﻿aLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



48 



it extends over Gloucestershire, the city and deanery of Bristol, and 

 parts of Somersetshire and Wiltshire, and comprises 442 benefices. It 

 is divided into two archdeaconries, Bristol and Gloucester. The 

 chapter of Gloucester consists of a dean, archdeacon, 4 canon.s, 10 

 honorary canons, 3 minor canons, and a chancellor. The chapter of 

 Bristol consists of a dean, archdeacon, 6 canone, 6 honorary canons, 

 3 minor canons, and a chancellor. The income of the bishop is fixed 

 at S'OOL 



(Gough's Camden, Bi-itannia; Desciiption of the City of Gloucctler; 

 Piirliamentary Papen.) 



GLOUCESTEHSHIRE, an inland county of England, situated in 

 the south-west part of the island. It is bounded E. by Oxfordshire, 

 N. by Warwickshire and Worcestershire, W. by Herefordshire and 

 Monmouthshire, and S. by Somersetshire and Wiltshire. Small 

 detached pieces of land, which were formerly reckoned as part of 

 Gloucestershire, were by the Act 7 and 8 Vict. cap. 61, annexed to the 

 counties in which they are respectively situated. By the same Act 

 small portions formerly reckoned as belonging to Wiltshire and 

 Worcestershire, but situated in Gloucestershire, were declared to be 

 portions of that county. 



Gloucestershire lies between 51° 25' and 52° 11' K. lat., 1° 37' and 

 2° 41' W. long. Its greatest length from north-east to south-west is 

 60 miles, and is breadth from east to west is 43 miles. The area is 

 about 12j3 square miles, or 865,102 acres. The population iu 1851 

 was 458,805. 



Surface, Hydrography, and Communicalioru. — The county is 

 naturally divided into three dit^inct districts, of very different charac- 

 ter, which may respectively be termed the Hill, the Vale, and the 

 Forest districts. The hill district is formed by a range of high land 

 running entirely through the county from north-east to the south 

 and south-west. Its course is nearly parallel to the Avon and Severn, 

 at a distance varying from 6 miles to 10 tqiles, and running in a line 

 from Chipping Campden to Broadway Beacon (1086 feet high), 

 Winchcombe, and Cleeve station (1134 feet), on to Cheltenham. This 

 range, which is called the Cotswold Hills, divides the basin of the 

 Severn from the basin of the Thames. The extensive vale which lies 

 between the Hills and the Severn is divided into the upper and lower, 

 or the Vales of Gloucester and Berkeley. The former extends from 

 the north of the county to Gloucester, aud is about 15 miles in length 

 from north to south, and 7 or 8 miles from east to west The boun- 

 dary line of the Vale of Berkeley is nearly a segment of a circle, the 

 carved part of which is formed on the south and east by the hills 

 which terminate on the north in the Painswick and Matson Hills, and 

 on the west the Severn forms the irregular chord-line : the extent of 

 this vale from the foot of Matson Hill on the north to Aust Cliff on 

 the south is 25 miles, and its medium breadth is not quite 4 miles. 

 On the west of the Sievem, and entirely divided by it from the rest 

 of the county, is the Forest district, which has an irregular surface, 

 and is cbieSy occupied by tho Forest of Dean, gre.it part of which is 

 still crown property. The forest is limited according to the pei-ambu- 

 lations made in tho 12tli of Henry III. and 10th of Edward I. Since 

 that time many encroachments or grants of freehold property have 

 been made on it, but the qiiantity of ground still retained by the 

 crown is above 20,000 acres. The government of the forest is vested in a 

 lord warden, who is constable of the cattle of St. Briavel's, 6 deputy 

 warilens, and other officers. The whole forest is extra-parochial, and 

 its inhabitants are exempted from rates and taxes, have free liberty of 

 pasturage, the privilege of sinking mines, and access to the woods and 

 timber for their works. One-sixth of the produce of the mines is 

 due to the king. The general appearance of tho Forest of Dean is 

 picturesque ; and it abounds with apple orchards, the cider made from 

 which is in considerable repute. 



