The
Cotswolds is a range of
hills in west-central
England, sometimes called the "Heart of England", an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The highest point in the Cotswolds range is
Cleeve Hill at , to the north of
Cheltenham. The name Cotswold means either "sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides" or it comes from the term "
wold" meaning hills.
Location
The Cotswolds lie mainly within the
ceremonial counties of
Gloucestershire and
Oxfordshire, but extend into parts of
Wiltshire,
Somerset,
Worcestershire and
Warwickshire.
Description
The spine of the Cotswolds runs south west to north east through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, west Oxfordshire, and south western Warwickshire. The northern and western edges of the Cotswolds are marked by steep
escarpments down to the
Severn valley and the
Warwickshire Avon. This escarpment or scarp feature, sometimes called the
Cotswold Edge, is a result of the uplifting (tilting) of the limestone layer, exposing its broken edge. This is a
cuesta, in
geological terms. The
dip slope is to the south east. On the eastern boundary lies the city of
Oxford and on the west is
Stroud. To the south-east the upper reaches of the
Thames Valley and towns such as
Lechlade,
Tetbury and
Fairford are often considered to mark the limit of this region. To the south the Cotswolds, with the characteristic uplift of the Cotswold Edge, reach as far south as
Bath and towns such as
Chipping Sodbury and
Marshfield share elements of Cotswold character.
Corsham in the south western Cotswolds
The area is characterised by attractive small
towns and
villages built of the underlying
Cotswold stone (a yellow
oolitic limestone). This limestone is rich in
fossils, in particular fossilised
sea urchins. In the
Middle Ages, the
wool trade made the Cotswolds prosperous; hence the
Speaker of the British
House of Lords sits on the
Woolsack showing where the Medieval wealth of the country came from. Some of this money was put into the building of
churches so the area has a number of large, handsome Cotswold stone "
wool churches". The area remains affluent and has attracted wealthy people who own
second homes in the area or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.
Cotswold towns include
Bourton-on-the-Water,
Broadway,
Burford,
Chipping Norton,
Cirencester,
Moreton-in-Marsh,
Stow-on-the-Wold and
Winchcombe. The town of
Chipping Campden is notable for being the home of the
Arts and Crafts movement, founded by
William Morris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. William Morris lived occasionally in
Broadway Tower a folly now part of a country park. Chipping Campden is also known for the annual
Cotswold Games, a celebration of sports and games dating back to the early 17th century.
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Late summer scene in the Cotswolds
The Cotswolds were designated an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1966, with an expansion on 21 December 1990 to . In 1991, all AONBs were measured again using modern methods. The official area of the Cotswolds AONB increased to . In 2000, the government confirmed that AONBs had the same landscape quality and status as National Parks.
The Cotswolds AONB, which is the largest in England and Wales, stretches from the border regions of South Warwickshire and Worcestershire, through West Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and takes in parts of West Wiltshire, and
Bath and North East Somerset in the South.
Gloucestershire County Council is responsible for 63 per cent of the AONB.
The Cotswolds Conservation Board is the organisation that exists to conserve and enhance the AONB. Established in 2004 the board carries out a range of work from securing funding for 'on the ground' conservation projects to providing a strategic overview of the area for key decision makers, such as planning officials. The board is an independent organisation funded by Natural England and the 17 local authorities that sit within the AONB.
The
Cotswold Voluntary Wardens Service, now part of the Cotswolds Conservation Board, was established in 1968 to help conserve and enhance the area and now has over 300 Wardens.
The
Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath, approximately long, running the length of the AONB, mainly on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment with views over the
Severn Valley and the
Vale of Evesham.
A horse in a field of buttercups in the Cotswolds
Principal settlements
Noteworthy historical structures
Transport
Map of Cotswolds roads from 1933
The Cotswolds lies between the
M5,
M40 and
M4 motorways. The main non-motorway roads through the area are the
A46:
Bath —
Stroud —
Cheltenham; the
A419:
Swindon —
Cirencester — Stroud; the
A429: Cirencester —
Stow-on-the-Wold —
Moreton-in-Marsh; and the
A40:
Oxford —
Burford — Cheltenham. These all roughly follow the routes of ancient roads, some laid down by the
Romans, such as
Ermin Street and the
Fosse Way.
The area is bounded by two major rail routes: in the south by the main
Bristol-Bath-London High Speed line and in the west by the
Bristol-Birmingham main line. In addition, the
Cotswold Line runs through the Cotswolds from Oxford to
Worcester, and the
Golden Valley Line runs from Swindon to
Gloucester, carrying high speed and local services.
Main-line, high-speed rail services to the big cities run from stations such as
Bath, Swindon, Oxford, Cheltenham and Worcester. High-speed services to London are also available from
Kemble station near Cirencester,
Kingham station near Stow-on-the-Wold,
Charlbury station and
Moreton-in-Marsh station.
Cheltenham is a hub for
National Express coach services. There are local bus services across the area, but some are infrequent. The best sources of information are the Gloucestershire County Council website, or local
tourist information centres.
The Cotswolds in cultural life
The Cotswolds has inspired some of England's finest composers. In the early 1900s,
Herbert Howells and
Ivor Gurney used to go for long walks together over the hills and Gurney urged Howells to make the landscape, including the nearby
Malvern Hills, the inspiration for his future work. True to his word, in 1916, Howells wrote his first major piece, the Piano Quartet in A minor, inspired by the magnificent view of the
Malverns - it was dedicated to "the hill at Chosen (
Churchdown) and Ivor Gurney who knows it". Another contemporary of theirs,
Gerald Finzi, lived in nearby
Painswick.
See also
