The most important contemporary sources are Stevenson’sWars of the English in France, Whethamstead’sRegister, and Beckington’sLetters(all in Rolls Ser.), with the variousLondon Chronicles, and the works of Waurin and Monstrelet. For his relations with Jacqueline see F. von Löher’sJacobäa von Bayern und ihre Zeit(2 vols., Nördlingen, 1869). For other modern authorities consult W. Stubbs’sConstitutional History; J. H. Ramsay’sLancaster and York;Political History of England, vol. iv.; R. Pauli,Pictures of Old England, pp. 373-401 (1861); and K. H. Viekers,Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester(1907). For Humphrey’s correspondence with Piero Candido Decembrio see theEnglish Historical Review, vols. x., xix., xx.
The most important contemporary sources are Stevenson’sWars of the English in France, Whethamstead’sRegister, and Beckington’sLetters(all in Rolls Ser.), with the variousLondon Chronicles, and the works of Waurin and Monstrelet. For his relations with Jacqueline see F. von Löher’sJacobäa von Bayern und ihre Zeit(2 vols., Nördlingen, 1869). For other modern authorities consult W. Stubbs’sConstitutional History; J. H. Ramsay’sLancaster and York;Political History of England, vol. iv.; R. Pauli,Pictures of Old England, pp. 373-401 (1861); and K. H. Viekers,Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester(1907). For Humphrey’s correspondence with Piero Candido Decembrio see theEnglish Historical Review, vols. x., xix., xx.
(C. L. K.)
GLOUCESTER, RICHARD DE CLARE,Earl of(1222-1262), was a son of Gilbert de Clare, 6th earl of Gloucester and 7th earl of Clare, and was born on the 4th of August 1222, succeedingto his father’s earldoms on the death of the latter in October 1230. His first wife was Margaret, daughter of Hubert de Burgh, and after her death in 1237 he married Maud, daughter of John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, and passed his early years in tournaments and pilgrimages, taking for a time a secondary and undecided part in politics. He refused to help Henry III. on the French expedition of 1250, but was afterwards with the king at Paris; then he went on a diplomatic errand to Scotland, and was sent to Germany to work among the princes for the election of his stepfather, Richard, earl of Cornwall, as king of the Romans. About 1258 Gloucester took up his position as a leader of the barons in their resistance to the king, and he was prominent during the proceedings which followed the Mad Parliament at Oxford in 1258. In 1259, however, he quarrelled with Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester; the dispute, begun in England, was renewed in France and he was again in the confidence and company of the king. This attitude, too, was only temporary, and in 1261 Gloucester and Leicester were again working in concord. The earl died at his residence near Canterbury on the 15th of July 1262. A large landholder like his son and successor, Gilbert, Gloucester was the most powerful English baron of his time; he was avaricious and extravagant, but educated and able. He left several children in addition to Earl Gilbert.
GLOUCESTER, ROBERT,Earl of(d. 1147), was a natural son of Henry I. of England. He was born, before his father’s accession, at Caen in Normandy; but the exact date of his birth, and his mother’s name are unknown. He received from his father the hand of a wealthy heiress, Mabel of Gloucester, daughter of Robert Fitz Hamon, and with her the lordships of Gloucester and Glamorgan. About 1121 the earldom of Gloucester was created for his benefit. His rank and territorial influence made him the natural leader of the western baronage. Hence, at his father’s death, he was sedulously courted by the rival parties of his half-sister the empress Matilda and of Stephen. After some hesitation he declared for the latter, but tendered his homage upon strict conditions, the breach of which should be held to invalidate the contract. Robert afterwards alleged that he had merely feigned submission to Stephen with the object of secretly furthering his half-sister’s cause among the English barons. The truth appears to be that he was mortified at finding himself excluded from the inner councils of the king, and so resolved to sell his services elsewhere. Robert left England for Normandy in 1137, renewed his relations with the Angevin party, and in 1138 sent a formal defiance to the king. Returning to England in the following year, he raised the standard of rebellion in his own earldom with such success that the greater part of western England and the south Welsh marches were soon in the possession of the empress. By the battle of Lincoln (Feb. 2, 1141), in which Stephen was taken prisoner, the earl made good Matilda’s claim to the whole kingdom. He accompanied her triumphal progress to Winchester and London; but was unable to moderate the arrogance of her behaviour. Consequently she was soon expelled from London and deserted by the bishop Henry of Winchester who, as legate, controlled the policy of the English church. With Matilda the earl besieged the legate at Winchester, but was forced by the royalists to beat a hasty retreat, and in covering Matilda’s flight fell into the hands of the pursuers. So great was his importance that his party purchased his freedom by the release of Stephen. The earl renewed the struggle for the crown and continued it until his death (Oct. 31, 1147); but the personal unpopularity of Matilda, and the estrangement of the Church from her cause, made his efforts unavailing. His loyalty to a lost cause must be allowed to weigh in the scale against his earlier double-dealing. But he hardly deserves the extravagant praise which is lavished upon him by William of Malmesbury. The sympathies of the chronicler are too obviously influenced by the earl’s munificence towards literary men.
See theHistoria novellaby William of Malmesbury (Rolls edition); theHistoria Anglorumby Henry of Huntingdon (Rolls edition); J. H. Round’sGeoffrey de Mandeville(1892); and O. Rössler’sKaiserin Mathilde(Berlin, 1897).
See theHistoria novellaby William of Malmesbury (Rolls edition); theHistoria Anglorumby Henry of Huntingdon (Rolls edition); J. H. Round’sGeoffrey de Mandeville(1892); and O. Rössler’sKaiserin Mathilde(Berlin, 1897).
(H. W. C. D.)
GLOUCESTER, THOMAS OF WOODSTOCK,Duke of(1355-1397), seventh and youngest son of the English king Edward III., was born at Woodstock on the 7th of January 1355. Having married Eleanor (d. 1399), daughter and co-heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, Essex and Northampton (d. 1373), Thomas obtained the office of constable of England, a position previously held by the Bohuns, and was made earl of Buckingham by his nephew, Richard II., at the coronation in July 1377. He took part in defending the English coasts against the attacks of the French and Castilians, after which he led an army through northern and central France, and besieged Nantes, which town, however, he failed to take.
Returning to England early in 1381, Buckingham found that his brother, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, had married his wife’s sister, Mary Bohun, to his own son, Henry, afterwards King Henry IV. The relations between the brothers, hitherto somewhat strained, were not improved by this proceeding, as Thomas, doubtless, was hoping to retain possession of Mary’s estates. Having taken some part in crushing the rising of the peasants in 1381, Buckingham became more friendly with Lancaster; and while marching with the king into Scotland in 1385 was created duke of Gloucester, a mark of favour, however, which did not prevent him from taking up an attitude of hostility to Richard. Lancaster having left the country, Gloucester placed himself at the head of the party which disliked the royal advisers, Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk and Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, whose recent elevation to the dignity of duke of Ireland had aroused profound discontent. The moment was propitious for interference, and supported by those who were indignant at the extravagance and incompetence, real or alleged, of the king, Gloucester was soon in a position of authority. He forced on the dismissal and impeachment of Suffolk; was a member of the commission appointed in 1386 to reform the kingdom and the royal household; and took up arms when Richard began proceedings against the commissioners. Having defeated Vere at Radcot in December 1387 the duke and his associates entered London to find the king powerless in their hands. Gloucester, who had previously threatened his uncle with deposition, was only restrained from taking this extreme step by the influence of his colleagues; but, as the leader of the “lords appellant” in the “Merciless Parliament,” which met in February 1388 and was packed with his supporters, he took a savage revenge upon his enemies, while not neglecting to add to his own possessions.