The principal rivers in Gloucestershire are the Severn, the Wye, 

 the Lower and the Upper Avon, the Frome, the Thames, the Calne, 

 the Windrusli, and the Ledden. Tho Severn enters the county from 

 the north a little to the west of Tewkesbury, where it is joined 

 by the Upper Avon, and the united stream takes a winding south- 

 south-west course to Gloucester and Newnham, below which it widens 

 considerably, passes near Berkeley, and at length becomes a broad 

 ffistuary, into which the Wye and the Lower Avon fall. From its 

 entrance into the county to the mouth of the Avon, the Severn, fol- 

 lowing its windings, is 60 miles long. In the a!stuary of this river, 

 oppq^itethe mouth of the Lower Avon, the tide rises 42 feet, [Severn.] 

 The Wye forms the boundary between Gloucesternhire and Monmouth- 

 shire and a small part of Herefordshire, bounding the south-east of 

 Herefordshire for 11 miles and theeast of Monmouthshire for 21 miles 

 of its coarse. At Chepstow, near the mouth of the Wye, the tide 

 sometimes rises 60 feet. The Lower Avon forms the boundary on the 

 south-west for about IS miles between Gloucestershire and Somerset- 

 shirs, psBses through Bristol, and falls into the ccstuary of the Severn, 

 after a ooarse of about 7 miles north-west from that city. The Ujiper 

 Avon divide* a very small part of this county from Warwickshire 

 on tho north-east, and after a winding course through a small part of 

 WHrwiclfhire and Worcestershire, flows in this county for 6 miles, till 

 it falls ii)to the Severn near Tewkesbury. The North Frome, a small 

 stream which rises a little sonth-weat of Wickwar, pa'ses near Iron 

 Actnn and Stnpleton, enters Bristol on the north side of the city, and 

 passing through its centre falls into the floating-dock of the Avon. 



In its short course it supplies a number of mills and raauufactoriea, 

 and iu its last half-mile is used as a dock .ind harbour. The Ledden, 

 which has its source in Herefordshire, a few miles north of Ledbury, 

 enters this county near Dounington, aud after a south-east course, 

 passing by Dymock, falls into the east branch of the Severn at Aluey 

 Island ; its course through this county is about 16 miles. The Stroud 

 rises near Brimpsfield, passes on to Stroud, and joius the Severn 

 7 miles south-west from Gloucester. The Windrush rises near Winch- 

 comba, and taking a south-east and then an east course passes into 

 Oxfordshire, a mile or two west of Burford. The Calne, or Colne, 

 one of the principal streams which unite in forming the Thames, has 

 its source a little to the east of Cheltenham, and, taking a winding 

 course to the south-east, passes by Shipton, Withington, Colue, and 

 Fairford, and join.s the other streams which unite with the Thames at 

 Lechlado. The Leach, another small tributary of the Thames at 

 Lechlade, rises near North Leach. 



One of the sources of the Thames, or (as it is frequently called in 

 its upper part) the Isis, is at Thames Head, near the road from Ciren- 

 cester to Tetbury. This stream immediately passes into Wiltshire, 

 iind soon joins the Swill brook, which, united with another stream 

 from another source of tho Thames, passes by Cricklade (in Wilt- 

 shire), near which place it joins the Churn, the head stream of tho 

 Thames, which rises at Seveu Springs, 3 miles from Cheltenham, on 

 the east side of the hills, and passes Cirencester. From Cricklade the 

 Thames flows to Lechlade, and becomes for a few miles the boundary 

 between Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. From the source of the 

 Chum to Cricklade the stream is about 20 miles long, and from 

 CrickLide to Lechlade it is 9i mUes : at Lechlade it becomes navigable. 

 [Thames.] 



