DURSLEY, a town of England in Gloucestershire, is situated at the base of a steep bill, clothed with a fine hanging wood of beech trees. The town, which is irre gularly built, consists of two narrow streets, crossing each other nearly in the shape of the letter T. The principal public edifice is the church of St James's, which is a large and elegant building. It consists of a spacious nave, side aisles, and a chancel, with a modern Gothic tower at the %vest end, and an elegant portal on the south. The old spire fell in 1699, during the ring ing of the bells, and several persons lost their lives. In 1700, it was rebuilt at the expense of 10001. The mar ket house, which stands near the centre of the town, was built in 1738, and is wholly of free-stone. At the cast end of it there is a statue of Queen Anne. " On the south-cast side of the church-yard," says Mr Rudgc, " some springs arise out of the ground like boiling wa ter, in so copious a manner, as to drive a fulling mill at about a hundred yards distance below, and are never known to diminish in quantity. At their rise they cover
a fine level gravelly bottom for about 15 feet square." The cloth manufacture is carried on here to a great extent, by means of machinery, and cards are also ma nufactured for the clothiers. There is an extensive pa per manufactory adjacent to the town. There is found in the neighbourhood a peculiar kind of stone, without any chip or slit, called towle stone, which is at first soft, and afterwards indurates by exposure to the air.
The following is the abstract of the population return for the parish in 1811.
See udge's Glocestershire, vol. ii. p. 216; Iligland'•4 Glocestershire, vol. i. p. 513 ; and llrayley and Britton's Beauties of England and Wales, vol. v. p. 585. (Tr)