_ VOL. XIV. (3) THE COTTESWOLD HILLS 233 
Gawcombe, mentioned by Gibbs, is a small offshoot of this, 
opposite Chipping Norton Junction. The Vale of Bourton 
is an upland vale, mostly over 400 feet above sea level. 
It almost breaks into the Moreton Vale near Stow Station ; 
but is just parted by some ground 500 feet above sea 
level. This Vale of Bourton may be considered as an 
upland vale in the Cotteswold Hills. 
DELIMITATION OF THE COTTESWOLDS. 
For the purpose of delimiting the Cotteswold Hills, the 
400 foot contour-line was found to be most in accord 
with the extent of the area under consideration. On 
the western side it is certainly the best line to take: a 
lower one would include too much, a higher one would 
define too little. Only in one case, in the north-east part, 
is it necessary to rise above the 400 foot line; but for a 
certain area on the south-east side, where delimitation is 
most difficult, it is necessary to go below the 400 foot 
line ; still, on the whole, it may be said that what is above 
the 400 foot line in the area to be described is Cotteswold 
country. 
Starting from Bath (see Map), we can follow the 
400 foot line around Lansdown Hill and proceed north- 
wards by Sodbury, Hawkesbury, Stinchcombe Hill, across 
the Dursley Valley to Cam Long Down, and thence by 
Selsley to the Stroud Valley. Here we must take an 
arbitrary line, circling from one hill to another around 
the town of Stroud, then proceeding again on the 400 foot 
line from Randwick Hill. This takes us easily enough to 
the northern part of the hills; and as the northernmost 
part of the Cotteswold range we must place Meon Hill, 
which is connected by a narrow neck above the 400 foot 
level, to the high ground of Ilmington, Hidcote Bartrim, 
and Ebrington. The 400 foot line can then be followed 
till we come to the watershed between the Knee Brook 
