Today I went out for a quick shop, after my supermarket delivery let me down yesterday. After getting a few items I needed I put my photographer hat on, and drove down one of the 5 valleys to the village of South Woodchester where I knew this building was.
Today it's a private house but its history is nothing to do with human accommodation. This round house was built in the mid to the late 18th century, say 1750 but was also thought to be much earlier.
As you know that the Stroud Valleys are famous for the production of cloth in many mills around the area. This roundhouse was a teasel drying tower, the teasels used to tease, or brush the raised surface fibres of the woven woollen cloth, very important.
Obviously not used in that industry any more, it was converted to a home with a second round building built against it. I have never seen the inside but would like to ask the question, where do you acquire round furniture to fit inside it. It does look very pretty though.
I always wanted to live in a round house when I was a child. Had a bit of a fantasy about windmills and lighthouses but this would do nicely. Pity you didn't spot Rapunzel at the window.
