PAUNTLEY, Gloucestershire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"PAUNTLEY, a parish in the hundred of Botloe, county Gloucester, 2½ miles N. by E. of Newent, its post town. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on the river Leadon, and is wholly agricultural. The surface is diversified with hill and dale. It is a custom on Twelfth Night eve for the labourers to light a dozen fires in a cornfield and drink success to the harvest. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £450. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £80, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, is an ancient structure with a Norman doorway. There are mineral springs, the water of which somewhat resembles in its properties those of Cheltenham."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]