Winchcombe is a Cotswold town in the local 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 exact 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 cattle rustling and also other lawlessness, created partly by destitution. In an effort to work, local people expanded tobacco as a cash crop, despite this practice having actually been disallowed because the Commonwealth. Soldiers were sent out in on at least one occasion to destroy the illegal crop. In Winchcombe and the immediate area can be located Sudeley Castle and the remains of Hailes Abbey, which was just one of the primary centres of pilgrimages in Britain due to a phial possessed by the monks stated to consist of the Blood of Christ. There is absolutely nothing left of the former Winchcombe Abbey. St Peter's Church in the centre of the town is kept in mind for its grotesques.