Bibury

A small village in Gloucestershire, England, is a typical and picturesque Cotswold village. The artist and craftsman William Morris called Bibury "the most beautiful village in England" at the sight of the village's charm. Its honey-coloured 17th-century stone cottages with steep pitched roofs once provided housing for weavers who supplied cloth for fulling at nearby Arlington Mill. The mill now houses a folk and agricultural museum, containing a room dedicated to Morris. The River Coln flows through the village, alongside the main street. Bibury attractions include a trout farm (1902) where some 10 million rainbow trout are spawned yearly. The trout can be sampled at the Catherine Wheel, a small inn and pub.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water is not your typical sleepy idyllic English Cotswold village; this is really a tourist honey pot. It has got all the right ingredients, with the river Windrush and its six arched bridges and wide grassy banks, running parallel with the main street and dividing the village in two. The traditional Cotswold architecture, some dating back to the seventeenth century, with honey coloured limestone walls, mullioned windows, stone tiled roofs and a generous helping of gables. This village has everything and knows it and on a warm summers day it makes a memorable visit, just promenade up one side of the river and down the other, taking in all the sights.

It is not short on attractions, including Bird land, a trout farm, model village, model railway, motor museum and a perfumery, there are also a number of pleasant walks to be had. Of the above Bird land is my favourite, it has a large collection of exotic birds including penguins, pelicans, Toucans and pink flamingos. All this and history too, with its older name of Boroughton its origins can be traced back to Roman times and beyond, there is evidence to indicate a Bronze age settlement (1500-700 BC). The Roman Fosse Way that runs from the mouth of the Humber to Devon passes the top of Bourton-in-the-Water.

Broadway

Broadway is a small Cotswold village in Worcestershire, England. Often referred to as the 'Jewel of the Cotswolds', Broadway village lies beneath Fish Hill on the western Cotswold escarpment. The 'broad way' is the wide grass-fringed main street, centred around The Green, which is lined with red chestnut trees and honey-coloured Cotswold limestone buildings, many dating from the 16th century.

Originally a busy stagecoach stop on the route from Worcester to London, Broadway became home to artists and writers including Elgar, John Singer Sargent, J.M. Barrie, Vaughan Williams, William Morris and Mary Anderson. Broadway is thought to have been the model for Riseholme, the home of Lucia in the novels of E F Benson, before she moved to Tilling (Rye) in Sussex.

However, in 2004, Worcestershire Young Archaeologist's Club, a regional branch of the Council for British Archaeology's Young Archaeologist's Club, found evidence of earlier occupation. Their fieldwalk uncovered a large amount of Roman and Medieval domestic waste and, most importantly, a large amount of worked Mesolithic flints. This work puts the history of the village back 5,000 years and may be evidence of one of the first partially settled sites in the United Kingdom. It is believed that this would have been a stopping point for hunter-gatherers.

Burford

It lies about 30 kilometres west of Oxford on the River Windrush and is a popular centre for tourists who visit the Cotswolds, with many antique shops on the main street. The name derives from the Old English words burh meaning fortified town or hilltown and ford meaning ford (crossing). In 1649, the church was used as a prison (during the English Civil War), when the New Model Army Banbury mutineers were held there. Some of the 340 prisoners left carvings and grafitti, which can still be found in the church.

Between the 14th century and the 17th century Burford was important for its wool. The Tolsey is located in the centre of Burford's High Street; this was once the centre of the local wool trade. Today, the Tolsey is home to a museum.The town centre features some houses dating from the 15th century. Its most notable building, however, is the parish church dedicated to St. John, which is known for its merchants' guild chapel, Red Indian memorial and Kempe glass.

Cheltenham

Cheltenham (or Cheltenham Spa) is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, England. The town has a population of 110,013 (2001 census). Cheltenham is located on the edge of the Cotswolds and has an image of being respectable and wealthy. Cheltenham has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716. The town is famous for its Regency architecture and is said to be "the most complete regency town in England". The small River Chelt flows under and through the town and is subject to regular floods.

