The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of South West and South Central England, along a range of wolds or 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. 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 , 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 (legally still known as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or AONB) since 1966. The designation covers , with boundaries roughly across and 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.
The Cotswold local government district is within Gloucestershire. Its main town is Cirencester. In 2021, the population of the district was 91,000. The much larger area referred to as the Cotswolds encompasses nearly . The population of the National Landscape area was 139,000 in 2016.
History The largest excavation of Jurassic period echinoderm fossils, including of rare and previously unknown species, occurred at a quarry in the Cotswolds in 2021. There is evidence of Neolithic settlement from burial chambers on Cotswold Edge, and there are remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts. Later the Romans built villas, such as at Chedworth, and settlements such as Gloucester, and paved the Celtic path later known as Fosse Way.
During the Middle Ages, thanks to the breed of sheep known as the Cotswold Lion, the Cotswolds became prosperous from the wool trade with the continent, with much of the money made from wool directed towards the building of churches. The most successful era for the wool trade was 1250–1350; much of the wool at that time was sold to Italian merchants. The area still preserves numerous large, handsome Cotswold Stone "wool churches". The affluent area in the 21st century has attracted wealthy Londoners and others who own second homes there or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.
Etymology The name Cotswold is popularly believed to mean the "sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides", incorporating the term wold, meaning "forested hills", from the Anglian dialect term of Old English — cognate with the Weald, "forest", from the West Saxon dialect term of Old English. But for many years the English Place-Name Society has accepted that the term Cotswold is derived from Codesuualt of the 12th century or other variations on this form, the etymology of which is "Cod's-wold", meaning "Cod's high open land".Smith, A. H. (1964) The Place-Names of Gloucestershire, part 1: "The Rivers and Road-names, the East Cotswolds," Cambridge, p.2 Cod was interpreted as an Old English personal name, which may be recognised in further names: Cutsdean, Codeswellan, and Codesbyrig, some of which date to the 8th century.Smith A. H. 1964 The Place-Names of Gloucestershire part 2: The North and West Cotswolds, Cambridge pp. 7–8 It has subsequently been noticed that Cod could derive philologically from a Brittonic female cognate Cuda, a hypothetical mother goddess in Celtic mythology postulated to have been worshipped in the Cotswold region.Yeates, S. J. (2008) The Tribe of Witches: The Religion of the Dobunni and the Hwicce, pp. 11–18Yeates, S. J. (2006) "River-Names, Celtic and Old English: Their Dual Medieval and Post-medieval Personalities," Journal of the English Place-Name Society 38, pp.63–81
Geography
The Cotswolds' spine runs southwest to northeast through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, west Oxfordshire, and southwestern Warwickshire. The Cotswolds' northern and western edges are marked by steep escarpments down to the Severn valley and the Warwickshire Avon. This feature, known as the Cotswold escarpment or the Cotswold Edge, is a result of the uplifting (tilting) of the limestone layer, exposing its broken edge. This is a cuesta, in geological terms. The dip slope is to the southeast.
On the eastern boundary lies the city of Oxford and on the west is Stroud. To the southeast, the upper reaches of the Thames Valley and towns such as Lechlade, Tetbury, and Fairford are often considered to mark the limit of the region. To the south the Cotswolds, with the characteristic uplift of the Cotswold Edge, reach beyond Bath, and towns such as Chipping Sodbury and Marshfield share elements of Cotswold character.
The area is characterised by attractive small towns and villages built of the underlying Cotswold stone (a yellow oolitic limestone). This limestone is rich in fossils, particularly of fossilised sea urchins. Cotswold towns include Bourton-on-the-Water, Charlbury, Chipping Campden, Chipping Norton, Cricklade, Dursley, Malmesbury, Minchinhampton, Moreton-in-Marsh, Nailsworth, Northleach, Painswick, Stow-on-the-Wold, Stroud, Tetbury, Witney, Winchcombe and Wotton-under-Edge. Popular villages include Broadway, and Chalford. In addition, much of Box lies in the Cotswolds. Bath, Cheltenham, Cirencester, Gloucester, and Stroud, are larger urban centres that border on, or are virtually surrounded by, the Cotswold AONB.
Chipping Campden is notable as the home of the Arts and Crafts movement, founded by William Morris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Morris lived occasionally in Broadway Tower, a folly, now part of a country park. Chipping Campden is also known for the annual Cotswold Olimpick Games, a celebration of sports and games dating to the early 17th century. Of the Cotswolds' nearly , roughly 80 per cent is farmland. There are over of footpaths and bridleways, and of historic stone walls.
The Cotswolds limestones form part of a range of sedimentary rocks deposited in the Middle Jurassic period, the Great Oolite Group and the Inferior Oolite Group. They run between Dorset on the English Channel coast and Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast of the North Sea. Although more famous for their limestone lithologies, they also contain sandstones and mudstones. Within the Cotswolds area, the Great Oolite Group contains limestone formations such as: Cornbrash, White Limestone and Athelstan Oolite. In this area, the Inferior Oolite Group contains limestones such as Birdlip Limestone, Aston Limestone and Salperton Limestone formations. In the East Midlands, the Inferior Oolite Group contains Lincolnshire Limestone (plus Northampton Sandstones containing Ironstone that were quarried for the steelworks at Scunthorpe and Corby). In the southwest of England, the Ham Hill Limestone Member of the Bridport Sand Formation is a honey-coloured limestone reminiscent of the northern Cotswolds limestones. Such areas are sometimes referred to as the Notswolds due to their similarity with the Cotswolds.
