The Jews who came to Stroud mostly lived in the newer Lansdowne area of the town and were spread across a large number of streets. There may have been a small satellite settlement at nearby woolen town of Painswick, not more than three miles distant.
It is of interest that in the 1881 Census, there are at least two Jews listed as living in Painswick, as well as two young children recorded as being in Stroud but born in Painswick. In 1891 there were 17 children under 10 years old born at Painswick, but living in Stroud. Therefore, there seems to have been a community of Jews in Painswick established after c. 1880.
The community quickly established a synagogue in an adapted building in Slad Road with the services of rabbis and ministers - certainly by 1882.
The profile of the population of the new community was distinctly that of a pioneer community. There was a preponderance of young Jewish men who often lodging in non-Jewish lodging houses. The first recorded Jewish family in Stroud was the Greensweigs, recorded as paying fees to the Cheltenham synagogue, 1878-1894.
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