494, 



GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



shire, on the east by Oxfordshire and a small part 

 of Berkshire, on the south by Wiltshire and 

 Somersetshire, and on the west by part of the lat- 

 ter county, the Bristol channel and Monmouth- 

 shire. 



It is about seventy miles in length, forty in 

 breadth, and 156 in circumference. Through a 

 great portion of its length it is divided into two 

 unequal parts by the river Severn. Its other chief 

 rivers are the Wye, the Frome or Shroud, and the 

 two Avons. The city of Gloucester is 102 miles 

 north-west of London. From the several rivers 

 above named, together with some others of less 

 note, this country is rendered one of the richest, 

 most fertile, and delightful parts of England. 



This county is naturally divided into three dis- 

 tinct parts or tracts the eastern, the middle, and 

 the western; which have received the several 

 names of The Vale, Catswold, and the Forest of 

 Dean. The Vale of Gloucester manifestly de- 

 rives its name from its situation ; and the forest 

 was probably called the "Forest of Dean" from 

 the principal town in the district. Some, however, 

 have supposed the word Dean to be a corruption 

 of Arden, a name used by both the ancient Gauls 

 and Britons to signify a wood. The eastern part, 

 which is the widest of the three, is called the Cats- 

 wold : the chief part of this tract is barren and 

 moorlike, but affords excellent pasture for sheep, 

 famous for their superior fleece, which has rendered 

 this a celebrated clothing county. Originally, the 

 sheep of this county were very small, but of late 

 the breed, however, has been greatly improved by 

 the introduction among it of sheep from other 

 counties. The middle tract, called the Vale, is 

 well watered by the Severn, and from its joining 

 the Vale of Evesham, it is sometimes known by 

 that name. The western part of Gloucestershire 

 is a perpetual alternation of hills and small vales, 

 which formerly was every where clothed with tim- 

 ber, which furnished the principal supplies for our 

 navy. Much of this timber is now cut down, but 

 the tract, even yet, is more of a forest than an 

 agricultural district. 



The chief natural productions of this county are 

 iron and coal, of which it furnishes large quantities. 

 Its chief manufactured products are woollen goods 

 of various kinds, and cheese, for which it is very 

 eminent.* It is likewise noted for perry and 

 cider. 



* Gloucester Cheete. In the preparation of this cheese, the 

 milk is, in the first instance, put into a cheese-cowl (which is 

 a large deep tub) with two teacupsful of rennet. A ball of 

 mulatto is then dipped in the milk and rubbed on a piece of 

 pantile, which is washed into the milk till the colour is as high 

 as required. The quantity of annatto is regulated by tiie 

 wishes of the cheese/actor, some liking' more than others, ori- 

 ginally only a small quantity was employed, to Induce the be- 

 uef that the cheese was nch, and to prevent its being- dis- 

 covered that skimmed milk had been used. But now almost 

 all the cheese is highly coloured ; and the colour is no criterion 

 of the goodness of the article. After an hour has elapsed, the 

 milk is converted into curd ; this is cut with a cheese-knife, 

 which is about fourteen inches in length, and has two edges : 

 it is cut gently at first, and then very small. It is suffered to 

 remain ten minutes, when the milkmaid puts her arms into the 

 cowl and draws the curd gently towards her, turning it over 

 in the whey. She afterwards again draws it towards her to 

 dip out the whey, which is strained through a sieve, and the 

 small pieces of curd that are strained from it are returned to 

 the cowL The curd is then put Into vats, in which cloth had 

 been previously laid. The vats are placed one on another, and 

 put in a cheese-press for ten minutes, a vessel having previ- 

 ously been placed underneath the press to catch the expressed 

 whey. After this, the curd is taken out of the vats and 

 broken small, and some hot whey is poured over it. The curd 

 is then drawn to the side of the cowl to drain from the whey, 

 which is ladled off and strained so that no curd may be wasted. 

 Then the curd is again put into the vats, and they are pressed 

 one on another ; any curd that is pressed over the edges of the 



Gloucestershire is in the province of Canter- 

 bury and diocess of Gloucester, and is included in 

 the Oxford circuit. The county is divided into 

 twenty-eight hundreds, containing two cities (Bris- 

 tol and Gloucester), one county town (Gloucester), 

 twenty-eight market towns, three hundred and 

 forty parishes and six parts of parishes. 



