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GRO Museum in the Park IMG 1284 |
| What: |
Historic building and Estate |
| Where: |
On the Stratford Road |
| Then: |
First associated with Edward Stratford in the 1600s, the estate was then owned by the Gardiner family up to 1778. A part of this house survives at the back of the present building, and a chimneypiece bears the initials GG 1674, for Giles Gardiner. History has it that Mrs Gardiner, having died, was laying in a coffin in her chambers awaiting burial, when servants were startled by the bell ringing, from her room. Too terrified to go to the room, servants eventually discovered that an owl had come down the chimney and its claws were entangled in the bell wire |
| Now: |
Stroud Urban District Council bought the house in 1936, and the grounds became a public park. The house re-opened in 2001, as Museum in the Park. An outdoor swimming pool and other facilities were built in 1937 and the Leisure Centre and sports hall opened in 1971 | |
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