GLOUCESTERSHIRE, a county (maritime), bounded
on the north and north-east by the counties of Worcester
and Warwick, on the east by the county of Oxford,
on the south-east by part of the counties of Berks and
Wilts, on the south and south-west by the county of
Somerset and the Bristol Channel, and on the west and
north-west by the counties of Monmouth and Hereford:
it extends from 51° 28 to 52° 12 (N. Lat.), and from
1° 38 to 2° 44 (W. Lon.), and includes one thousandtwo
hundred and fifty-six square miles, or eight hundred
and three thousand eight hundred and forty statute
acres. The population, exclusively of that of Bristol,
amounted in 1821 to 282,954. At the time of the
second invasion of Britain by the Romans, under Claudius,
in the year 66, this part of the country was inhabited
by the Dobuni, who had been so much harassed
and oppressed by their ambitious neighbours, the Cattieuchlani,
that they submitted freely to the Romans,
in order to be delivered from their former oppressors.
Cogidunus, said to have been at that time prince of
the Dobunr, is described by Tacitus as having persevered
with great fidelity in his allegiance to the Romans,
and as having therefore continued in the possession of
his own territories, with some other states annexed to
them. The propraetor, Ostorius Scapula, was much engaged
in this county, especially in the lower part of it,
where he is supposed to have formed a chain of fortifications
from the Avon to the Severn, to check the inroads
of the Silures from the other side of the latter
river. In the first Roman division of Britain this territory
was included in Britannia Prima; and in the subdivision
by Constantine, it formed part of Flavia Ctesariensis.
Under the Saxon octarchy the county was comprised
within the great central kingdom of Mercia; and,
bordering on the mountainous country which served as
the principal retreat of the Britons, it was one of the last
that were permanently annexed to that sovereignty:
during the efforts made to conquer it, two important
battles are recorded to have been fought within its limits;
the first at Dyrham, in 578, when Ceawlin, King
of Wessex, and his son Cuthwin, defeated three British
kings, and gained possession of the three British cities,
Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath; the second at Frethern,
in 585, in which Cuthwin was slain, but the Britons
were defeated. During the contentions of the Saxqri
princes among themselves, a sanguinary battle was
fought near Cirencester, in 628, between Cynegils an4
Cwichelm, joint kings of Wessex, and Penda, King of
Mercia. In 687 the Saxon kings met at Campden, to
consult on the best mode of carrying on the war against;
the Britons. The first visit of the Danes to Gloucestershire
was probably in 877, when, having plundered
the kingdom of Mercia, they encamped at Gloucester,
where they remained for a year; then removing to Cirencester,
they wintered there, and afterwards proceeded
into East Anglia, where they settled. In 894, they
marched along the side of the Thames as far as Sodding-,
ton, where, being reinforced by a party of the Welch, they
threw up intrenchments and prepared for defence; here
Alfred surrounded them with the whole force of his dominions,
and destroyed a great number by famine and
the sword. Tradition mentions some other places in
this county as having felt the fury of these invaders, but
the accounts are not confirmed by the Saxon historians;
It was at Gloucester that Athelstan died, in 941; and
at Pucklechurch, Edmund I. was stabbed by the robber
Leof, in 946. In 1016, Edmund Ironside, after the
defeat of his army at Essandune (Ashingdon in Essex),
came to Gloucester, and having there assembled another
army, was prepared again to take the field, when the
Danish and English nobility, being both weary of the
war, induced their kings to come to an agreement, and
divide the kingdom between them by treaty; their conference
on this occasion took place in the Isle of Alney,
near Gloucester. In 1093, Malcolm III., King of Scotland,
came to Gloucester to treat with William Rufus.
In the war between Stephen and the Empress Matilda,
the whole country around Gloucester espoused the cause
of the empress, who at that city always found a welcome
reception; and to it she is said to have escaped, by
being carried in a coffin, after the siege of Winchester.
