Berkeley, Gloucestershire Berkeley, Gloucestershire Berkeley ( ) is a small town and parish in Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Vale of Berkeley between the east bank of the River Severn and the M5 motorway, within the Stroud administrative district. The town is noted for Berkeley Castle, where the imprisoned Edward II was murdered, as well as the birthplace of the physician Edward Jenner, pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The parish also includes the village of Berkeley Heath, which runs along the A38 Bristol to Gloucester road and the adjacent B4066 towards Berkeley. Berkeley lies midway between Bristol
Lydford Castle but had little interest in Lydford, preferring Restormel and Lostwithiel; by his death in 1299 the castle had been left to decay and was in ruins. It reverted to the Crown, and when Edward II made his royal favourite, Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall in 1307, Lydford Castle was passed to him. The castle was repaired at the start of the century and was in use once again as a prison. Edward II and Gaveston fell from power in 1327 and Thomas le Ercedekne was temporarily entrusted with the castle and Dartmoor by the new regime. In 1329 the