Chipping Campden

A small market town within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. A rich wool trading centre in the Middle Ages, Chipping Campden enjoyed the patronage of wealthy wool merchants (see also wool church). Today it is a popular Cotswold tourist destination with old inns, hotels, specialist shops and restaurants. The High Street is lined with honey-coloured limestone buildings, built from the mellow locally quarried Cotswold stone, and boasts a wealth of fine vernacular architecture. At its centre stands the Market Hall with its splendid arches, built in 1627.

Other attractions include the grand early perpendicular wool church of St James " with its medieval altar frontals (c.1500), cope (c.1400) and vast and extravagant 17th century monuments to Sir Baptist Hicks and family " the Almshouses and Woolstaplers Hall. The Court Barn near the church of St James is now a museum celebrating the rich Arts and Crafts tradition of the area.

Cirencester

Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in Cotswold District. It is home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural college in the English-speaking world founded in 1840. The town's Corinium Museum is well-known for its extensive Roman collection. The Roman name for this place was Corinium, which is thought to have been associated with the ancient British Cornovii tribe, having the same root word as the River Churn. The earliest known reference to the town was by Ptolemy in 150 AD.

Even in Roman times, there was a thriving wool trade and industry, which contributed to the growth of Corinium. A large forum and basilica was built over the site of the fort, and archeological evidence shows signs of further civic growth. When a wall was erected around the Roman city in the late second century, it enclosed 240 acres (1 km²), making Corinium, in area, the second-largest city in Britain.

Northleach

Northleach is a small Cotswold market town in Gloucestershire. It is close to the A40 main road, and the Fosseway, the A429. The town was made wealthy by the wool trade of the fifteenth century, and the main church is of impressive size and quality in reflection of this fact.

The road which became the A40 ran through the town, and as the main road between Oxford and Cheltenham it contributed greatly to the town's development. The town was bypassed in the mid 1980s, only after vibration damage had been detected in some of the fine 15th - 18th century houses on the main road.

The Church of St Peter and St Paul in Northleach is known as The Cathedral of the Cotswolds. The church dates from the early 12th century, and was built on top on an earlier building, also believed to have been a church.

Painswick

Originally, the town grew on the wool trade, but it is now best known for its church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The town is mainly constructed of locally quarried Cotswold stone. Many of the buildings feature South facing attic rooms once used as weaver's workshops.

Geographically Painswick is situated on a hill in the Stroud district, overlooking the Stroud valleys. Its narrow streets and traditional architecture make it the epitome of an English village. There is evidence of settlement in the area as long ago as the Iron Age. This can be seen in the defensive earthworks atop nearby Painswick Beacon, which have wide views across the Severn Vale. The local monastery, Prinknash Abbey, was established as long ago as the 11th century.

During the first English civil war (1642-1645) Gloucester was a Parliamentarian stronghold of some strategic importance. Consequently it was surrounded by forces loyal to the King. After the siege of Gloucester was broken on September 5, 1643, the Royalist army, which had been surrounding the city, encamped overnight at Painswick. Some damage was caused by the troops and a scar from two small cannonballs can still be seen on the tower of St. Marys church

Stanton

Stanton is a small village south of Broadway, and north of Cheltenham. It is completely constructed out of Cotswold stone, with a high street, and a pub, The Mount, at the end.

It is on the edge of the Cotswold Escarpment. It is within just a few minutes drive from Stanway, and five or ten minutes drive from Broadway. The Cotswold Way runs through the village. There are, however, no shops, or a post office.

Stanway

The village is dominated by Stanway House, a Jacobean manor house which has been a popular location as a film set. Stanway House is owned by the Earl of Wemyss and March. It is occupied by his son and heir, Lord Neidpath, who has pursued, over a number of years, a restoration program. One fruit of this is the largest gravity fed fountain on Earth. With all valves open, this fountain can reach a height of 300 feet (about 90 metres).

Stow-on-the-Wold

It is situated on top of an 800 ft (244 m) hill, at the convergence of a number of major roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429). Stow-on-the-Wold is said to have originated as an Iron Age fort on this defensive position on a hill. Indeed, there are many sites of similar forts in the area, and Stone Age and Bronze Age burial mounds are common throughout the area. The town began to grow as a result of trade along the Fosse Way (a Roman Road).

