Winchcombe is a Cotswold community in the regional authority district 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 unknown;. It has been suggested however, that it was to the south of St Peter's Church. In the Restoration period, Winchcombe was noted for livestock rustling and other lawlessness, created partially by hardship. In an effort to work, neighborhood individuals expanded tobacco as a cash crop, in spite of this method having actually been disallowed since the Commonwealth. Soldiers were sent out in on a minimum of one event to ruin the illegal plant. In Winchcombe and also the instant location can be located Sudeley Castle as well as the remains of Hailes Abbey, which was just one of the major centres of trips in Britain due to a phial had by the monks stated to consist of the Blood of Christ. There is nothing left of the former Winchcombe Abbey. St Peter's Church in the centre of the community is noted for its grotesques.