Bristol, too, was one of her strongest garrisons, and in
its castlej Stephen was confined for nine months, until
exchanged for the Earl of Gloucester, brother of the
empress. In the war between Henry III. and the barons,
Gloucester was captured by the latter, in 1263. In 127&
a parliament was held at Gloucester, by which those
laws connected with the statute of Quo Warranto, known
by the denomination of " the statutes of Gloucester,"
were enacted. In 1327, Edward II. was murdered in
Berkeley castle. At Cirencester, in 1400, a conspiracy
against Henry IV. was suppressed; the Duke of Surrey
and the Earl of Salisbury being taken and beheaded by
the inhabitants. At Tewkesbury, in 1471, was fought the
great and decisive battle in which the Lancastrians
were totally defeated, the Marquis of Dorset, the Earl
of Devon, and three thousand men, having been slain;
Margaret of Anjou, her son Prince Edward, and her
general the Duke of Somerset, taken prisoners by
Edward IV. 5 and Prince Edward assassinated, and the
Duke of Somerset beheaded, after the battle. In the
great contest between Charles I. and the parliament, this
county was constantly the theatre of battles; and it is
remarkable that the explosion of hostilities against the
king took place in it, viz., at Cirencester, by a personal
attack upon Lord Chandos, who had been appointed
to execute the royal commission of array. To gaiğ
possession of the city of Gloucester was ah object of
so much importance to the success of the royal cause,
that the king came in person to command the besieging
army, and fixed his head-quarters for a considerable
period at Matson; the city was, however, successfully
defended for the parliament, by Colonel Massie, until relieved
by the Earl of Essex, in September 1643. On the
2nd of February, 16423, Cirencester was stormed by
Prince Rupert, who took one thousand two hundred prisoners;
and on the IQth of March following, at Highnam,
Major-General Brett, Lord John Somerset, and
nearly two thousand royalists, were surprised and taken
by Sir William Waller. Bristol, which had surrendered
to Prince Rupert in July, 1643, was re-captured by
Fairfax, in .1645. During the revolution of 1688, Lord
Lovelace, on his march through Cirencester with a small
party, to join the Prince of Orange, was attacked by
Captain Lorange of the county militia, made prisoner,
and sent to Gloucester gaol; this was the first skirmish
that took place after the prince's landing.
Gloucestershire was formerly in the diocese of Lichfield,
and afterwards in that of Worcester, but, by
Henry VIII., in 1541, it was made a distinct bishoprick,
in the province of Canterbury: it forms an archdeaconry,
containing the deaneries of Campden, Cirencester,
Dursley, Fairford, Torest, Gloucester, Hawkesbury,
Stonehouse, Stow, and Winchcombe, and comprising
three hundred and twenty-seven parishes, of Avhich
number, one hundred and thirty-nine are rectories, one
hundred and one vicarages, and the remainder perpetual
curacies, or united to other parishes. For civil
purposes it is divided into the hundreds of Barton-
Regis, Upper and Lower Berkeley, Bisley, Blidesloe,
Botloe, Bradley, St. Briavells, Brightwell's Barrow,
Cheltenham, Cleeve, or Bishop's Cleeve, Crowthorne
and Minety, Upper and Lower Deerhurst, Lower, Middle,
and Upper Dudstone and King's Barton, Upper and
Lower Grumbald's Ash, Upper and Lower Henbury,
Upper and Lower Kiftsgate, Duchy of Lancaster, Upper
and Lower Langley and Swinehead, Longtree, Pucklechurch,
Rapsgate, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Upper
and Lower Tewkesbury, Upper and Lower Thornbury,
Tibaldstone, Westbury, Upper and Lower Westminster,
and Upper and Lower Whitstone. It contains the city
of Gloucester, and locally part of that of Bristol; the
borough and market-towns of Cirencester and Tewkesbury,
and the market-towns of Berkeley, Campden, Cheltenham,
Coleford, Dursley, Fairford, Minchinhampton,
Lechlade, Marshfield, Mitchel-Dean, Newnham, Newent,
North Leach, Painswick,;Sodbury, Stow on the Wolds,
Stroud, Tetbury, Thornbury, Wickwar, Winchcombe, and
Wotton under Edge. Two knights are returned to parliament
for the shire, two representatives for the city
of Gloucester, and two for each of the boroughs; the
county members are elected at Gloucester. This county
is included in the Oxford circuit: the assizes and quarter
sessions are held at Gloucester, where stands the
common gaol, or sheriff's prison: the houses of correction
are at Horsley, North Leach, Lawford's Gate,
and Little Dean. There are one hundred and seventynine
acting magistrates. The rates raised in the county
for the year ending March 25th, 1827, amounted to
£190,224. 1., the expenditure to £200,596. 13., of
which £152,238. 2. was applied to the relief of the poor.
The natural division of the county is into the Cotswold,
the Vale, and the Forest districts. The Cotswold
district comprises the whole tract of hilly country from
Chipping-Campden on the north, to Bath on the south,
and is often divided into the Upper and Lower Cotswolds.
