Pucklechurch, United Kingdom

[The church of] St Mary of Glastonbury holds Pucklechurch. There are twenty hides. In demesne are six ploughs and twenty three villans and eight bordars with eighteen ploughs. There are ten slaves and six men render 100 ingots of iron less ten and in Gloucester one burgess pays 5d and two coliberts pay 34d and there are 3 Frenchmen and two mills rendering 100d. There are sixty acres (24 ha) of meadow and woodland half a league long and a half broad. It was worth £20, now £30 [to its overlord per year].

The manor of Pucklechurch was held by the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1275, who received it from Glastonbury Abbey, as a document in the Calendar of Bishops of Bath and Wells, dated April 1275 records:

Accord between Robert Bishop of Bath and Wells and John Abbot of Glastonbury, namely that whereas Robert late Abbot of Glastonbury and the convent quitclaimed to Walter late Bishop of Bath & Wells the manor and advowson [right to appoint the priest] of Pokeleschyrch [sic] ...

The church of St Thomas a Becket largely dates to the 1200s and 1300s from the time when it was under the Bishop's patronage. Its listing emphasises how visible the original stonework fabric is and says "it is substantially a medieval building"; its Victorian amendments were "carried out by R. C. Carpenter, and later by J. D. Sedding ... of good quality, reflecting the involvement of these experienced ecclesiastical architects". Of particular note there are the remains of two effigial monuments in the lady chapel that date to the 1370s and attributed to William de Cheltenham (d. between 1371 and 1374) and his wife Eleanor.

To save his see from the administrative burden of collecting all the rents within the manor, the bishop farmed the manor to Sir Gilbert Denys (d. 1422), who already held the nearby manor of Siston. This gave Denys the right to keep all the rents he could collect in exchange for an annual one-off payment of £40. Payments made by Denys are recorded in the communar's accounts of the See of Bath and Wells.

It appears that Denys held the manor until his death in 1422, although records are not available to confirm this. At the dissolution of the monasteries the manor was granted to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke from whom it was acquired by Sir Maurice Denys (d. 1561), treasurer of Calais and builder of Siston Court. From him the manor passed to his cousin Hugh Denys, and a cadet (younger) branch of the Denys family became lords of the manor of Pucklechurch until the death of William Dennis in 1701, last of the male line. The Heralds' Visitation of Gloucestershire in 1623 records John Denys (d. 1559) as "of Pucklechurch", High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1551. He was the youngest son of Sir Walter Denys (d. 1505) of Alveston, buried in Olveston Church, and the youngest brother of Sir William Denys (d. 1535) of the adjacent manor of Dyrham. In St Thomas a Becket Church is a memorial to Henry Dennis (d. 1638), Squire of Pucklechurch, son of John Dennys, fisherman and poet who wrote the earliest English poetical treatise on fishing, "The Secrets of Angling", published in 1613.

Coal has been extracted from the area since at least early medieval times.

Bristol Archives holds documents detailing the leases and sale of the coal mining rights by Mary and Elizabeth Dennis, the co-heiresses of William Dennis (d. 1701). A deed dated 2 February 1719 reads:

Articles of Agreement – 1) Mary Dennis of Westminster, Middx. singlewoman 2) John Whitewood of Mangotsfield, Glos., coalminer and Daniell Alsopp of Pucklechurch, Glos. yeo. – granting licence to dig for coals upon farm in or near Shortwood in Pucklechurch rented from her by Daniell Alsopp and to carry away and sell the same. Term 120 years. Whitewood and Alsopp to pay her 3s. for every 20s. worth of coal. Covenants re.making good of damage, appointment of clerk to keep accounts, etc.In 1851 Handel Cossham established the Kingswood Coal Company, which included a mine in Pucklechurch. By 1900, the Bristol coalfields were producing nearly 500,000 tonnes. Parkfield Colliery operated in Pucklechurch from 1851 to 1936. Brandy Bottom Colliery, part of Parkfield Colliery is a scheduled monument that contains the remains of a complete 19th century steam powered colliery.

Shortwood Brick and Tile Company began producing bricks in the late 1800s and closed in 1969, having been acquired by the Cattybrook Brick Company in 1903. It made use of the good quality red clay found above the coal seams. This clay was fired to make millions of bricks for local buildings – at peak production, the works produced more than half a million bricks per week.