The History of the Greenway Hotel
The Greenway takes its name from the pre-roman path, which runs beside the hotel and
up onto the Cotswold Hills beyond. The path then leads to Long Barrow, approximately
one mile away, an earlier burial site and the remains of a pre Iron Age fort dating back
5,000 years.
'Green way' meant grove road or sheep road and must therefore have been one of the
safe walkways through the surrounding hillsides when lowlands were covered in marsh and
forest and inhabited by wild animals. The land upon which the Greenway stands was
originally known as the Little Shurdington Estate and first records show that it belonged
to the Lawrence Family as early as 1521. The Lawrence family, who date back to 1191,
originated from Lancashire and it was assumed they were in the wool trade and used
Gloucester Docks, hence their interest in an estate near Cheltenham.
William Lawrence inherited the estate in 1584 and records show that he commenced
building the main house immediately. By 1616 the manor was well established, as it
appears in the court manorial rolls of that year. William Lawrence's son, William then
inherited the estate in 1638 and his second wife, Dulcibella, inherited it on his death in
1682.
In 1736 Dulcibella died, and the estate was passed to William's godson; Littleton
Lawrence. The Lawrence family eventually sold the estate in 1854 and it was bought by
Colonel Godfrey. In 1909 the Venerable Archdeacon Sinclair of Hatherley purchased it
and then proceeded in selling it to George Constable Hayes in 1919.
In 1946 the house again sold and opened as a hotel a year later and here we are now as
part of the Eden hotel Collection.