Gloucestershire, before the Reformation, con- 

 tained four of the great mitred abbeys, Gloucester, 

 Tewkesbury, Winchcomb, and Cirencester, be- 

 sides several smaller convents. The twenty-eight 

 hundreds are Barton Regis, Berkeley, Bisley, 

 Blidesloe, Botloe, Bradley, St Briavels, Bright- 

 wells Barrow, Cheltenham, Cleeve, Crowthorne 

 and Minety, Deerhurst, Dudstone and King's Bar- 

 ton, Grumbald's Ash, Henbury, Kiftsgate, Duchy 

 of Lancaster, Langley and Swineshead, Longtree, 

 Pucklechurch, Rapsgate, Slaughter, Tewkesbury, 

 Thornbury, Tibaldstone, Westbury, Westminster, 

 and Whitstone. Besides Bristol, partly in Som- 

 ersetshire, and Gloucester, its capital, the county 

 contains the boroughs of Cirencester and Tewkes- 

 bury; and the market-towns of Berkeley, Bisley, 

 Blakeney, Campden, Cheltenham, Colford, Durs- 

 ley, Fairford, Lechlade, Marshfield, Micheldean, 

 Minchinhampton, Moreton, Newent, Newnham, 

 Northleach, Painswick, Sodbury, Leonard Stanley, 

 Stow-on-the-Wold, Stroud, Tetbury, Thornbury, 

 Wickwar, Winchcomb, and Wotton Underedge ; 



vats being put in the middle of the vats to make the mass as 

 firm as possible. In an hour the vats are taken out of tin- 

 press to have dry cloths, after which they remain in the ]>r<'--< 

 till night, when the compressed curd is taken out of the vats, 

 turned and salted, and then replaced in the press, and there 

 remains till morning, when it is salted, and also again the fol- 

 lowing evening. The second morning the cloths re taken off, 

 but the cheeses are left in the vats seven or eight days, hi*in<; 

 turned night and morning. After that, they are put on the 

 floor of the cheese-loft, ( which is a large room on purpose for 

 keeping cheese,) and turned every day for three weelks or a 

 month. In two months the cheeses are scraped and painted. 

 The paint is a red powder, which is strewed over the cheeses 

 and rubbed on them with the hand. In three months they 

 are what is technically called "ready," and are fit for the cheese - 

 factor. 



The whey that drained from the curd, during the proce.-- of 

 cheesemaking, is put into trendies (a sort of tub) and suf- 

 fered to remain till the next day, when it is skimmed. From 

 this whey butter is made, and the residue is given to pigs. The 

 rennet is made by mixing salt and water till it will support an 

 egg, and then boiling it half an hour. When it is cold, four 

 calves' stomachs are put to a gallon of the brine, with bay 

 leaves and slices of lemon. In six weeks it is fit for use. 



For single Gloucester cheese, the vats, which are made of 

 elm, are thirteen inches in diameter, and about two inches and a 

 half in depth : for double Gloucester cheese, the same diameter, 

 and twice, or more than twice the depth. All the dairy- 

 utensils, after being used are washed with tepid water, and then 

 scalded. In making the double Gloucester cheese, and those 

 that are called " truckles," the same method is pursued, ex- 

 cept that more care is used in pressing the curd into the vats, 

 which, for such cheeses, have three perforations to let the 

 whey drain off; and bandages of cheese-cloth are put round 

 when the curd is above the vat. Sage-cheese is made by 

 pounding sage and straining the juice into a pail of milk, to 

 which rennet is then added. The same process is observed as 

 for other cheese till the time when the warm whey should be 

 poured upon it, when it is broken up with as much of the 

 simple curd as the milkmaid considers necessary, and treated 

 as other cheese. To make the richest cream -cheeses, the 

 thickest cream must be taken, and put, with a little salt, into 

 a straining-cloth, which is hung up twelve hours in order that 

 the whey may drop from it. When it is taken from the cloth, 

 it is put between two pewter-plates, with a weight on the 

 upper one, and turned daily during five or six days. These 

 cheeses can only be made in this manner in warm weather. 

 The milk that the cows give when they are first turned into 

 the fields in the spring, and when they are afterwards pas. 

 tured in fields that have been newly mown, yields nearly as 

 much curd again as at any other period ; and it is also much 

 richer. The principal season for making the thin cheese is 

 from April to November : and that for making the thick, May, 

 June, and the beginning of July. In different districts, the 

 produce of cows differs very much ; but, in the Vale of Glou- 

 cester, from 3| cwt. to 4icwt. per cow is considered a fair 

 annual average return. The same cow, on different pastures, 

 will yield milk of very different qualities ; from one will be 

 made rank and unpleasant cheese, while the other will be fine 

 and rich. 