He was not seriously punished when Richard regained his power in May 1389, but he remained in the background, although employed occasionally on public business, and accompanying the king to Ireland in 1394. In 1396, however, uncle and nephew were again at variance. Gloucester disliked the peace with France and Richard’s second marriage with Isabella, daughter of King Charles VI.; other causes of difference were not wanting, and it has been asserted that the duke was plotting to seize the king. At all events Richard decided to arrest him. By refusing an invitation to dinner the duke frustrated the first attempt, but on the 11th of July 1397 he was arrested by the king himself at his residence, Pleshey castle in Essex. He was taken at once to Calais, and it is probable that he was murdered by order of the king on the 9th of September following. The facts seem to be as follows. At the beginning of September it was reported that he was dead. The rumour, probably a deliberate one, was false, and about the same time a justice, Sir William Rickhill (d. 1407), was sent to Calais with instructions dated the 17th of August to obtain a confession from Gloucester. On the 8th of September the duke confessed that he had been guilty of treason, and his death immediately followed this avowal. Unwilling to meet his parliament so soon after his uncle’s death, Richard’s purpose was doubtless to antedate this occurrence, and to foster the impression that the duke had died from natural causes in August. When parliament met in September he was declared guilty of treason and his estates forfeited. Gloucester had one son, Humphrey (c.1381-1399), who died unmarried, and four daughters, the most notable of whom was Anne (c.1380-1438), who wassuccessively the wife of Thomas, 3rd earl of Stafford, Edmund, 5th earl of Stafford, and William Bourchier, count of Eu. Gloucester is supposed to have writtenL’Ordonnance d’Angleterre pour le camp à l’outrance, ou gaige de bataille.
Bibliography.—See T. Walsingham,Historia Anglicana, edited by H. T. Riley (London, 1863-1864); The Monk of Evesham,Historia vitae et regni Ricardi II., edited by T. Hearne (Oxford, 1729);Chronique de la traison et mort de Richard II, edited by B. Williams (London, 1846); J. Froissart,Chroniques, edited by S. Luce and G. Raynaud (Paris, 1869-1897); W. Stubbs,Constitutional History, vol. ii. (Oxford, 1896); J. Tait inOwens College Historical Essaysand S. Armitage-Smith,John of Gaunt(London, 1904).
Bibliography.—See T. Walsingham,Historia Anglicana, edited by H. T. Riley (London, 1863-1864); The Monk of Evesham,Historia vitae et regni Ricardi II., edited by T. Hearne (Oxford, 1729);Chronique de la traison et mort de Richard II, edited by B. Williams (London, 1846); J. Froissart,Chroniques, edited by S. Luce and G. Raynaud (Paris, 1869-1897); W. Stubbs,Constitutional History, vol. ii. (Oxford, 1896); J. Tait inOwens College Historical Essaysand S. Armitage-Smith,John of Gaunt(London, 1904).
GLOUCESTER(abbreviated as pronouncedGlo’ster), a city, county of a city, municipal and parliamentary borough and port, and the county town of Gloucestershire, England, on the left (east) bank of the river Severn, 114 m. W.N.W. of London. Pop. (1901) 47,955. It is served by the Great Western railway and the west-and-north branch of the Midland railway; while the Berkeley Ship Canal runs S.W. to Sharpness Docks in the Severn estuary (16½ m.). Gloucester is situated on a gentle eminence overlooking the Severn and sheltered by the Cotteswolds on the east, while the Malverns and the hills of the Forest of Dean rise prominently to the west and north-west.
The cathedral, in the north of the city near the river, originates in the foundation of an abbey of St Peter in 681, the foundations of the present church having been laid by Abbot Serlo (1072-1104); and Walter Froucester (d. 1412) its historian, became its first mitred abbot in 1381. Until 1541, Gloucester lay in the see of Worcester, but the separate see was then constituted, with John Wakeman, last abbot of Tewkesbury, for its first bishop. The diocese covers the greater part of Gloucestershire, with small parts of Herefordshire and Wiltshire. The cathedral may be succinctly described as consisting of a Norman nucleus, with additions in every style of Gothic architecture. It is 420 ft. long, and 144 ft. broad, with a beautiful central tower of the 15th century rising to the height of 225 ft. and topped by four graceful pinnacles. The nave is massive Norman with Early English roof; the crypt also, under the choir, aisles and chapels, is Norman, as is the chapter-house. The crypt is one of the four apsidal cathedral crypts in England, the others being at Worcester, Winchester and Canterbury. The south porch is Perpendicular, with fan-tracery roof, as also is the north transept, the south being transitional Decorated. The choir has Perpendicular tracery over Norman work, with an apsidal chapel on each side. The choir-vaulting is particularly rich, and the modern scheme of colouring is judicious. The splendid late Decorated east window is partly filled with ancient glass. Between the apsidal chapels is a cross Lady chapel, and north of the nave are the cloisters, with very early example of fan-tracery, the carols or stalls for the monks’ study and writing lying to the south. The finest monument is the canopied shrine of Edward II. who was brought hither from Berkeley. By the visits of pilgrims to this the building and sanctuary were enriched. In a side-chapel, too, is a monument in coloured bog oak of Robert Curthose, a great benefactor to the abbey, the eldest son of the Conqueror, who was interred there; and those of Bishop Warburton and Dr Edward Jenner are also worthy of special mention. A musical festival (the Festival of the Three Choirs) is held annually in this cathedral and those of Worcester and Hereford in turn. Between 1873 and 1890 and in 1897 the cathedral was extensively restored, principally by Sir Gilbert Scott. Attached to the deanery is the Norman prior’s chapel. In St Mary’s Square outside the Abbey gate, Bishop Hooper suffered martyrdom under Queen Mary in 1555.
Quaint gabled and timbered houses preserve the ancient aspect of the city. At the point of intersection of the four principal streets stood the Tolsey or town hall, replaced by a modern building in 1894. None of the old public buildings, in fact, is left, but the New Inn in Northgate Street is a beautiful timbered house, strong and massive, with external galleries and courtyards, built in 1450 for the pilgrims to Edward II.’s shrine, by Abbot Sebroke, a traditional subterranean passage leading thence to the cathedral. The timber is principally chestnut. There are a large number of churches and dissenting chapels, and it may have been the old proverb, “as sure as God’s in Gloucester,” which provoked Oliver Cromwell to declare that the city had “more churches than godliness.” Of the churches four are of special interest: St Mary de Lode, with a Norman tower and chancel, and a monument of Bishop Hooper, on the site of a Roman temple which became the first Christian church in Britain; St Mary de Crypt, a cruciform structure of the 12th century, with later additions and a beautiful and lofty tower; the church of St Michael, said to have been connected with the ancient abbey of St Peter; and St Nicholas church, originally of Norman erection, and possessing a tower and other portions of later date. In the neighbourhood of St Mary de Crypt are slight remains of Greyfriars and Blackfriars monasteries, and also of the city wall. Early vaulted cellars remain under the Fleece and Saracen’s Head inns.
