits high and exposed, so bring a coat in any month. The village has a music festival, a bonfire night and a flower show and fete; the dates are on the village website.