LECTURE LIX, 



COTSWOLDS. 



Origin, History, and Development. 



Unlike the Leicester and other large bodied, long wooled 

 sheep whose home was in the lower lands of the midland 

 counties, the Cotswolds are natives of a range of hills that 

 run through the eastern part of Gloucestershire in a direction 

 from southwest to northeast. Their name is derived from 

 two words the first, cote, which dates back to the times of 

 David and Hezekiah, and means a long, low building for the 

 purpose of affording shelter to the flocks; and wold, meaning 

 a naked hillside. It is from these sheep that the hills take 

 their name, Cotswold Hills. 



As to the origin of these sheep, it is not known. But it 

 is safe to say that previous to the Roman conquest there were 

 no sheep in Briton. As has been stated in a previous lecture, 

 it is altogether probable that with the Roman systems of 

 tillage and drainage and protection afforded, sheep were im- 

 ported into Briton and multiplied in great numbers. Goding 

 says that during the Saxon Heptarchy, when royalty visited 

 Gloucester the cottagers presented the king and nobles with 

 clothing of their own manufacture. Woolen mills were in 

 evidence at a very early date in Cirencester and Winchester. 



These sheep, inhabited the Cotswold Hills in large num- 

 bers. They were large, coarse bodied sheep with rather long 

 legs, well adapted to hurrying about on the thin soiled hill- 

 sides in search of the sweet, scanty herbage that furnished 

 them nourishment. They very early became noted for their 

 fleeces of long, fine wool, which was a little coarser than the 

 Leicester, but finer than the Ryeland wool, two breeds whose 

 homes bordered on that of the Cotswold's. 



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