There are three endowed schools: the College school, refounded by Henry VIII. as part of the cathedral establishment; the school of St Mary de Crypt, founded by Dame Joan Cooke in the same reign; and Sir Thomas Rich’s Blue Coat hospital for 34 boys (1666). At the Crypt school the famous preacher George Whitefield (1714-1770) was educated, and he preached his first sermon in the church. The first Sunday school was held in Gloucester, being originated by Robert Raikes, in 1780.
The noteworthy modern buildings include the museum and school of art and science, the county gaol (on the site of a Saxon and Norman castle), the Shire Hall and the Whitefield memorial church. A park in the south of the city contains a spa, a chalybeate spring having been discovered in 1814. West of this, across the canal, are the remains (a gateway and some walls) of Llanthony Priory, a cell of the mother abbey in the vale of Ewyas, Monmouthshire, which in the reign of Edward IV. became the secondary establishment.
Gloucester possesses match works, foundries, marble and slate works, saw-mills, chemical works, rope works, flour-mills, manufactories of railway wagons, engines and agricultural implements, and boat and ship-building yards. Gloucester was declared a port in 1882. The Berkeley canal was opened in 1827. The Gloucester canal-harbour and that at Sharpness on the Severn are managed by a board. Principal imports are timber and grain; and exports, coal, salt, iron and bricks. The salmon and lamprey fisheries in the Severn are valuable. The tidal bore in the river attains its extreme height just below the city, and sometimes surmounts the weir in the western branch of the river, affecting the stream up to Tewkesbury lock. The parliamentary borough returns one member. The city is governed by a mayor, 10 aldermen and 30 councillors. Area, 2315 acres.
History.—The traditional existence of a British settlement at Gloucester (Cær Glow, Gleawecastre, Gleucestre) is not confirmed by any direct evidence, but Gloucester was the Roman municipality orcoloniaofGlevum, founded by Nerva (A.D.96-98). Parts of the walls can be traced, and many remains and coins have been found, though inscriptions (as is frequently the case in Britain) are somewhat scarce. Its situation on a navigable river, and the foundation in 681 of the abbey of St Peter by Æthelred favoured the growth of the town; and before the Conquest Gloucester was a borough governed by a portreeve, with a castle which was frequently a royal residence, and a mint. The first overlord, Earl Godwine, was succeeded nearly a century later by Robert, earl of Gloucester. Henry II. granted the first charter in 1155 which gave the burgesses the same liberties as the citizens of London and Winchester, and a second charter of Henry II. gave them freedom of passage on the Severn. The first charter was confirmed in 1194 by Richard I. The privileges of the borough were greatly extended by the charter of John (1200) which gave freedom from toll throughout the kingdom and from pleading outside the borough. Subsequent charters were numerous. Gloucester was incorporated by Richard III. in 1483, the town being made a county in itself. This charter was confirmed in 1489 and 1510, and other charters of incorporation were received by Gloucester from Elizabeth in 1560, James I.in 1604, Charles I. in 1626 and Charles II. in 1672. The chartered port of Gloucester dates from 1580. Gloucester returned two members to parliament from 1275 to 1885, since when it has been represented by one member. A seven days’ fair from the 24th of June was granted by Edward I. in 1302, and James I. licensed fairs on the 25th of March and the 17th of November, and fairs under these grants are still held on the first Saturday in April and July and the last Saturday in November. The fair now held on the 28th of September was granted to the abbey of St Peter in 1227. A market on Wednesday existed in the reign of John, was confirmed by charter in 1227 and is still held. The iron trade of Gloucester dates from before the Conquest, tanning was carried on before the reign of Richard III., pin-making and bell-founding were introduced in the 16th, and the long-existing coal trade became important in the 18th century. The cloth trade flourished from the 12th to the 16th century. The sea-borne trade in corn and wine existed before the reign of Richard I.
See W. H. Stevenson,Records of the Corporation of Gloucester(Gloucester, 1893);Victoria County History, Gloucestershire.
See W. H. Stevenson,Records of the Corporation of Gloucester(Gloucester, 1893);Victoria County History, Gloucestershire.
GLOUCESTER,a city and port of entry of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., beautifully situated on Cape Ann. Pop. (1890) 24,651; (1900) 26,121, of whom 8768 were foreign-born, including 4388 English Canadians, 800 French Canadians, 665 Irish, 653 Finns and 594 Portuguese; (1910 census) 24,398. Area, 53.6 sq. m. It is served by the Boston & Maine railway and by a steamboat line to Boston. The surface is sterile, naked and rugged, with bold, rocky ledges, and a most picturesque shore, the beauties of which have made it a favourite summer resort, much frequented by artists. Included within the city borders are several villages, of which the principal one, also known as Gloucester, has a deep and commodious harbour. Among the other villages, all summer resorts, are Annisquam, Bay View and Magnolia (so called from theMagnolia glauca, which grows wild there, this being probably its most northerly habitat); near Magnolia are Rafe’s Chasm (60 ft. deep and 6-10 ft. wide) and Norman’s Woe, the scene of the wreck of the “Hesperus” (which has only tradition as a basis), celebrated in Longfellow’s poem. There is some slight general commerce—in 1909 the imports were valued at $130,098; the exports at $7853—but the principal business is fishing, and has been since early colonial days. The pursuit of cod, mackerel, herring and halibut fills up, with a winter coasting trade, the round of the year. In this industry Gloucester is the most important place in the United States; and is, indeed, one of the greatest fishing ports of the world. Most of the adult males are engaged in it. The “catch” was valued in 1895 at $3,212,985 and in 1905 at $3,377,330. The organization of the industry has undergone many transformations, but a notable feature is the general practice—especially since modern methods have necessitated larger vessels and more costly gear, and correspondingly greater capital—of profit-sharing; all the crew entering on that basis and not independently. There are some manufactures, chiefly connected with the fisheries. The total factory product in 1905 was valued at $6,920,984, of which the canning and preserving of fish represented $4,068,571, and glue represented $752,003. An industry of considerable importance is the quarrying of the beautiful, dark Cape Ann granite that underlies the city and all the environs.
Gloucester harbour was probably noted by Champlain (as La Beauport), and a temporary settlement was made by English fishermen sent out by the Dorchester Company of “merchant adventurers” in 1623-1625; some of these settlers returned to England in 1625, and others, with Roger Conant, the governor, removed to what is now Salem.1Permanent settlement ante-dated 1639 at least, and in 1642 the township was incorporated. From Gosnold’s voyages onward the extraordinary abundance of cod about Cape Ann was well known, and though the first settlers characteristically enough tried to live by farming, they speedily became perforce a sea-faring folk. The active pursuit of fishing as an industry may be dated as beginning about 1700, for then began voyages beyond Cape Sable. Voyages to the Grand Banks began about 1741. Mackerel was a relatively unimportant catch until about 1821, and since then has been an important but unstable return; halibut fishing has been vigorously pursued since about 1836 and herring since about 1856. At the opening of the War of Independence Gloucester, whose fisheries then employed about 600 men, was second to Marblehead as a fishing-port. The war destroyed the fisheries, which steadily declined, reaching their lowest ebb from 1820 to 1840. Meanwhile foreign commerce had greatly expanded. The cod take had supported in the 18th century an extensive trade with Bilbao, Lisbon and the West Indies, and though changed in nature with the decline of the Bank fisheries after the War of Independence, it continued large through the first quarter of the 19th century. Throughout more than half of the same century also Gloucester carried on a varied and valuable trade with Surinam, hake being the chief article of export and molasses and sugar the principal imports. “India Square” remains, a memento of a bygone day. About 1850 the fisheries revived, especially after 1860, under the influence of better prices, improved methods and the discovery of new grounds, becoming again the chief economic interest; and since that time the village of Gloucester has changed from a picturesque hamlet to a fairly modern, though still quaint and somewhat foreign, settlement. Gasoline boats were introduced in 1900. Ship-building is another industry of the past. The first “schooner” was launched at Gloucester in 1713. From 1830 to 1907, 776 vessels and 5242 lives were lost in the fisheries; but the loss of life has been greatly reduced by the use of better vessels and by improved methods of fishing. Gloucester became a city in 1874.
