STROUD, Gloucestershire, a market-town, parliamentary borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Stroud, is situated in a picturesque valley at the junction of two of the streams which form the Stroud Water (sometimes called the Frome), in 51° 45' N. lat., 2° 12' W. long., distant 9 miles S. by E. from Gloucester, 101 miles W. by N. from London by road and by the Great Western rail way. The population of the parliamentary borough in 1851 was 36,535. The borough returos two members to the Imperial Parlia ment. The living is a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of Glou cester, and diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Stroud Poor-Law Union contains 15 parishes and townships, with an area of 43,720 acres, and a population in 1851 of 37,3S6.
The borough of Stroud comprehends an important part of the west of England clothing district. The mills are situated on streams in deep ravines; the houses are built on the bill sides, in a scattered and irregular manner, and the valleys are studded with houses and thickly inhabited. The Stroud water has long been celebrated as
being peculiarly adapted for use iu the process of dyeing scarlet cloth. The town of Stroud is lighted with gas and paved, and contains many good houses. New subscription rooms have been recently erected. The parish church is a largo building of various dates ; it consists of a nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower and spire at the western end. There are also Trinity church, erected in 1837, chapels for Independent', Baptists, and Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists; National, British, and Infant schools ; a dispensary, and a casualty hospital. The market is on Friday, and there are cattle-fairs on May 10th and August 21st. A county court is held.