Principal summits The following table lists the summits with more than 30 metres of prominence (Tumps) that lie within the National Landscape. RankSummitElevationProminenceGrid reference1Cleeve Hill330 m (1083 ft)237 mSO9962462Seven Wells Hill319 m (1047 ft)121 mSP1153483Shenberrow Hill304 m (997 ft)52 mSP0833334Roel Hill301 m (988 ft)67 mSP0542535Birdlip Hill299.7 m (983 ft)117 mSO9241416Bredon Hill1298.8 m (980 ft)254.8 mSO9574027Wistley Hill298 m (978 ft)78 mSO9831808Leckhampton Hill293 m (961 ft)69 mSO9481849Upper Coscombe Hill290 m (951 ft)42 mSP07129610Painswick Beacon283 m (928 ft)76 mSO86812011High Brotheridge282.5 m (927 ft)50.8 mSO89113812Nottingham Hill280 m (919 ft)41 mSO98028313Temple Guiting Hill279 m (915 ft)31.9 mSP08228714Langley Hill1274.2 m (900 ft)102 mSP00829015Crickley Hill273 m (896 ft)41 mSO93016416Pen Hill267 m (876 ft)32 mSO99512317Ebrington Hill260.7 m (855 ft)112 mSP18742618Scottsquar Hill255.5 m (838 ft)71 mSO83808619Crawley Hill251.2 m (824 ft)98 mSO78900020Wyck Beacon250 m (820 ft)96 mSP20120721Symonds Hall Hill249 m (817 ft)32 mST79096422South Hill247.5 m (812 ft)118 mSP27930323Lansdown Hill238 m (781 ft)73 mST71568824Swell Hill235 m (771 ft)38 mSP15426725Stow on the Wold235 m (771 ft)45 mSP19025326Juniper Hill232 m (761 ft)45 mSO86908027Brailes Hill232 m (761 ft)97 mSP29539028Over Norton Hill231 m (758 ft)51 mSP32628429Shenlow Hill227.5 m (746 ft)56.6 mSP35542730Broom Hill226.8 m (744 ft)40.6 mSP34140931Epwell Hill226.4 m (743 ft)36.9 mSP35341632Oxenton Hill1223.6 m (734 ft)127.2 mSO97431433Tog Hill221 m (725 ft)51 mST73672734Cam Long Down220 m (722 ft)92 mST77599535Stinchcombe Hill219 m (718 ft)48 mST73798236Henley Hill215 m (705 ft)31.1 mST74971537Minchinhampton Common207 m (679 ft)33 mSO85301638Bathford Hill205 m (673 ft)101 mST79466039Widdenhill205 m (673 ft)32 mST77084640Bathampton Down204.6 m (671 ft)63 mST77365141Alderton Hill1203 m (666 ft)142 mSP00934542Downham Hill199 m (653 ft)58 mST77698543Meon Hill194 m (636 ft)72 mSP17545344Little Solsbury Hill191.8 m (629 ft)67 mST76767945Mine Hill191 m (627 ft)38 mSP31937846Cam Peak183.5 m (602 ft)30.3 mST76799147Castle Hill169 m (554 ft)33 mSP30740348Dumbleton Hill1168 m (551 ft)42 mSP00835349Dixton Hill163.4 m (536 ft)67 mSO98630650Hayes Wood Hill154 m (505 ft)35 mST77360551Box Hill149.7 m (491 ft)42 mST84169552Doverow Hill143 m (469 ft)31 mSO81505353Nut Hill1119 m (390 ft)35 mSO87415054Shrub Down107 m (351 ft)54 mST794595 1in the Severn and Avon Vales National Character Area, rather than the Cotswolds NCA
The following summits are in the Cotswolds NCA, but outside the National Landscape: SummitElevationProminenceGrid referenceLong Hill206 m (676 ft)35 mSP366405Barton Hill197 m (646 ft)41 mSP380398Mells Down185.5 m (609 ft)51.1 mST718518Huddox Hill177 m (581 ft)54 mST707576Steepness Hill154 m (505 ft)39 mSP437317Lyncombe Hill127 m (417 ft)33 mST751639
Economy
A 2017 report on employment within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty stated that the main sources of income were real estate, renting and business activities, manufacturing, and wholesale & retail trade repairs. Some 44% of residents were employed in these sectors. Agriculture is also important; 86% of the land in the AONB is used for this purpose. The primary crops include barley, beans, rapeseed and wheat, while the raising of sheep is also important; cows and pigs are also reared. The livestock sector has been declining since 2002.
According to 2011 census data for the Cotswolds, the wholesale and retail trade was the largest employer (15.8% of the workforce), followed by education (9.7%) and health and social work (9.3%). The report also indicates that a relatively higher proportion of residents worked in agriculture, forestry and fishing, accommodation and food services, as well as in professional, scientific, and technical activities. Unemployment in the Cotswold District was among the lowest in the country. An August 2017 report showed only 315 unemployed persons, a decrease of five from a year earlier.
Tourism Tourism is a significant part of the economy. The Cotswold District area gained over £373 million from visitor spending on accommodation, £157 million on local attractions and entertainments, and about £100m on travel in 2016. In the larger Cotswolds Tourism area, including Stroud, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury, tourism generated about £1 billion in 2016, providing 200,000 jobs. Some 38 million day visits were made to the Cotswold Tourism area that year.