DC  SCOC*S:* 
= a? hat ee oleae —_ — er eT aoe 
VOL. XIV. (3) THE COTTESWOLD HILLS 227 
approaching a really pure Gloucestershire language. 
Here, in Oxfordshire, I sometimes come across men who 
speak the Gloucester tongue with the proper intonation. 
“Question 5. Name of country between Bristol Avon 
and Vale of Berkeley. Probably you are aware that a con- 
siderable portion of this district lying in the rhine country 
about Tockington was, and probably is, called the Marsh, 
or more usually the Mash. 
‘““W. Warde Fowler, Esq., Kingham, Chipping Norton, 
would be a very likely person to give you accurate infor- 
mation.” 
About the term Oxford Downs, I knew that it was the term for a 
breed of sheep, but I thought it might be a geographical term. The 
terms Hampshire Downs, Southdowns, are applied to the sheep them- 
selves, as well as to the districts from which they take their names. 
In answer to enquiries, Mr Ward Fowler replied :— 
» 6 
ares = I am not a native of these parts, though I have 
been resident here a quarter of a century: and thus my 
way of speaking of the Cotswolds may not be based on 
local tradition, but on notions of my own. I have always 
called by that name the whole range of hills which shuts 
in our view to west and south, from Broadway tower to 
Leafield church, which was the highest point in Wych- 
wood Forest. But I have often had some doubt whether 
I was justified in using the name technically ofany ground 
east of the Windrush; in short, whether the Windrush 
valley is not the traditional boundary of the Cotswolds on 
this side, and not the Evenlode. Of one thing I am pretty 
sure, that Wychwood was zo¢ reckoned in the Cotswolds ; 
and I am rather inclined to guess that Oxfordshire people 
in the north-west of the county have never considered 
themselves to belong to the Cotswolds. However, this 
is mere guesswork, for I have never really made enquiries 
into the matter. I will now do so as far as I can, and let 
you know the result. 