Gloucester life has been celebrated in many books; among others in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward’sSingular LifeandOld Maid’s Paradise, in Rudyard Kipling’sCaptains Courageous, and in James B. Connolly’sOut of Gloucester(1902),The Deep Sea’s Toll(1905), andThe Crested Seas(1907).See J. J. Babson,History of the Town of Gloucester(Gloucester, 1860; withNotes and Additions, on genealogy, 1876, 1891); and J. R. Pringle,History of the Town and City of Gloucester(Gloucester, 1892).
Gloucester life has been celebrated in many books; among others in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward’sSingular LifeandOld Maid’s Paradise, in Rudyard Kipling’sCaptains Courageous, and in James B. Connolly’sOut of Gloucester(1902),The Deep Sea’s Toll(1905), andThe Crested Seas(1907).
See J. J. Babson,History of the Town of Gloucester(Gloucester, 1860; withNotes and Additions, on genealogy, 1876, 1891); and J. R. Pringle,History of the Town and City of Gloucester(Gloucester, 1892).
1According to some authorities (e.g.Pringle) a few settlers remained on the site of Gloucester, the permanent settlement thus dating from 1623 to 1625; of this, however, there is no proof, and the contrary opinion is the one generally held.
1According to some authorities (e.g.Pringle) a few settlers remained on the site of Gloucester, the permanent settlement thus dating from 1623 to 1625; of this, however, there is no proof, and the contrary opinion is the one generally held.
GLOUCESTER CITY,a city of Camden county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the Delaware river, opposite Philadelphia. Pop. (1890) 6564; (1900) 6840, of whom 1094 were foreign-born; (1905) 8055; (1910) 9462. The city is served by the West Jersey & Seashore and the Atlantic City railways, and by ferry to Philadelphia, of which it is a residential suburb. Among its manufactures are incandescent gas-burners, rugs, cotton yarns, boats and drills. The municipality owns and operates the water works. It was near the site of Gloucester City that the Dutch in 1623 planted the short-lived colony of Fort Nassau, the first European settlement on the Delaware river, but it was not until after the arrival of English Quakers on the Delaware, in 1677, that a permanent settlement, at first called Axwamus, was established on the site of the present city. This was surveyed and laid out as a town in 1689. During the War of Independence the place was frequently occupied by troops, and a number of skirmishes were fought in its vicinity. The most noted of these was a successful attack upon a detachment of Hessians on the 25th of November 1777 by American troops under the command of General Lafayette. In 1868 Gloucester City was chartered as a city. In Camden county there is a township namedGloucester(pop. in 1905, 2300), incorporated in 1798, and originally including the present township of Clementon and parts of the present townships of Waterford, Union and Winslow.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE,a county of the west midlands of England, bounded N. by Worcestershire, N.E. by Warwickshire, E. by Oxfordshire, S.E. by Berkshire and Wiltshire, S. by Somerset, and W. by Monmouth and Herefordshire. Its area is 1243-3 sq. m. The outline is very irregular, but three physical divisions are well marked—the hills, the vale and the forest. (1) The first (the eastern part of the county) lies among theuplands of the Cotteswold Hills (q.v.), whose westward face is a line of heights of an average elevation of 700 ft., but exceeding 1000 ft. at some points. This line bisects the county from S.W. to N.E. The watershed between the Thames and Severn valleys lies close to it, so that Gloucestershire includes Thames Head itself, in the south-east near Cirencester, and most of the upper feeders of the Thames which join the main stream, from narrow and picturesque valleys on the north. (2) The western Cotteswold line overlooks a rich valley, that of the lower Severn, usually spoken of as “The Vale,” or, in two divisions, as the vale of Gloucester and the vale of Berkeley. This great river receives three famous tributaries during its course through Gloucestershire. Near Tewkesbury, on the northern border, the Avon joins it on the left and forms the county boundary for 4 m. This is the river known variously as the Upper, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Stratford or Shakespeare’s Avon, which descends a lovely pastoral valley through the counties named. It is to be distinguished from the Bristol Avon, which rises as an eastward flowing stream of the Cotteswolds, in the south-east of Gloucestershire, sweeps southward and westward through Wiltshire, pierces the hills through a narrow valley which becomes a wooded gorge where the Clifton suspension bridge crosses it below Bristol, and enters the Severn estuary at Avonmouth. For 17 m. from its mouth it forms the boundary between Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, and for 8 m. it is one of the most important commercial waterways in the kingdom, connecting the port of Bristol with the sea. The third great tributary of the Severn is the Wye. From its mouth in the estuary, 8 m. N. of that of the Bristol Avon, it forms the county boundary for 16 m. northward, and above this, over two short reaches of its beautiful winding course, it is again the boundary. (3) Between the Wye and the Severn lies a beautiful and historic tract, the forest of Dean, which, unlike the majority of English forests, maintains its ancient character. Gloucestershire has thus a share in the courses of five of the most famous of English rivers, and covers two of the most interesting physical districts in the country. The minor rivers of the county are never long. The vale is at no point within the county wider than 24 m., and so does not permit the formation of any considerable tributary to the Severn from the Dean Hills on the one hand or the Cotteswolds on the other. The Leadon rises east of Hereford, forms part of the north-western boundary, and joins the Severn near Gloucester, watering the vale of Gloucester, the northern part of the vale. In the southern part, the vale of Berkeley, the Stroudwater traverses a narrow, picturesque and populous valley, and the Little Avon flows past the town of Berkeley, joining the Severn estuary on the left. The Frome runs southward to the Bristol Avon at Bristol. The principal northern feeders of the Thames are the Churn (regarded by some as properly the headwater of the main river) rising in the Seven Springs, in the hills above Cheltenham, and forming the southern county boundary near its junction with the Thames at Cricklade; the Coln, a noteworthy trout-stream, joining above Lechlade, and the Lech (forming part of the eastern county boundary) joining below the same town; while from the east of the county there pass into Oxfordshire the Windrush and the Evenlode, much larger streams, rising among the bare uplands of the northern Cotteswolds.