The Vale district comprehends the whole lowlands,
from Stratford upon Avon to Bristol, and is usually
divided into the Vales of Evesham, Gloucester, and
Berkeley; but its more natural division is into the Vales
of the Severn and the Avon. These rivers are natural
boundaries; the former vale includes all the low country
between Tewkesbury and Bristol, and the latter the lowlands
between the Upper Cotswolds and the Avon, from
Tewkesbury to Stratford, wherever the river is a boundary
to the county. The Forest district contains the
parishes on the west side of the Severn up to Gloucester,
and afterwards on the west side of the river Leden, up
to where it enters the county from Herefordshire. The
unsheltered state of the Cotswolds exposes them to the
unmitigated effects of cold winds, and consequently
throughout their whole extent a sharp climate predominates.
In the denes and small vallies a milder air is felt,
and in consequence of this, in former times, the villages
were generally built in such sheltered situations; but
since the cultivation of the higher lands, convenience
has occasioned the building of houses in very exposed situations;
and the hill farmer is easily distinguishable,
by his more hardy complexion, from the husbandman of
the vale. In the Vale district the air is comparatively
mild, even in the severest weather. The climate of the
Forest district is usually considered as temperate as that
of the Vale; the high and otherwise exposed parts being
so much sheltered by thick woods that neither northerly
nor easterly winds can affect them to any considerable
degree. The parts of the county which rank highest in
point of picturesque beauty are the banks of the Wye
and the environs of Bristol.
The general character of the soil of the Cotswolds
is a shallow calcareous loam, provincially called Stonebrash,
the usual depth of which is four inches, seldom
exceeding seven. Under this is a stratum of rubble, or
mould, and fragments of stone of the same nature as
the rock on which the whole rests, which is a calcareous
sand-stone, varying in some of its qualities, but known
by the general name of freestone when found in large
masses and deep beds. In some places, however, and
more especially on the declivities, the soil inclines more
to clay; and there could hardly be found a deeper or
more argillaceous stratum than occurs on the banks of
the rivulets running through the numerous small vallies
by which this tract is intersected. There is a part of
the Cotswolds lying chiefly to the south of the turnpikeroad
from Oxford to Bath, and extending more or less
from Burford, through Cirencester and Tetbury, to Bath,
which has a soil very different from that first described:
the surface consists of mixed loam to the depth of
from nine to twenty-four inches, under which lies a
stratum of rock in- thin layers, rubbly or broken, and
mixed with light loam, to the depth of from four to
twenty-four inches, and then a stratum of clay of various
depths. This land is naturally wet, and its herbage causes
the rot in sheep depastured upon it j but a considerable
part has been greatly improved by draining across the
natural slope of the land, so that it has become highly
valuable for any purpose of husbandry, and sheep may
be fed on it without danger of the rot. A great portion
of the above tract is dairy land, and produces excellent
cheese, similar in quality to the North Wiltshire. The
soil in the Vale is various; in the northern parts of the
county, as at Welford and its immediate vicinity, it is
a fine black loam mixed with small pebbles and remarkably
fertile; more southward it changes to a strong
rich clay. These appearances continxie in a greater or
less degree nearly to Tewkesbury, from which place to
Gloucester, on each side of the Severn, is found a red
loam, formed by the long continued annual deposits
of the muddy water, which, after great rains, being
brought down by the river Avon, overspread the adjacent
meadows. This adventitious soil is highly fertilizing,
and supersedes the necessity of manure on the
lands within its influence; it is also of great use for
making bricks and tiles, and as a manure for light
sandy lands. A soil similar to this continues, with few
interruptions, for ten miles below Gloucester, when it
becomes impregnated with marine salt, and mixed
with sand deposited by the tide, and, though it loses
much of its tenacity, it is equally if not more productive.
