BIRDLIP is a hamlet, forming a portion of the parishes of Cowley, Brimpsfield and Witcombe, on the road from Gloucester to Cirencester, 7 miles south-east from Gloucester and 6 south-west from Cheltenham, in the Cirencester and Tewkesbury division of the county, Rapsgate hundred, Cheltenham county court district, petty sessional divisions of Cheltenham and Cirencester, and union of Cirencester. The mission church of St. Mary, built here by subscription, on a site given by W.F. Hicks-Beach esq. M.P. of Witcombe Park, was opened in 1897, and has a bell-cote with one bell. The stained east window is a memorial to Mrs.Hicks-Beach, and was placed in 1901. There are 100 sittings. The rector of Brimpsfield officiates at the Mission church. There is also a Baptist chapel, erected in 1841. The soil is sandy, light and shallow; subsoil, limestone rock. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, turnips and pasture.
[Kelly's Directory of Gloucestershire, 1923]