Geology.—No county in England has a greater variety of geological formations. The pre-Cambrian is represented by the gneissic rocks at the south end of the Malvern Hills and by grits at Huntley. At Damory, Charfield and Woodford is a patch of greenstone, the cause of the upheaval of the Upper Silurian basin of Tortworth, in which are the oldest stratified rocks of the county. Of these the Upper Llandovery is the dominant stratum, exposed near Damory mill, Micklewood chase and Purton passage, wrapping round the base of May and Huntley hills, and reappearing in the vale of Woolhope. The Wenlock limestone is exposed at Falfield mill and Whitfield, and quarried for burning at May hill. The Lower Ludlow shales or mudstones are seen at Berkeley and Purton, where the upper part is probably Aymestry limestone. The series of sandy shales and sandstones which, as Downton sandstones and Ledbury shales, form a transition to the Old Red Sandstone are quarried at Dymock. The “Old Red” itself occurs at Berkeley, Tortworth Green, Thornbury, and several places in the Bristol coal-field, in anticlinal folds forming hills. It forms also the great basin extending from Ross to Monmouth and from Dymock to Mitcheldean, Abenhall, Blakeney, &c., within which is the Carboniferous basin of the forest. It is cut through by the Wye from Monmouth to Woolaston. This formation is over 8000 ft. thick in the forest of Dean. The Bristol and Forest Carboniferous basins lie within the synclinal folds of the Old Red Sandstone; and though the seams of coal have not yet been correlated, they must have been once continuous, as further appears from the existence of an intermediate basin, recently pierced, under the Severn. The lower limestone shales are 500 ft. thick in the Bristol area and only 165 in the forest, richly fossiliferous and famous for their bone bed. The great marine series known as the Mountain Limestone, forming the walls of the grand gorges of the Wye and Avon, is over 2000 ft. thick in the latter district, but only 480 in the former, where it yields the brown hematite in pockets so largely worked for iron even from Roman times. It is much used too for lime and road metal. Above this comes the Millstone Grit, well seen at Brandon hill, where it is 1000 ft. in thickness, though but 455 in the forest. On this rest the Coal Measures, consisting in the Bristol field of two great series, the lower 2000 ft. thick with 36 seams, the upper 3000 ft. with 22 seams, 9 of which reach 2 ft. in thickness. These two series are separated by over 1700 ft. of hard sandstone (Pennant Grit), containing only 5 coal-seams. In the Forest coal-field the whole series is not 3000 ft. thick, with but 15 seams. At Durdham Down a dolomitic conglomerate, of the age known as Keuper or Upper Trias, rests unconformably on the edges of the Palaeozoic rocks, and is evidently a shore deposit, yielding dinosaurian remains. Above the Keuper clays come the Penarth beds, of which classical sections occur at Westbury, Aust, &c. The series consists of grey marls, black paper shales containing much pyrites and a celebrated bone bed, the Cotham landscape marble, and the White Lias limestone, yieldingOstrea LiassicaandCardium Rhaeticum. The district of Over Severn is mainly of Keuper marls. The whole vale of Gloucester is occupied by the next formation, the Lias, a warm sea deposit of clays and clayey limestones, characterized by ammonites, belemnites and gigantic saurians. At its base is the insect-bearing limestone bed. The pastures producing Gloucester cheese are on the clays of the Lower Lias. The more calcareous Middle Lias or marlstone forms hillocks flanking the Oolite escarpment of the Cotteswolds, as at Wotton-under-Edge and Churchdown. The Cotteswolds consist of the great limestone series of the Lower Oolite. At the base is a transition series of sands, 30 to 40 ft. thick, well developed at Nailsworth and Frocester. Leckhampton hill is a typical section of the Lower Oolite, where the sands are capped by 40 ft. of a remarkable pea grit. Above this are 147 ft. of freestone, 7 ft. of oolite marl, 34 ft. of upper freestone and 38 ft. of ragstone. The Painswick stone belongs to lower freestone. Resting on the Inferior Oolite, and dipping with it to S.E., is the “fuller’s earth,” a rubbly limestone about 100 ft. thick, throwing out many of the springs which form the head waters of the Thames. Next comes the Great or Bath Oolite, at the base of which are the Stonesfield “slate” beds, quarried for roofing, paling, &c., at Sevenhampton and elsewhere. From the Great Oolite Minchinhampton stone is obtained, and at its top is about 40 ft. of flaggy Oolite with bands of clay known as the Forest Marble. Ripple marks are abundant on the flags; in fact all the Oolites seem to have been near shore or in shallow water, much of the limestone being merely comminuted coral. The highest bed of the Lower Oolite is the Cornbrash, about 40 ft. of rubble, productive in corn, forming a narrow belt from Siddington to Fairford. Near the latter town and Lechlade is a small tract of blue Oxford Clay of the Middle Oolite. The county has no higher Secondary or Tertiary rocks; but the Quaternary series is represented by much northern drift gravel in the vale and Over Severn, by accumulations of Oolitic detritus, including post-Glacial extinct mammalian remains on the flanks of the Cotteswolds, and by submerged forests extending from Sharpness to Gloucester.Agriculture.—The climate is mild. Between three-quarters and seven-eighths of the total area is under cultivation, and of this some four-sevenths is in permanent pasture. Wheat is the chief grain crop. In the vale the deep rich black and red loamy soil is well adapted for pasturage, and a moist mild climate favours the growth of grasses and root crops. The cattle, save on the frontier of Herefordshire, are mostly shorthorns, of which many are fed for distant markets, and many reared and kept for dairy purposes. The rich grazing tract of the vale of Berkeley produces the famous “double Gloucester” cheeses, and the vale in general has long been celebrated for cheese and butter. The vale of Gloucester is the chief grain-growing district. Turnips, &c., occupy about three-fourths of the green crop acreage, potatoes occupying only about a twelfth. A feature of the county is its apple and pear orchards, chiefly for the manufacture of cider and perry, which are attached to nearly every farm. The Cotteswold district is comparatively barren except in the valleys, but it has been famous since the 15th century for the breed of sheep named after it. Oats and barley are here the chief crops.Other Industries.—The manufacture of woollen cloth followed upon the early success in sheep-farming among the Cotteswolds. This industry is not confined to the hill country or even to Gloucestershire itself in the west of England. The description of cloth principally manufactured is broadcloth, dressed with teazles to produce a shortclose nap on the face, and made of all shades of colour, but chiefly black, blue and scarlet. The principal centre of the industry lies in and at the foot of the south-western Cotteswolds. Stroud is the centre for a number of manufacturing villages, and south-west of this are Wotton-under-Edge, North Nibley and others. Machinery and tools, paper, furniture, pottery and glass are also produced. Ironstone, clay, limestone and sandstone are worked, and the coal-fields in the forest of Dean are important. Of less extent is the field in the south of the county, N.E. of Bristol. Strontium sulphate is dug from shallow pits in the red marl of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire.Communications.—Railway communications are provided principally by the Great Western and Midland companies. Of the Great Western lines, the main line serves Bristol from London. It divides at Bristol, one section serving the south-western counties, another South Wales, crossing beneath the Severn by the Severn Tunnel, 41⁄3m. in length, a remarkable engineering work. A more direct route, by this tunnel, between London and South Wales, is provided by a line from Wootton Bassett on the main line, running north of Bristol by Badminton and Chipping Sodbury. Other Great Western lines are that from Swindon on the main line, by the Stroud valley to Gloucester, crossing the Severn there, and continuing by the right bank of the river into Wales, with branches north-west into Herefordshire; the Oxford and Worcester trunk line, crossing the north-east of the county, connected with Cheltenham and Gloucester by a branch through the Cotteswolds from Chipping Norton junction; and the line from Cheltenham by Broadway to Honeybourne. The west-and-north line of the Midland railway follows the vale from Bristol by Gloucester and Cheltenham with a branch into the forest of Dean by Berkeley, crossing the Severn at Sharpness by a great bridge 1387 yds. in length, with 22 arches. The coal-fields of the forest of Dean are served by several branch lines. In the north, Tewkesbury is served by a Midland branch from Ashchurch to Malvern. The Midland and South-western Junction railway runs east and south from Cheltenham by Cirencester, affording communication with the south of England. The East Gloucester line of the Great Western from Oxford terminates at Fairford. The Thames and Severn canal, rising to a summit level in the tunnel through the Cotteswolds at Sapperton, is continued from Wallbridge (Stroud) by the Stroudwater canal, and gives communication between the two great rivers. The Berkeley Ship Canal (16½ m.) connects the port of Gloucester with its outport of Sharpness on Severn.Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 795,709 acres, with a population in 1891 of 599,947 and in 1901 of 634,729. The area of the administrative county is 805,482 acres. The county contains 28 hundreds. The municipal boroughs are—Bristol, a city and county borough (pop. 328,945); Cheltenham (49,439); Gloucester, a city and county borough (47,955); Tewkesbury (5419). The other urban districts are—Awre (1096), Charlton Kings (3806), Circenester (7536), Coleford (2541), Kingswood, on the eastern outskirts of Bristol (11,961), Nailsworth (3028), Newnham (1184), Stow-on-the-Wold (1386), Stroud (9153), Tetbury (1989), Westbury-on-Severn (1866). The number of small ancient market towns is large, especially in the southern part of the vale, on the outskirts of the forest, and among the foot hills of the wolds. Those in the forest district are mostly connected with the coal trade, such as Lydney (3559), besides Awre and Coleford; and, to the north, besides Newnham, Cinderford and Mitcheldean. South from Stroud there are Minchinhampton (3737) and Nailsworth; near the south-eastern boundary Tetbury and Marshfield; Stonehouse (2183), Dursley (2372), Wotton-under-Edge (2992) and Chipping Sodbury along the western line of the hills; and between them and the Severn, Berkeley and Thornbury (2594). Among the uplands of the Cotteswolds there are no towns, and villages are few, but in the east of the county, in the upper Thames basin, there are, besides Cirencester, Fairford on the Coln and Lechlade, close to the head of the navigation on the Thames itself. Far up in the Lech valley, remote from railway communication, is Northleach, once a great posting station on the Oxford and Cheltenham road. In the north-east are Stow-on-the-Wold, standing high, and Moreton-in-the-Marsh near the headwaters of the Evenlode. In a northern prolongation of the county, almost detached, is Chipping Campden. Winchcomb (2699) lies 6 m. N.E. of Cheltenham. In the north-west, Newent (2485) is the only considerable town. Gloucestershire is in the Oxford circuit, and assizes are held at Gloucester. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into 24 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Bristol, Gloucester and Tewkesbury have separate commissions of the peace and courts of quarter sessions. There are 359 civil parishes. Gloucestershire is principally in the diocese of Gloucester, but part is in that of Bristol, and small parts in those of Worcester and Oxford. There are 408 ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within the county. There are five parliamentary divisions, namely, Tewkesbury or northern, Cirencester or eastern, Stroud or mid, Thornbury or southern, and Forest of Dean, each returning one member. The county also includes the boroughs of Gloucester and Cheltenham, each returning one member; and the greater part of the borough of Bristol, which returns four members.
Geology.—No county in England has a greater variety of geological formations. The pre-Cambrian is represented by the gneissic rocks at the south end of the Malvern Hills and by grits at Huntley. At Damory, Charfield and Woodford is a patch of greenstone, the cause of the upheaval of the Upper Silurian basin of Tortworth, in which are the oldest stratified rocks of the county. Of these the Upper Llandovery is the dominant stratum, exposed near Damory mill, Micklewood chase and Purton passage, wrapping round the base of May and Huntley hills, and reappearing in the vale of Woolhope. The Wenlock limestone is exposed at Falfield mill and Whitfield, and quarried for burning at May hill. The Lower Ludlow shales or mudstones are seen at Berkeley and Purton, where the upper part is probably Aymestry limestone. The series of sandy shales and sandstones which, as Downton sandstones and Ledbury shales, form a transition to the Old Red Sandstone are quarried at Dymock. The “Old Red” itself occurs at Berkeley, Tortworth Green, Thornbury, and several places in the Bristol coal-field, in anticlinal folds forming hills. It forms also the great basin extending from Ross to Monmouth and from Dymock to Mitcheldean, Abenhall, Blakeney, &c., within which is the Carboniferous basin of the forest. It is cut through by the Wye from Monmouth to Woolaston. This formation is over 8000 ft. thick in the forest of Dean. The Bristol and Forest Carboniferous basins lie within the synclinal folds of the Old Red Sandstone; and though the seams of coal have not yet been correlated, they must have been once continuous, as further appears from the existence of an intermediate basin, recently pierced, under the Severn. The lower limestone shales are 500 ft. thick in the Bristol area and only 165 in the forest, richly fossiliferous and famous for their bone bed. The great marine series known as the Mountain Limestone, forming the walls of the grand gorges of the Wye and Avon, is over 2000 ft. thick in the latter district, but only 480 in the former, where it yields the brown hematite in pockets so largely worked for iron even from Roman times. It is much used too for lime and road metal. Above this comes the Millstone Grit, well seen at Brandon hill, where it is 1000 ft. in thickness, though but 455 in the forest. On this rest the Coal Measures, consisting in the Bristol field of two great series, the lower 2000 ft. thick with 36 seams, the upper 3000 ft. with 22 seams, 9 of which reach 2 ft. in thickness. These two series are separated by over 1700 ft. of hard sandstone (Pennant Grit), containing only 5 coal-seams. In the Forest coal-field the whole series is not 3000 ft. thick, with but 15 seams. At Durdham Down a dolomitic conglomerate, of the age known as Keuper or Upper Trias, rests unconformably on the edges of the Palaeozoic rocks, and is evidently a shore deposit, yielding dinosaurian remains. Above the Keuper clays come the Penarth beds, of which classical sections occur at Westbury, Aust, &c. The series consists of grey marls, black paper shales containing much pyrites and a celebrated bone bed, the Cotham landscape marble, and the White Lias limestone, yieldingOstrea LiassicaandCardium Rhaeticum. The district of Over Severn is mainly of Keuper marls. The whole vale of Gloucester is occupied by the next formation, the Lias, a warm sea deposit of clays and clayey limestones, characterized by ammonites, belemnites and gigantic saurians. At its base is the insect-bearing limestone bed. The pastures producing Gloucester cheese are on the clays of the Lower Lias. The more calcareous Middle Lias or marlstone forms hillocks flanking the Oolite escarpment of the Cotteswolds, as at Wotton-under-Edge and Churchdown. The Cotteswolds consist of the great limestone series of the Lower Oolite. At the base is a transition series of sands, 30 to 40 ft. thick, well developed at Nailsworth and Frocester. Leckhampton hill is a typical section of the Lower Oolite, where the sands are capped by 40 ft. of a remarkable pea grit. Above this are 147 ft. of freestone, 7 ft. of oolite marl, 34 ft. of upper freestone and 38 ft. of ragstone. The Painswick stone belongs to lower freestone. Resting on the Inferior Oolite, and dipping with it to S.E., is the “fuller’s earth,” a rubbly limestone about 100 ft. thick, throwing out many of the springs which form the head waters of the Thames. Next comes the Great or Bath Oolite, at the base of which are the Stonesfield “slate” beds, quarried for roofing, paling, &c., at Sevenhampton and elsewhere. From the Great Oolite Minchinhampton stone is obtained, and at its top is about 40 ft. of flaggy Oolite with bands of clay known as the Forest Marble. Ripple marks are abundant on the flags; in fact all the Oolites seem to have been near shore or in shallow water, much of the limestone being merely comminuted coral. The highest bed of the Lower Oolite is the Cornbrash, about 40 ft. of rubble, productive in corn, forming a narrow belt from Siddington to Fairford. Near the latter town and Lechlade is a small tract of blue Oxford Clay of the Middle Oolite. The county has no higher Secondary or Tertiary rocks; but the Quaternary series is represented by much northern drift gravel in the vale and Over Severn, by accumulations of Oolitic detritus, including post-Glacial extinct mammalian remains on the flanks of the Cotteswolds, and by submerged forests extending from Sharpness to Gloucester.
