Winchcombe is a Cotswold community in the neighborhood authority area of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. Its population according to the 2011 census was 4,538. During the Anarchy of the 12th century, a motte-and-bailey castle was erected in the early 1140s by Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford for the Empress Matilda, although the specific site of this is unidentified;. It has actually been suggested nevertheless, that it was to the south of St Peter's Church. In the Restoration period, Winchcombe was noted for livestock rustling as well as other lawlessness, triggered partly by poverty. In an effort to make money, local individuals expanded tobacco as a cash crop, regardless of this practice having actually been banned given that the Commonwealth. Soldiers were sent know at least one event to ruin the illegal crop. In Winchcombe and the instant location can be discovered Sudeley Castle and also the remains of Hailes Abbey, which was among the main centres of expeditions in Britain because of a phial possessed by the monks stated to have the Blood of Christ. There is absolutely nothing left of the previous Winchcombe Abbey. St Peter's Church in the centre of the community is kept in mind for its grotesques.