Cotswolds

"Cotswold" redirects here. For other uses, see Cotswold (disambiguation).
"Cotswold Hills" redirects here. For the suburb of Toowoomba, Queensland, see Cotswold Hills, Queensland.

Cotswolds
Castle Combe, a Cotswolds village with buildings made of Cotswold stone
Location of the Cotswolds within England
LocationEngland
Coordinates51°48′N 2°2′W / 51.800°N 2.033°W / 51.800; -2.033
Area2,038 km2 (787 sq mi)
Established1966
Named forcot + wold, 'sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides'
Websitewww.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk

The Cotswolds (/ˈkɒtswoʊldz, ˈkɒtswəldz/ KOTS-wohldz, KOTS-wəldz)[1] is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jurassic limestone that creates a type of grassland habitat that is quarried for the golden-coloured Cotswold stone.[2] It lies across the boundaries of several English counties: mainly Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and parts of Wiltshire, Somerset, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. The highest point is Cleeve Hill at 1,083 ft (330 m),[3] just east of Cheltenham. The predominantly rural landscape contains stone-built villages, towns, stately homes and gardens featuring the local stone.

A large area within the Cotswolds has been designated as a National Landscape (formerly known as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or AONB) since 1966.[4] The designation covers 787 square miles (2,038 km2), with boundaries roughly 25 miles (40 km) across and 90 miles (140 km) long, stretching south-west from just south of Stratford-upon-Avon to just south of Bath, making it the largest National Landscape area and England's third-largest protected landscape.[5][6]

The Cotswold local government district is within Gloucestershire. Its main town is Cirencester.[7] In 2021, the population of the 450-square-mile (1,200 km2) district was 91,000.[8][9] The much larger area referred to as the Cotswolds encompasses nearly 800 square miles (2,100 km2).[10][11] The population of the National Landscape area was 139,000 in 2016.[12]

  1. ^ "Cotswolds". Dictionary.com. Random House. Archived from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Cotswolds – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". cotswoldsaonb.org.uk. Cotswolds Conservation Board. Archived from the original on 4 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Hill Bagging: Cleeve Hill". Hill Bagging: the online version of the Database of British and Irish Hills. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Cotswold District Council – Cotswolds AONB". www.cotswold.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Moves made for The Cotswolds to become a National Park – Stratford Herald". 17 May 2018. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference cotswolds.info was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Cotswold District Council – About the Council". www.cotswold.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Cotswold District Council – Cotswold factfile". www.cotswold.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Cotswolds.com – The Official Cotswolds Tourist Information Site". www.cotswolds.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  11. ^ "In Deep: Idyllic England in the Cotswolds – Butterfield & Robinson". 14 August 2017. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  12. ^ "Fact sheet" (PDF). www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 August 2021.