Winchcombe is a Cotswold town 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 very early 1140s by Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford for the Empress Matilda, although the specific site of this is unidentified;. It has been recommended nonetheless, that it was to the south of St Peter's Church. In the Restoration period, Winchcombe was kept in mind for livestock rustling as well as other lawlessness, triggered partially by poverty. In an attempt to earn a living, regional individuals grew cigarette as a cash crop, regardless of this method having actually been outlawed because the Commonwealth. Soldiers were sent in on at least one celebration to ruin the illegal plant. In Winchcombe and the immediate vicinity can be found Sudeley Castle and also the remains of Hailes Abbey, which was among the primary centres of pilgrimages in Britain as a result of a phial possessed by the monks claimed to include the Blood of Christ. There is nothing left of the former Winchcombe Abbey. St Peter's Church in the centre of the town is noted for its grotesques.