At a distance from the Severn, on the eastern
side, the soil is a strong clay, extending to the base
of the hills, and in some places very stubborn. In the
parish of Deerhurst, above Gloucester, and in those of
Berkeley, Rockhampton, &c., below it, as also at Iron-
Acton, Winterbourne, and Frampton-Cotterell, the soil
is of a strong ferruginous" colour; at the first mentioned
places its substance is argillaceous, at the last a
sandy loam; but the colour of both is probably derived
from the oxyde of iron which they contain, and perhaps
the great fertility of these soils is owing to the same
cause. Sandy soil, with a substratum of gravel, is found
in a small portion of this county. In all parts of the
Vale, except where the compact limestone rocks are
found, a blue clay, at different degrees of depth, forms
the substratum of every soil: in some places, and more
especially in the parish of Hardwick, this becomes the
surface soil, and is unproductive of any but the coarsest
herbage; in the higher parts of the Vale is some peaty
earth, but not in abundance. Throughout a considerable
part of the Forest district the soil inclines to sand; being
in the northern parts little more than a decomposition
of the red sand-stone, which is imbedded in large
masses to a great depth, and often rises to the surface:
this is the general character of the Ryelands, within
the parish of Bromsberrow, and a great part of those of
Dymock, Pauntley, Oxenhall, and Newent, on the high
grounds; but on the lower, and nearer the level of
the river Leden, the soil is of a closer and stronger
texture, though retaining the same colour. It is nearly
the same between Newent and Gloucester, till within a
mile and a half of the city, when it changes to a black
earth with silicious pebbles. The southern parts of this
district have a light soil, or sandy loam, frequently of a
ferruginous colour like that in the lower part of the Vale.
In that portion strictly called the Forest, a kind of
peaty soil prevails, interspersed with bogs and yellowish
or ochreous clay.
About three hundred thousand acres of land in this
county are under tillage. On the Cotswolds it is the
practice to sow the crops after one ploughing, experience
having proved that more frequent ploughing weakens
the staple of these light soils. The average produce of
wheat on the Cotswolds is fifteen bushels per acre, but
in the southern parts of them somewhat more; on the
loamy soils, as in the higher parts of the Vale of Evesham,
and in the Lower Vale of Gloucester, it averages .
more than forty bushels an acre. The crops of oats are
from forty to sixty bushels per acre; though not so much
on the hills. Beans are the chief produce of the clay soils
of the Vale, and a crop on which the farmer much depends;
their average produce is from twenty to forty
bushels per acre; that of peas the same. Rye is cultivated
in that part of the Forest district which includes
Newent, Pauntley, Oxenhall, Dymock, and Bromsberr
row, here called the Ryelands. Tares or vetches are
raised in every part of the county. Potatoes are more
especially an object of attention in the southern parts
of the county, and cultivated in a better manner than
elsewhere: a hundred and fifty sacks, of three bushels
each, are frequently raised on one acre of old broken
up ley; but from eighty to a hundred are reckoned an
average crop. The richest natural meadows and pastures
are on the banks of the Severn and other rivers
which run through the Vale; they are liable to be overflowed
once or twice every year, and their whole ma7
nure consists of the muddy particles deposited during
such inundations. Further down the Severn the quality
of the herbage is changed, in consequence of the
marine salt thrown over the land by the tide: these
marshy meadows are generally grazing land. The
meadows on each -side of the Severn, in its whole
course to about six miles below Gloucester, are mown
every year, and most of the hay is disposed of to the
range owners, for the supply of the Shropshire coal
and other works, in which a great number of horses
is employed: the produce of this land is nearly two
tons per acre. The natural grass lands of the other
parts of the Vale not within reach of these floods, are
generally fertile, though not equally so with the formen.
The dairy being the chief object of the Vale farmers, the
cattle kept are those best adapted for that purpose:
notwithstanding the introduction of several varieties,
in some old dairies the Gloucestershire breed of cows
is still much valued. In the Higher Vale and also in the
Cotswolds the long-horned cows are in most esteem.,
The cattle fed in the stalls are chiefly of the Herefordshire
breed, and having been first worked by thebreeders,
at six or seven years old, are bought by the graziers at
Gloucester, Hereford, Ross, &c.: calves are fattened on
stages erected for the purpose. It is also customary
among the Vale farmers, about the middle of summer, to
buy in small Welch heifers, provincially termed hurries,
to turn into the lattermaths, which generally yield a
good profit the ensuing spring. Sheep are fed in every
part of the county: the principal breed is that of the
Cotswolds, which is large and coarse in the wool, and at
four years old will weigh from thirty to forty pounds per
quarter; when crossed with the new Leicester, a practice
now general, the average weight is only from twentytwo
to thirty pounds per quarter, but the wool is made
shorter and finer, and the carcase altogether improved.
