CHAPTEE IX. 



COTSWOLD SHEEP. 



HESE sheep are natives of the Cotswold or Cottes- 

 wolde Hills, which run through the eastern side 

 of Gloucestershire, in a direction from south-west 

 to north-east. The name is derived from the 

 practice in early times of protecting the sheep during winter in 

 cotes or low sheds, which, according to Camden, were long 

 ranges of buildings, frequently three or four storeys high, with 

 low ceilings, and with an inclination at one end of each floor 

 reaching to the next, by which the sheep were enabled to ascend 

 to the topmost one. The antiquity of the Cotswold is established 

 beyond contradiction. There is no record of sheep having 

 existed in this country prior to the Roman era ; indeed, the 

 stupidity of the sheep would have insured their destruction by 

 wild beasts. It was only when the Romans introduced some- 

 thing like a system of tillage that the conditions were suitable, 

 and accordingly we soon hear of them, the best proof being the 

 fact that both at Cirencester and Winchester cloth was manu- 

 factured, and the trade soon assumed considerable importance; 

 indeed, Gloucester was an important settlement whilst London 

 was only a burgh. Tacitus, writing on Cirencester, states that 

 " great attention was paid to the good condition and cleanliness 

 of the roads, which were repaired by the proprietors of the 

 adjacent houses. Carriages with heavy burdens were prohibited, 

 and nothing was to be thrown out before the shops, except a 

 fuller hung his cloth out to dry." The late Mr. J. M. Reade, 

 of Elkstone, to whose investigations we are mainly indebted for 

 our knowledge of the antiquity and early history of these sheep, 

 thinks that the use of the word " Cote," applied only to the 



