Purton, Gloucestershire

Purton is a tiny hamlet with just a handful of houses sitting on the western bank of the River Severn about 2 1/2 miles east of Lydney. The road here passes the river with just the railway clutching the side of the riverbank. There is another village, also called Purton, thatsits on the eatern side of the river near Berkeley. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book and its' name comes from the Old English "pirige tun" meaning pear orchard.

There was a ferry crossing here as early as 1282 and in the late 1700's, early 1800's there was a ford across the river here. The rights of passage belonged to the Lord of Purton Manor. Both in 1574 were partly acquired by Sir William Winter. The manor stands on a cliff overlooking thr river. Having acquired all of the rights and the manor, he leased both to the Donning family sometime before 1607. Martin Inman leased the rights in the 1700's and he and his ran a ferry business here for 150 years as well as the Passage House Inn. The ferry continued, off and on, until 1879 when it was replaced by the Severn Railway Bridge.