A late Victorian trade directory details Amberley as "an ecclesiastical parish, formed out of the parishes of Minchinhampton and Rodborough in 1840; it is one mile west from Minchinhampton, and is about one mile from either Nailsworth or Woodchester stations on a branch from Stonehouse junction of the Bristol and Birmingham section of the Midland railway, and 3 south from Stroud, in the Mid division of the county court district, rural deanery of Stonehouse and archdeaconry and diocese of Gloucester. The eldest son of Earl Russell takes the courtesy title of viscount from this place. The church of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1836, is a building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of a small chancel, nave, and a western bell-cot containing 1 bell: the cost was defrayed by the late David Ricardo esq.; in 1875 it was reseated, and stained windows inserted, and a new organ introduced at the expense of Mrs Frith and her family: the church will seat nearly 600 persons. The register dates from the year 1836. The living was declared a rectory February 20th 1866, under the District Church Tithes Act of 1865, net yearly value £270, including 21 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Mrs Blackwell, of Highland, and held since 1892 by the Reverend Henry Summerhayes M.A. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The Blackwell Memorial Room, used for weekly meetings, was built by public subscription as a testimonial to the late Reverend Robert Edward Blackwell, perpetual curate here from 1836, and will hold about 70 persons. A working men's social club is held here every evening. Moor Court, formerly called Mugmore House, is the residence of Lady Charles Pelham-Clinton; Highland, of Mrs Blackwell, and Whitemoor, or Mrs Blenkin. The population of the parish in 1891 was 1,494. St Chloe is a hamlet half a mile north from Amberley, a quarter of a mile from Woodchester station on the Nailsworth branch of the Midland Railway. North Amberley is a hamlet in the ecclesiastical parish of Amberley, 1 mile and a quarter west from Minchinhampton parish church, and contains a Wesleyan chapel. The soil is clay; subsoil, rock. The land is mostly in pasture. The chief crops are wheat and turnips."
Taken from an 1897 Trade Directory. Image supplied by Digital Photographic Images.

Affording views of Woodchester Valley, the Amberley Inn is located on Minchinhampton Common. Accordingly, there is a case for the pub to be included within the taverns of Minchinhampton. However, the ecclesiastical parish of Amberley was formed out of Minchinhampton and Rodborough in 1840. Having said that, the Amberley Inn remained in the civil parish of Minchinhampton - I may put the pub in both places!  The Amberley Inn was constructed in the mid-1850's, an ambitious undertaking considering the plight of the region during the early Victorian era. Slater's trade directory of 1852-3 remarked how the area's once-prosperous woollen cloth trade had "entirely gone into decay" and that "many houses were, in consequence, unoccupied." The Amberley Inn may have been erected in anticipation of new trade for visitors and tourists, particularly as the hotel was a short distance from both Nailsworth and Woodchester stations on a branch from the Stonehouse junction of the Bristol and Birmingham section of the Midland Railway. Early innkeepers at the Amberley Inn also traded as cab proprietors - getting customers to and from the new transport links was clearly an important consideration. Josiah and Mary Ann Beames were running the Amberley Inn during the early 1870's. Born around 1821 at Down Ampney, Josiah Beames formerly worked as a coachman. Mary Ann was also from the Cirencester area, having been born in the village of Daglingworth. The couple remained at the helm for more than a decade before moving north to run a beer house in Smethwick's Watery Lane. They left around the time that the Stroud Brewery acquired the Amberley Inn. The company made some alterations to the property in the late 1890's and the building was extended and enlarged in the mid-1920's. Sapperton-born Jesse Hunt was the innkeeper in the early 1890's. He kept the Amberley Inn with his wife Sarah. The couple moved a very short distance to move into the pub for they were already residents of Amberley; Jesse Hunt previously worked as a farm bailiff. The son of an agricultural labourer, his early career was also spent in the fields and, following his spell as innkeeper, he returned to his life as a farmer at neighbouring Pinfarthings. He was succeeded as publican of the Amberley Inn by Richard Ashmead who took over the licence in June 1897. Born in Rodborough in 1865, the son of a woollen cloth weaver, he had previously worked as a coachman and groom whilst living at Pinfarthings. His kept the Amberley Inn with his wife Rose who hailed from Nailsworth. She succeeded her husband as licensee following his death in 1914.
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