In 1330, Edward III set up an annual 7-day market to be held in August. The aim of these annual fairs was to establish Stow as a place to trade, and to remedy the unpredictable passing trade. These fairs were located in the square, which is still the town centre.

As the fairs grew in fame and importance, the town grew more prosperous, and the fairs became bigger. Traders who once only dealt in livestock, now dealt in many handmade goods, and the wool trade always stayed a large part of the trade. Reportedly, 20,000 sheep changed hands at one 19th century fair. Many alleyways run between the buildings of Stow into the market square; these once were used in the herding of sheep into the square to be sold.

Stroud

Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture. The Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty surrounds the town in all directions, and the Cotswold Way path passes by it to the west. Historically, Stroud is known for its involvement in the Industrial Revolution. It was a cloth town; woollen mills were powered by the small rivers which surge through the five valleys, and supplied by Cotswold sheep grazed on the hills above. Particularly noteworthy was the production of military uniforms in the trademark Stroud water Scarlet colour.

There was a significant Jewish presence in the 19th century, linked to the tailoring and cloth industries.[ Stroud was a fairly major industrial and trading location in the nineteenth century, and so needed transport links. It first had a canal network in the form of the Stroud water Navigation and the Thames & Severn Canal, both of which struggled to survive until the early 20th century. These canals are now being restored as a leisure facility by a partnership of British Waterways and the Cotswold Canals Trust (formerly the Stroud water, Thames and Severn Canal Trust) with a multi-million pound Lottery grant. Stroud railway station (on the Gloucester-Swindon "Golden Valley" line) was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Tetbury

It lies on the site of an ancient hill fort, on which an Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded, probably by Ine of Wessex, in 681. The population of the parish was 5,250 in the 2001 census. In the Middle Ages, Tetbury became an important market for Cotswold wool and yarn. At this time the Tetbury Woolsack Races, in which competitors must carry a 60 pound sack of wool up a steep hill, were founded and are still contested annually.

House, built in 1655 and the late-eighteenth century Gothic revival parish church of St Mary the Virgin and much of the rest of the town centre, dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Market House is a fine example of a Cotswold pillared market house and is still in use as a meeting place and market.

Tewkesbury

The name Tewkesbury comes from the name of a Saxon who founded a hermitage there in the seventh century, Theoc, and in the Saxon tongue was called Theocsbury. Evidence of a church predating the abbey suggests that a considerable settlement rose up on the site previous to the Norman Conquest. Evidence of monastic buildings from the years immediately following the conquest can still be seen surrounding the abbey, which was begun in 1090 and consecrated on 23 October 1121.

Tewkesbury was the site of the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471. At the Bloody Meadow, south of the town, Edward IV's Yorkist forces defeated the House of Lancaster in an historic battle of the Wars of the Roses with a bloody aftermath. Tewkesbury was incorporated during the reign of Elizabeth I.

The Slaughters

Both Upper and Lower Slaughter are built on both banks of the River Eye. At Lower Slaughter - the west end of the village there is an old water mill with an undershot waterwheel and a chimney for additional steam power. The anglican parish church is dedicated to St. Mary. At Upper Slaughter the Anglican parish church is dedicated to St.Peter.

Winchcombe

The Belas Knap long barrow to be found near Winchcombe, was constructed in about 3000 BC. Later, during the Anglo-Saxon period, Winchcombe was a chief city of Mercia, the others being Lichfield and Tamworth. Subsequently, during the 11th century, the town was briefly the county town of Winchcombeshire. The Anglo Saxon Saint St. Kenelm is supposed to be buried in the town.

In Winchcombe and the immediate vicinity can be found Sudeley Castle and the remains of Hailes Abbey, which was one of the main centres of pilgimages in Britain due to a phial possessed by the monks said to contain the blood of Christ. There is nothing left of the now-vanished Winchcombe Abbey. St Peter's church in the centre of the town is famous for its grotesques.

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