Agriculture.—The climate is mild. Between three-quarters and seven-eighths of the total area is under cultivation, and of this some four-sevenths is in permanent pasture. Wheat is the chief grain crop. In the vale the deep rich black and red loamy soil is well adapted for pasturage, and a moist mild climate favours the growth of grasses and root crops. The cattle, save on the frontier of Herefordshire, are mostly shorthorns, of which many are fed for distant markets, and many reared and kept for dairy purposes. The rich grazing tract of the vale of Berkeley produces the famous “double Gloucester” cheeses, and the vale in general has long been celebrated for cheese and butter. The vale of Gloucester is the chief grain-growing district. Turnips, &c., occupy about three-fourths of the green crop acreage, potatoes occupying only about a twelfth. A feature of the county is its apple and pear orchards, chiefly for the manufacture of cider and perry, which are attached to nearly every farm. The Cotteswold district is comparatively barren except in the valleys, but it has been famous since the 15th century for the breed of sheep named after it. Oats and barley are here the chief crops.
Other Industries.—The manufacture of woollen cloth followed upon the early success in sheep-farming among the Cotteswolds. This industry is not confined to the hill country or even to Gloucestershire itself in the west of England. The description of cloth principally manufactured is broadcloth, dressed with teazles to produce a shortclose nap on the face, and made of all shades of colour, but chiefly black, blue and scarlet. The principal centre of the industry lies in and at the foot of the south-western Cotteswolds. Stroud is the centre for a number of manufacturing villages, and south-west of this are Wotton-under-Edge, North Nibley and others. Machinery and tools, paper, furniture, pottery and glass are also produced. Ironstone, clay, limestone and sandstone are worked, and the coal-fields in the forest of Dean are important. Of less extent is the field in the south of the county, N.E. of Bristol. Strontium sulphate is dug from shallow pits in the red marl of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire.
Communications.—Railway communications are provided principally by the Great Western and Midland companies. Of the Great Western lines, the main line serves Bristol from London. It divides at Bristol, one section serving the south-western counties, another South Wales, crossing beneath the Severn by the Severn Tunnel, 41⁄3m. in length, a remarkable engineering work. A more direct route, by this tunnel, between London and South Wales, is provided by a line from Wootton Bassett on the main line, running north of Bristol by Badminton and Chipping Sodbury. Other Great Western lines are that from Swindon on the main line, by the Stroud valley to Gloucester, crossing the Severn there, and continuing by the right bank of the river into Wales, with branches north-west into Herefordshire; the Oxford and Worcester trunk line, crossing the north-east of the county, connected with Cheltenham and Gloucester by a branch through the Cotteswolds from Chipping Norton junction; and the line from Cheltenham by Broadway to Honeybourne. The west-and-north line of the Midland railway follows the vale from Bristol by Gloucester and Cheltenham with a branch into the forest of Dean by Berkeley, crossing the Severn at Sharpness by a great bridge 1387 yds. in length, with 22 arches. The coal-fields of the forest of Dean are served by several branch lines. In the north, Tewkesbury is served by a Midland branch from Ashchurch to Malvern. The Midland and South-western Junction railway runs east and south from Cheltenham by Cirencester, affording communication with the south of England. The East Gloucester line of the Great Western from Oxford terminates at Fairford. The Thames and Severn canal, rising to a summit level in the tunnel through the Cotteswolds at Sapperton, is continued from Wallbridge (Stroud) by the Stroudwater canal, and gives communication between the two great rivers. The Berkeley Ship Canal (16½ m.) connects the port of Gloucester with its outport of Sharpness on Severn.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 795,709 acres, with a population in 1891 of 599,947 and in 1901 of 634,729. The area of the administrative county is 805,482 acres. The county contains 28 hundreds. The municipal boroughs are—Bristol, a city and county borough (pop. 328,945); Cheltenham (49,439); Gloucester, a city and county borough (47,955); Tewkesbury (5419). The other urban districts are—Awre (1096), Charlton Kings (3806), Circenester (7536), Coleford (2541), Kingswood, on the eastern outskirts of Bristol (11,961), Nailsworth (3028), Newnham (1184), Stow-on-the-Wold (1386), Stroud (9153), Tetbury (1989), Westbury-on-Severn (1866). The number of small ancient market towns is large, especially in the southern part of the vale, on the outskirts of the forest, and among the foot hills of the wolds. Those in the forest district are mostly connected with the coal trade, such as Lydney (3559), besides Awre and Coleford; and, to the north, besides Newnham, Cinderford and Mitcheldean. South from Stroud there are Minchinhampton (3737) and Nailsworth; near the south-eastern boundary Tetbury and Marshfield; Stonehouse (2183), Dursley (2372), Wotton-under-Edge (2992) and Chipping Sodbury along the western line of the hills; and between them and the Severn, Berkeley and Thornbury (2594). Among the uplands of the Cotteswolds there are no towns, and villages are few, but in the east of the county, in the upper Thames basin, there are, besides Cirencester, Fairford on the Coln and Lechlade, close to the head of the navigation on the Thames itself. Far up in the Lech valley, remote from railway communication, is Northleach, once a great posting station on the Oxford and Cheltenham road. In the north-east are Stow-on-the-Wold, standing high, and Moreton-in-the-Marsh near the headwaters of the Evenlode. In a northern prolongation of the county, almost detached, is Chipping Campden. Winchcomb (2699) lies 6 m. N.E. of Cheltenham. In the north-west, Newent (2485) is the only considerable town. Gloucestershire is in the Oxford circuit, and assizes are held at Gloucester. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into 24 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Bristol, Gloucester and Tewkesbury have separate commissions of the peace and courts of quarter sessions. There are 359 civil parishes. Gloucestershire is principally in the diocese of Gloucester, but part is in that of Bristol, and small parts in those of Worcester and Oxford. There are 408 ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within the county. There are five parliamentary divisions, namely, Tewkesbury or northern, Cirencester or eastern, Stroud or mid, Thornbury or southern, and Forest of Dean, each returning one member. The county also includes the boroughs of Gloucester and Cheltenham, each returning one member; and the greater part of the borough of Bristol, which returns four members.
