Cotswolds

The **Cotswolds** is a range of hills in central-southwest England, sometimes called the "Heart of England", a hilly area reaching over . The area has been designated as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The highest point in the Cotswolds is Cleeve Hill at .

The Cotswolds lie within the current ceremonial counties of  Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. The county of Gloucestershire forms the largest area of the Cotswolds.

## Description

The spine of the Cotswolds runs southwest to northeast through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and southern Warwickshire. The northern and western edges of the Cotswolds are marked by steep slopes down to the Severn valley and the River Avon, Avon. These are a result of the broken edge of the limestone layer. On the eastern boundary is the city of Oxford and on the west is Stroud. To the south towns as Cirencester, Lechlade, Tetbury, Beverston and Fairford mark the southern limit of this region.

In the Middle Ages, the wool trade made the Cotswolds wealthy. Some of this money was put into the building of churches. The area has a number of large, handsome Cotswold stone "wool churches". The area is still wealthy and has attracted people who own second homes in the area, or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.

Typical Cotswold towns are Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Burford, Chipping Norton, Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold and Winchcombe. The town of Chipping Campden is famous as the home of the Arts and Crafts movement, that was founded by William Morris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath about  running the length of the AONB, mainly on the edge of the Cotswold escarpement with good views over the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham.

### Cotswold stone

The area has attractive small towns and villages built of  _Cotswold stone_ (a yellow limestone). This limestone is rich in fossils. The stone  is a yellow oolitic Jurassic limestone. At the time, this was laid down in a warm tropical sea, about 177 million years ago. The latitude of Britain was about where North Africa is today. The stone is full of fossils such as stalked crinoids. A project is under way to collect examples for the Natural History Museum.

## Historical structures

- Sudeley Castle

## Other websites

- Cotswold District Council — The website of Cotswold District Council
- Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Website  (Countryside Agency)
- Cotswold Journal Local Cotswolds news and information
- Yate and Chipping Sodbury Guide  — A Guide to Yate, Chipping Sodbury on the Southern Edge of the Cotswold Escarpment
- Photos of Lower Slaughter in 3d (Anaglyphs)
- Cotswold AONB Magic interactive map (slow on first load)

## Infobox (protected area)

- **name**: Cotswolds
- **photo**: Castle combe cotswolds.jpg
- **photo caption**: Castle Combe, a Cotswolds village with buildings made of Cotswold stone
- **map image**: Cotswolds AONB locator map.svg
- **map caption**: Location of the Cotswolds within England
- **location**: England
- **area km2**: 2038
- **established**: 1966
- **named for**: _Wiktionary:cot#Etymology 2, cot_ + _The Wolds, wold_, 'sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides'