Dursley and the Cloth Trade

From the 14th to the 18th century, Dursley was an important centre of the Cotswold cloth trade, processing the wool from the sheep that grazed the surrounding hills. The town's wealth funded the construction of St James the Great church, with its distinctive Gothic tower. The cloth mills were powered by the streams running off the escarpment. As the Industrial Revolution moved textile production to the north of England, Dursley's cloth trade declined. The Lister family later brought engineering industry to the town — R.A. Lister & Company manufactured diesel engines and agricultural equipment here for over a century.