History.—The English conquest of the Severn valley began in 577 with the victory of Ceawlin at Deorham, followed by the capture of Cirencester, Gloucester and Bath. The Hwiccas who occupied the district were a West Saxon tribe, but their territory had become a dependency of Mercia in the 7th century, and was not brought under West Saxon dominion until the 9th century. No important settlements were made by the Danes in the district. Gloucestershire probably originated as a shire in the 10th century, and is mentioned by name in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1016. Towards the close of the 11th century the boundaries were readjusted to include Winchcomb, hitherto a county by itself, and at the same time the forest district between the Wye and the Severn was added to Gloucestershire. The divisions of the county for a long time remained very unsettled, and the thirty-nine hundreds mentioned in the Domesday Survey and the thirty-one hundreds of the Hundred Rolls of 1274 differ very widely in name and extent both from each other and from the twenty-eight hundreds of the present day.
Gloucestershire formed part of Harold’s earldom at the time of the Norman invasion, but it offered slight resistance to the Conqueror. In the wars of Stephen’s reign the cause of the empress Maud was supported by Robert of Gloucester who had rebuilt the castle at Bristol, and the castles at Gloucester and Cirencester were also garrisoned on her behalf. In the barons’ war of the reign of Henry III. Gloucester was garrisoned for Simon de Montfort, but was captured by Prince Edward in 1265, in which year de Montfort was slain at Evesham. Bristol and Gloucester actively supported the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses. In the religious struggles of the 16th century Gloucester showed strong Protestant sympathy, and in the reign of Mary Bishop Hooper was sent to Gloucester to be burnt as a warning to the county, while the same Puritan leanings induced the county to support the Parliamentary cause in the civil war of the 17th century. In 1643 Bristol and Cirencester were captured by the Royalists, but the latter was recovered in the same year and Bristol in 1645. Gloucester was garrisoned for the parliament throughout the struggle.
On the subdivision of the Mercian diocese in 680 the greater part of modern Gloucestershire was included in the diocese of Worcester, and shortly after the Conquest constituted the archdeaconry of Gloucester, which in 1290 comprised the deaneries of Campden, Stow, Cirencester, Fairford, Winchcombe, Stonehouse, Hawkesbury, Bitton, Bristol, Dursley and Gloucester. The district west of the Severn, with the exception of a few parishes in the deaneries of Ross and Staunton, constituted the deanery of the forest within the archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford. In 1535 the deanery of Bitton had been absorbed in that of Hawkesbury. In 1541 the diocese of Gloucester was created, its boundaries being identical with those of the county. On the erection of Bristol to a see in 1542 the deanery of Bristol was transferred from Gloucester to that diocese. In 1836 the sees of Gloucester and Bristol were united; the archdeaconry of Bristol was created out of the deaneries of Bristol, Cirencester, Fairford and Hawkesbury; and the deanery of the forest was transferred to the archdeaconry of Gloucester. In 1882 the archdeaconry of Cirencester was constituted to include the deaneries of Campden, Stow, Northleach north and south, Fairford and Cirencester. In 1897 the diocese of Bristol was recreated, and included the deaneries of Bristol, Stapleton and Bitton.
After the Conquest very extensive lands and privileges in the county were acquired by the church, the abbey of Cirencester alone holding seven hundreds at fee-farm, and the estates of the principal lay-tenants were for the most part outlying parcels of baronies having their “caput” in other counties. The large estates held by William Fitz Osbern, earl of Hereford, escheated to the crown on the rebellion of his son Earl Roger in 1074-1075. The Berkeleys have held lands in Gloucestershire from the time of the Domesday Survey, and the families of Basset, Tracy, Clifton, Dennis and Poyntz have figured prominently in the annals of the county. Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, and Richard of Cornwall claimed extensive lands and privileges in the shire in the 13th century, and Simon de Montfort owned Minsterworth and Rodley.
Bristol was made a county in 1425, and in 1483 Richard III. created Gloucester an independent county, adding to it the hundreds of Dudston and King’s Barton. The latter were reunited to Gloucestershire in 1673, but the cities of Bristol and Gloucester continued to rank as independent counties, with separate jurisdiction, county rate and assizes. The chief officer of the forest of Dean was the warden, who was generally also constable of St Briavel Castle. The first justice-seat for the forest was held at Gloucester Castle in 1282, the last in 1635. The hundred of the duchy of Lancaster is within the jurisdiction of the duchy of Lancaster for certain purposes.
The physical characteristics of the three natural divisions of Gloucestershire have given rise in each to a special industry, as already indicated. The forest district, until the development of the Sussex mines in the 16th century, was the chief iron-producing area of the kingdom, the mines having been worked in Roman times, while the abundance of timber gave rise to numerous tanneries and to an important ship-building trade. The hill district, besides fostering agricultural pursuits, gradually absorbed the woollen trade from the big towns, which now devoted themselves almost entirely to foreign commerce. Silk-weaving was introduced in the 17th century, and was especially prosperous in the Stroud valley. The abundance of clay and building-stone in the county gave rise to considerable manufactures of brick, tiles and pottery. Numerous minor industries sprang up in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as flax-growing and the manufacture of pins, buttons, lace, stockings, rope and sailcloth.
Gloucestershire was first represented in parliament in 1290, when it returned two members. Bristol and Gloucester acquired representation in 1295, Cirencester in 1572 and Tewkesbury in 1620. Under the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned four members in two divisions; Bristol, Gloucester, Cirencester, Stroud and Tewkesbury returned two members each, and Cheltenham returned one member. The act of 1868 reduced the representation of Cirencester and Tewkesbury to one member each.
Antiquities.—The cathedrals of Gloucester and Bristol, the magnificent abbey church of Tewkesbury, and the church of Cirencester with its great Perpendicular porch, are described under their separate headings. Of the abbey of Hayles near Winchcomb, founded by Richard, earl of Cornwall, in 1246, little more than the foundations are left, but these have been excavated with great care, and interesting fragments have been brought to light. Most of the old market towns have fine parish churches. At Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. The Perpendicular church at Lechlade is unusually perfect; and that at Fairford was built (c.1500), according to tradition, to contain the remarkable series of stained-glass windows which are said to have been brought from the Netherlands. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, and are one of the finest series in the country. The great Decorated Calcot Barn is an interesting relic of the monastery of Kingswood near Tetbury. The castle at Berkeley is a splendid example of a feudal stronghold. Thornbury Castle, in the same district, is a fine Tudor ruin, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, who was beheaded in 1521. Near Cheltenham is the fine 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve. The mansion contains a tiled floor from Hayles Abbey. Near Winchcomb is Sudeley Castle, dating from the 15th century, but the inhabited portion is chiefly Elizabethan. The chapel is the burial place of Queen Catherine Parr. At Great Badminton is the mansion and vast domain of the Beauforts (formerly of the Botelers and others), on the south-eastern boundary of the county.