a market-town of the county of Gloucester, in the hundred of Kiftsgate, ninety-six miles from London and six from Cheltenham. It is situated in the Cotswold Hills. It is a place of great antiquity, and was once deemed a county of itself, having exempt jurisdiction. The church is deserving of notice, being a fine Gothic structure, and the burying-place of some of the ancient kings of Mercia, one of whom, Kemulph, founded a Benedictine monastery in the sixth century. It is still a borough, governed by two bailiffs. Till the reign of Charles II., this place was the chief seat of the cultivation of tobacco in England. There is now a good market on Saturday. The population amounted in 1821 to 2940, and in 1831 to 2514.