The Thames and Severn Canal connects the two great navigable 

 rivers. It commences at Lechlade, aud joins the Stroudwater Caual 

 at Wollbridge, near Stroud. Its whole length from Lechlade to Wall- 

 bridge is 30 miles 7 chains. At Siddington St. Mary a branch about 

 a mile iu length nms to Cirencester from this canal ; and at Latton it 

 is joined by a branch of the Wilts aud Berks Canal. The Stroud- 

 water Canal commences at the Severn, near Framiload, about 7 miles 

 from Gloucester, and thence runs in a south-east direction, terminat- 

 ing in the Th.ames and Severn Caual at Wallbridge. The length is 

 rather more than 8 miles, with a rise of 102 feet 5 inches. The 

 Hereford Canal, which was intended to connect tho towns of Glou- 

 cester and Hereford, is not completed, reaching only from Gloucester 

 to Ledbury, a distance of 18 miles. The Gloucester and Berkeley 

 Canal, by which the navigation up to Gloucester is shortened 1 1 4 miles, 

 was projected iu 1793 ; but it was not completed till 1826. From the 

 basin of this canal in Gloucester a railway for coals, &c., runs to 

 Cheltenham, a distance of miles. 



The high road from London to Gloucester, and thence through 

 Hereford^iire and South Wales, enters this county at Latton, near 

 Cricklade, and passing through Cirencester and Gloucester, leaves the 

 county about 4 miles shoi't of Ross. Tho road from London to 

 Cheltenham and so on to Tewkesbury, thence branching through 

 Warwickshire and Worcestershire, enters the county at Little Barring- 

 ton, about 10 miles from North Leach. The London road to Bristol, 

 and thence to the west of England, enters the county at Marshfield. 

 The direct road between Bristol and Gloucester is continued with 

 numerous branches to the north and to Liverpool. The road between 

 Gloucester and Cheltenham leads also, with numerous branches in all 

 directions, to the rest of the county. A road extends from Gloucester 

 through the Forest of Dean to Che]istow, and tho forest is likewise 

 intersected by several other roads. The Bristol and Birmingham line 

 of the Midland railway traverses the county in a northern direction 

 from Bristol, past Gloucester to Bredon, 53 miles. The main line of 

 the Great Western railway merely touches the county at Bristol, but 

 the Cheltenham branch, which enters the county near Thames Head, 

 runs p-ast Stroud, and joins tho Bristol and Birmingham line a few 

 miles farther on. A short branch connects Cheltenham with the 

 Bristol and Birmingham line. Another short branch connects Ciren- 

 c<;ster with tho Cheltenham branch. Tho Oxford, Worcester, and 

 Wolverhampton line intersects the county for a few miles, passing 

 along the northern part of it by Moretou and Chipping Campden 

 The South Wales railway runs from Gloucester through a part of the 

 western side of Gloucestershire. 



Geology, Mineralogy, ikc. — The whole range of the Cotswold Hills 

 belongs to the lower division of the oolitic scries. The great oolite 

 forms a flat table-land on the summits ; and on the western escarj)- 

 ment beds of fuUers'-earth, inferior oolite, and marly sandstone occur. 

 The summits of some few of tho detached hills east of the groat 

 range are capped by the sandy beds of the inferior oolite. Tho whole 

 of the Vale district rests on tho lias formation. The south-west 

 corner of the county is occupied by the coal-field, which commences 

 near Wickwar on the north and continues into Somersetshire. The 

 whole of the Forest of Dean is a coal-field, encircled by an elevated 

 bonier of carboniferous limestone and old red-sandstone. 



The fossils of this county are extremely numerous, and are found 

 both in the hills and the vales. There are some beds near tho bottom 

 of the lias series which occur in the cliffs of Westbury and Aust, in 

 which are numerous remains of vertebrated animals ; they are wtll 

 kuowii to tho collectors of that neighbourhood under the name of tho 