TheCotswold sheep have also been crossed with the South
Down breed, the principal advantage of which consists
in the improved fineness of the wool. The Vale has no
peculiar breed of sheep, for the farmers are discouraged
from breeding for a permanent stock by the danger or
the rot. The Ryeland. or Herefordshire sheep, take their
name from the district where they are found in the
greatest purity: they are smaller than any other, except
perhaps a few peculiar to the Forest of Dean, seldom, at
three years old, exceeding twelve or fourteen pounds per
quarter; they are also beautiful in form, and superior in
flesh, having remarkably fine wool. The Ryeland sheep,
by crossing with the new Leicester and black-faced
Shropshire, have been increased in carcase, but the
quality of their wool has been deteriorated. In the
Upper Vale, the improved Cotswold sheep are fattened
on grass for the London market, or the markets in the
neighbourhood; and in the Vale of Berkeley, and below
it, great numbers of sheep are fed on the lattermaths,
for the markets of Bristol, Bath, &c.: for this latter
purpose Somersetshire wethers, Mendip ewes, Wiltshire
wethers, and ewes with lambs, are chiefly purchased.
On the lowlands, four or five miles on each side
of Gloucester, the sheep chiefly fed are the -Ryeland,
which have here the range of extensive commons, where
they quickly fatten. In the Forest district, the same
sheep, with a few of the Forest breed, are fattened on
grass, in summer, and on turnips, with hay or barleymeal,
in winter. Hogs are fattened in every farmyard
on beans, peas, or barley meal: all sorts and
mixtures of breeds are found, the greater part of them
purchased in other counties, and sold at Gloucester
market; but the most frequent is a mixture of the
Berkshire and the slouch-eared, or tonkey. The old
Gloucestershire breed, standing high, long in the body,
and white, are seldom met with in an unmixed state,
and then not much esteemed. The great consumption of
poultry, occasioned by the visitors of Cheltenham and
Bath, increases the demand in this county, and consequently
the price. No particular attention is paid to
the breed of horses; the fairs receive their chief supply
from the counties of Warwick, Stafford, Derby, and Lincoln.
The operations of tillage are more generally performed
by horses than oxen in the Vale, where the soil
is heavy, and will not bear much treading $ but on the
Cotswolds, on the sandy lands of the Forest district, and
in the southern parts of the Vale, oxen are chiefly used,
the Herefordshire breed being preferred. The orchards
of the Vale and the Forest districts form a very important
part of the farmers produce; but on the Cotswolds, except
partially on the slopes, fruit plantations are not made.
About ten thousand acres in this county still remain waste,
a small portion of which is in sheep downs on the Cotswolds.
On the Cotswolds, the beech and the ash are the
principal trees; the former of these seems to be native;
and it is probable that at a remote period it covered
most of this portion of the county. In the Vale, few
tracts of woodland remain. The elm grows in almost
every district; the oak grows vigorously in different
parts of the Vale, particularly in the hundred of Berkeley.
In the Forest of Dean there still remains a large quantity
of valuable timber. Besides the oak timber growing on
the royal demesne lands, there is a considerable quantity
on the estates of individuals adjacent to the Forest, and
within what is agriculturally considered the Forest district.
The birch trees of the Forest are remarkable for
their size and beauty; the coppice woods, of which there
is no great quantity, are chiefly within the Cotswold
and the Forest districts.
In the Forest of Dean iron-ore exists in abundance,
yet a small quantity only is raised, the greater part of
that used in the furnaces being brought from Lancashire -
and, notwithstanding the expense of carriage, it is more
profitable for working, on account of its superior richness.
Charcoal is chiefly employed in making the best wrought;
iron; while coke, made from the forest coal, is used for
cast and sheet-iron. In the lower part of the Vale,
veins of lead-ore are found in almost all the limestone
rocks; attempts have been made to work them, but the
produce has been too trifling to repay for the expense.
Coal abounds in almost every part of the forest and its
vicinity: the pits in the forest are numerous: much
sulphur is contained in all the coal raised from them.
