Wikipedia
Hillesley is a village in Gloucestershire, England. It was transferred from the county of Avon in 1991 and is now in Stroud District. The village forms part of the civil parish of Hillesley and Tresham. It is close to the Cotswold Edge, near the Cotswold Way and Wotton under Edge .
Until the 1980s the name of the village was spelt Hillsley however it is now spelt Hillesley.
In 972 Hillesley was recorded as Hildeslei (meaning "clearing belonging to Hild"), a tything of the parish of Hawkesbury. The village remained in the parish of Hawkesbury until the boundary changes of 1991. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as held by Turstin FitzRolf.
Pevsner notes the following buildings: The local church is St Giles - it was designed in 1851 by the amateur, Rev. Perkins. The farmhouse is c17, and Yew Tree Cottage is dated 1701. The greyish-white limestone farmhouse known as "Lovettswood," a prominent landmark, takes its name from the Lyvet family, who were lords of the manor of Hillesley in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The local pub is The Fleece Inn. On 27 July 2012, The Fleece Inn, after a short period of closure, was re-opened by the community. It has been bought and re-furbished by The Hillesley Community Pub Limited and has over 120 local shareholders.
Village life includes a local primary school, the church at St Giles, a playing field hosting cricket and football teams, a tennis court and club, allotments and a mother and toddler group.
Another well known feature of local life is the Hillesley Happenings, a local free paper which is very much the pride of the village and all its residents.
The village rogue 'Ivan' died in 2010.