The lower part of the Vale, including the parishes of
Cromhall, Yate, Iron-Acton, Westerleigh, Pucklechurch,
Stapleton, Mangotsfield, Bitton, Siston, and St. George's
(within the Forest of Kingswood), equally abounds in
coal, but of a less sulphureous quality. The pits in
this district are very numerous, and- supply the vast
consumption of the Bristol manufactories, and in some
degree that of Bath. Here the steam-engine is in use,
and the pits are sunk to the depth of fifty fathoms, or
more. Gloucester and its neighbourhood are supplied
with coal from Shropshire.and Staffordshire; the coal
from either of those counties being, much superior to
any produced in Gloucestershire. The Forest of Dean,
Longhope, and adjoining places, furnish limestone for
building and agriculture; but it is inferior to that found
in vast beds at the southern extremity of the county,
which begin at Cromhall and diverge elliptically till
they meet again in Somersetshire. The lime made of
this stone is of a peculiar whiteness and great strength;
that which is burned at St.Vincent's rocks near Bristol
being the best. The lime, when slaked, is closely compressed
in casks, and becomes a considerable article of
foreign and internal commerce; it is highly valued also
for the purposes of agriculture, for which it is superior
to any made from the calcareous grit of the Cotswolds,
or the blue clay-stone of the Vale. The latter is found
at various depths in beds of clay of the same colour,
and, being disposed in layers of from four to ten inches
thick, is useful for building. Freestone, of excellent
quality for building, is raised from the Cotswold quarries;
and paving-stones, varying in quality and colour, are
dug in the quarries at Frampton-Cotter ell, Winterbourne,
Iron-Acton, Mangotsfield, and Stapleton; the latter are
likewise found in the Forest of Dean; as are also grits
for grind-stones of various degrees of fineness, and one
species of uncommon hardness and durability, esteemed
the best in England for cider-mills; stone tiles are chiefly
obtained in different parts of the Cotswolds. In Aust-
Cliff, in the parish of Henbury, there is & fine bed of
gypsum, or alabaster, which furnishes a plentiful supply
for stuccoing, &c., to the masons of Bristol, Bath, and
other places, but is inferior to that of Derbyshire.
The principal manufactures are those of woollen broad
cloths, chiefly superfine and made of Spanish wool; and
fine narrow goods, of the stripe and fancy kind, both to a
very great extent. These are carried on in the district
commonly called the Bottoms, which includes parts of
the several parishes of Avening, Painswick, Pitchcomb,
Randwick, Minchinhampton, Stroud, Bisley, Rodborough,
Stonehouse, King's Stanley, Stanley-St. Leonard's,
Woodchester, Horsley, and Eastington. There are
also extensive works at Dursley, Cam, Uley, Alderley,
Wickwar, and Wotton under Edge. At Cirencester are
manufactured thin stuffs, composed of worsted yarn,
called chinas. At Tewkesbury, frame-work knitting is
the principal source of employment. Rugs and blankets
are made at Nailsworth, Dursley, and North Nibley.
The pin manufacture is carried on to an important
extent at Gloucester. There are several mills for
making fine writing-paper, as well as for paper of the
coarser kinds. The manufacture of felt hats for the
Bristol trade is chiefly at Frampton-Cotterell, Iron-Acton,
Pucklechurch, Rangeworthy, and other villages in that
neighbourhood. Flax-spinning forms a considerable
part of the winter employment of the women in the
upper part of the Vale of Evesham. In the Forest district
are very ancient and extensive works both for the
smelting of iron-ore and the manufacture of wroughtiron.
The chief articles of export, besides those from
the woollen cloth and pin manufactories, of the latter
of which a great quantity is sent to America, are cheese,
bacon, cider, perry, and all kinds of grain. Fat oxen,
sheep, and pigs, are sent to the London market, as is
"also a considerable quantity of salmon.
The principal rivers are the Severn, the Wye, the
Upper Avon, the Lower Avon, and the Isis, or Thames.
The Severn, which is remarkable for the rapidity of its
stream, and is navigable the whole of its course through
this county, enters it near Tewkesbury, and at Maismore
it divides into two channels, the city of Gloucester being
Situated upon the eastern; at a short distance below
which they re-unite, and the width of the river increases
rapidly as it passes Framilode, Newnham, and Thornbury,
below which latter place it soon takes the name of
the Bristol channel, and forms a grand sestuary not
less than ten miles wide, which continues expanding
until it mingles with the Atlantic ocean. The tide
in the Severn, well known for its boisterous and impetuous
roar, comes up to Gloucester with great rapidity
and violence, and the stream is turned by it as
high as Tewkesbury. The greatest elevation occasioned
by the tide in the river at Gloucester is nine feet, but
the most usual is seven feet and a half. Its violence
has often occasioned great damage to the adjoining
county by sudden inundations, particularly in the years
1606, 1687, 1703, and 1737 To guard against these,
much care has been taken, and great expense incurred,
in making sea-walls and keeping them in repair; for
the better management of which/the parishes bordering
on the east side of the river, from Arlingham, where
the Upper Level commences, to King's Weston, where
the Lower Level ends, are rated, according to the
number of acres in each exposed to inundation. In
each of the Levels are ten or twelve pills, or inlets into
the country, by which the water on the surface is carried
off, the works being repaired by the proprietors of the
adjoining lands. The management is in the hands of
commissioners of sewers, who hold meetings occasionally:
the bailiwick of the Severn has often been let to farm
by the crown. The fish found in the Severn are roach,
dace, bleak, flounders, eels, elvers, chub, carp, trout,
and perch; salmon, lampreys, lamperns, shad, soles,
shrimps, cod, plaice, conger-eels, porpoises, sturgeons,
and some other sea-fish, are taken within the limits
of the county. The salmon, which has ever been
reckoned the pride of the Severn, and in former times
was caught in great abundance, is now comparatively
a scarce fish. The Wye bounds this county on the west,
from the highest part of Ruer-Dean to its confluence
with the Severn, separating it from Herefordshire and
Monmouthshire, excepting a short interval near Monmouth,
being navigable in all that part of its course:
the western boundaries of the Forest of Dean form part
of the celebrated scenery on the banks of this river.
The Upper Avon, having passed through Warwickshire,
bounds the northern extremity of Gloucestershire for
two or three miles, then winding through part of Worcestershire,
it enters this county about three miles
above Tewkesbury, at which place it unites with the
Severn, being navigable up to Stratford in Warwickshire;
the fish of this river are roach, dace, bleak, carp,
bream, and eels. The Lower Avon rises among the
hills of North Wiltshire, and enters this county near
Bath, where it becomes navigable; at Bristol it receives
the waters of the Lower Frome, and, at about five miles
below that city, falls into the Severn at Kingsroad; it
forms the southern boundary of the county, separating
it from Somersetshire, from a little above Bitton, about
half way between Bath and Bristol, to its mouth. The
Isis, or Thames, is generally reputed to rise at a spring
called Thames-Head, in the parish of Cotes, in this
county, which it shortly leaves for Wiltshire, but at
Kempsford, having become navigable, it forms the boundary
between that county and Gloucestershire, and so
continues as far as Lechlade, where it enters Oxfordshire.
The Chelt rises at Dowdeswell, and running by Cheltenham,
falls into the Severn at Wainlode hill. The Leden,
which rises in Herefordshire, enters this county at
Preston, in the Forest district, and falls into the western
channel of the Severn below Over's bridge. The Upper
Frome, which rises at Brimpsfield, in Rapsgate Hundred,
passes Stroud, where it is called the Stroud river, and joins
the Severn at Framilode passage. The Ewelme rises at
Owlpen, and flowing by Dursley, takes the name of Cam
at the village of the same name, and falls into the Severn
at Frampton Pill. The Middle Avon, formed by the junction
of two small streams, crosses the road to Bristol at
Stone, and having flowed under the walls of Berkeley
castle, falls into the Severn about a mile below that town.
The Winrush, remarkable for its fine trout and cray-fish,
rises at Upper Guiting, passes through Bourton on the
Water, and quits the county at Barrington. The Stroudwater
canal, constructed about the year 1775, commences
at Walbridge, in the parish of Stroud, and after a
course of upwards of seven miles, opens into the Severn
at Framilode. The advantages of this canal to the
interests of the cloth manufacture were increased by
the junction of the Thames and Severn, effected by a
continuation of the above line of canal from Walbridge
to Lechlade, a distance of upwards of twenty-eight miles.
This part of the line, called the Thames and Severn
canal, was opened in the year 1789: it has a tunnel
through Sapperton-hill, two miles and three furlongs
in length, fifteen feet high and fifteen feet wide, including
six feet, of water; while its depth from the surface is
two hundred and forty feet. The Gloucester and Berkeley
canal was designed to form a shorter and safer
passage for vessels of large burden between Gloucester
and the wider parts of the Severn; the distance being
seventeen miles and a half: the basin at Gloucester
was begun in 1704; from this place a rail-road extends
to Cheltenham. The Hereford and Gloucester canal,
intended to open a communication by water between
the former city and Ledbury, Gloucester, Bristol,
London, &c., was begun in. 1792; from Herefordshire
it enters this county at its north-western extremity; a
tunnel, two thousand one hundred and seventy yards
long, commences at Dymock and ends at Oxenhall,
whence the canal descends the valley of the Leden,
crosses that river by an aqueduct, and joins the western
channel of the Severn at Gloucester. The road from
London to Gloucester and Hereford enters the county
at Lechlade, and passes through Fairford and Cirencester.
The road from London to Cheltenham enters it
about two miles beyond Burford, in Oxfordshire, and
passes through North Leach. The road from London to
Bristol enters through this county about a mile eastward
from Marshfield, and, passing through that town,
runs within the southern border of the county to Bristol.
Many tumuli, or barrows, are scattered over the
county, but it cannot be ascertained whether any or
which of them are British. The circumstance of the
Romans having experienced little opposition from the
Dobuni, is a probable reason why so few Roman stations
and fortresses are to be found in the country
which that British tribe inhabited. Ancient encampments
are conspicuous on almost every eminence, but
their origin is very uncertain: the principal are at Little
Sodbury, Minchinhampton, Painswick, Twining, Haresfield,
Tytherington, Elberton, Uley, Hatherop, North
Leach, Oldbury, Cromhall, Beachley, Willersey, Staunton,
and from the last place, at different intervals, along
the edge of the whole Cots wold range to Bath, Henbury,
and Clifton. Remains of Roman buildings, such as
tesselated pavements, &c., have been discovered at Gloucester,
Cirencester, Woodchester, Rodmarton, Colesborne,
and Chedworth, particularly at the two first places, Roman
coins have been found in various places, especially
at Sapperton; but the greater part of them are of the
lower empire. Of the four great public or military roads
of the Romans in Britain, three pass through Gloucestershire;
the Posse-way enters the county from the north at
Lemington, and passing by North Leach and Cirencester,
quits it about five miles beyond the latter town. The
Iknield way enters from Oxfordshire at East Leach,
and falls into the Fosse-way near Cirencester. The
Ermin-street is supposed to have led from Caerleon
in Monmouthshire, through Gloucester, to Cirencester
and Cricklade, in its course to Southampton, Of
ancient castles, only that of Berkeley, erected in the
early part of the twelfth century, is entire; there are
inconsiderable remains of the castle of Beverstone, built
prior to the Norman Conquest; and more extensive relics
of that of St. Briavells, built not long after the Conquest;
but the most magnificent ruins of this class are
those of Sudley castle, which was rebuilt about the year
1450; and of Thornbury castle, erected about 1511. The
most remarkable ancient manor-houses remaining, wholly
or in part, are, of the fifteenth century, Southam house,
the manor-house of Frampton-Cotterell, Acton house,
Wanswel] house, and Olveston court; of the Elizabethan
age. Shipton-Cliffe house, Toddington house, Stanway
house, Shurdington house, and Syston manor-house 5
and of the seventeenth century, the mansion-houses of
Higham, Highmeadow, Dyrham, and Hardwick; of this
last period also is the splendid mansion of the Duke
of Beaufort, at Badminton. Before the Reformation
there were, according to Tannar, forty-seven monasteries,
hospitals, and colleges in the county: the most considerable
monastic remains are those of St. Peter's abbey
at Gloucester, and of the abbeys of Tewkesbury, Cirencester,
Hailes, and Kingswood. The churches are in
general handsome structures; the cathedral of Gloucester,
and the churches of Tewkesbury, Cirencester, and
Berkeley, exhibit the most interesting specimens of ancient
ecclesiastical architecture; the square-headed win-,
dow is particularly observable in the churches in those
parts of the county adjoining Somersetshire, where it
is.said that Henry VII. built many in reward for th
attachment of that county to his cause. Fairford
church is particularly distinguished for its ancient
painted glass. Stone fonts of large dimensions, for.
immersion, are very common.
Fossils are found in great variety and abundance in
almost every quarry that is opened on the Cotswolds.
In the Vale, the beds of blue clay-stone are stored with
the cornua ammonis, conchce rugoste, &c, Frethern cliff,
the western shore of the Severn, near Awre, Pyrton passage,
and Westbury cliff, afford similar fields of investigation
for the naturalist; as do various other parts of,
the county, though to a less extent. The springs which
rise through beds of blue clay are often strongly saline,
as at Prestbury, Cleeye, Cheltenham, Sandhurst, Hardwick,
Eastington, Gloucester, &c. Of these waters, it is
hardly necessary to observe that those of Cheltenham
are the most celebrated.