a county in the west midland census district of England; its name is derived from its capital town, like all the other counties comprised within the Saxon kingdom of Mercia. This county is bounded on the N. by Worcestershire and Warwickshire, on the S. by Somersetshire, on the E. by Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, and on the W. by Herefordshire and Monmouthshire. Its boundary is formed on the W. by the river Wye, and on the S. by the Somersetshire Avon. The shape of the county is irregular; its greatest length is about 70 miles N. and S., and its greatest breadth 45 miles E. and W. Some parts of the county were formerly detached, and situated within the counties of Worcester and Warwick; and detached parts of Worcester and Wilts were situated within the boundaries of Gloucester-Gloucestershire; but by an act of parliament passed in 1844, these detached parts were incorporated with the counties by which they were surrounded. The area of Gloucestershire was thus diminished by about 3000 acres. The total area of the county, according to the tithe surveys, is 805,102 acres, exclusive of 17,688 acres of water, and nearly the whole of it is capable of cultivation. The county is divided into twenty-eight hundreds and 351 parishes, and contains two cities, Bristol and Gloucester, and twenty-eight market-towns.

Gloucestershire exhibits three natural divisions—the hill, the vale, and the forest. The hill country is an undulating tableland, on the summit of a range of hills called the Cotswolds, which gradually rise at Chipping-Camden, traverse the county nearly north and south on the eastern side, and pass out of the county into Somerset, forming the high ground on the north side of Bath. The average elevation of these hills is about 700 feet, though some of them are much higher, as for instance Cleeve Hill, which is 1134 feet. The vale is that part of the county extending from the slope of the Cotswolds to the east bank of the river Severn. The upper part of this expanse is locally known as the Vale of Gloucester, which is a continuation of the Vale of Evesham, and the lower part as the Vale of Berkeley. The forest formerly consisted of the whole district on the western bank of the Severn, but is now limited to that part of it which lies upon the slopes and between two high ridges, bounded by the Severn and Wye, and extending from East Chepstow to the Malvern range of hills. The hill, the vale, and the forest districts run parallel to each other, north and south; and if the views of geologists be correct, the vale was formerly the bed of a strait which connected the Bristol and Irish Channels. It is impossible to look down from any of the outlying hills of the Cotswolds upon the fertile Vale of Gloucester, watered by the tortuous course of the broad Severn, without being struck with the conviction that its beauty is the result of some great physical change; and Murchison has come to the conclusion, from the sandy nature of the soil, the shingle beaches raised high above the Severn, the indigenous marine plants, and the outlying hills—some of which present the same strata as the Cotswolds, but reversed, as if they had been undermined by water and toppled over from the cliffs—that the vale was once a rolling sea, the waves of which beat against the Cotswold cliffs on the east, and May Hill and the Malvers on the west; that the bed of the vale has been raised by volcanic action and the drifting of detritus; and that the lovely little hollows, beautifully rounded in the escarpment of the Cotswolds, were quiet little bays, worked by the tide of the ancient "Strait of Malvern."

The soil of the hill country is a few inches of calcareous sand, resting on freestone rubble, locally called stone break. Every time it is ploughed a large quantity of stone is turned up, and the custom is therefore to plough very shallow furrows, leaving an alternate strip of the surface. There is so much lime in the soil that it requires much manure; this is supplied both by folding sheep, and by paring and burning the turf, and strewing the ashes upon the surface. Good crops of barley and oats are thus obtained, and even of wheat when the soil is mixed with clay. The poorest land on the hills, however, affords excellent pasturage for sheep; and these are the staple produce of the district. Sainfoin grows wild, and its culture is carried almost entirely. The Cotswold sheep, it is said, are the progenitors of the famous long-wooled sheep of Spain, and are certainly the finest breed in the south of England. They are hardy and prolific; the lambs quickly become fat with fleece, and are proof against any degree of dry cold, as indeed is necessary to their existence, for the air of the hills is sharp and bracing, and vegetation is always a month later than in the vale. The indigenous breed has been greatly improved by crossing it with the Leicester sheep, and the produce has reached high perfection in point of shape, weight, quality, and fleece. Some of the Cotswold sheep have weighed eighty lbs. per quarter. The hill farmers are Gloucester generally very enterprising, and the agriculture of the district has greatly improved of late years. This has been much aided by the establishment of the Royal Agricultural College of England, an institution incorporated by royal charter in 1845 for the purpose of instructing young men in the general sciences connected with agriculture, and in the practice of farming. For this purpose lectures are delivered by resident professors, and the pupils also engage in the practical cultivation of a farm of 700 acres attached to the institution. The college, situated near Cirencester, the chief town of the district, is a Gothic structure, ornamented by a central tower, and has hitherto contained on an average about 100 pupils. Notwithstanding the march of improvement, the naturally sterile and dreary look of the district still remains. There are few trees, as there can be gathered from its name; it would signify in Saxon a place without trees; there are no hedgerows, but rough stone walls instead; the homesteads and cottages scattered over the farms, which run from 300 to 2000 acres, are hidden in the undulations of the ground, to shelter them from the biting blasts of winter; and thus the hills, thinly peopled in reality, appear to be depopulated. Descending into the vale, the soil is a rich deep loam, both black and red, and is well adapted for cattle; while a moist, mild climate, partly arising from defective drainage, is highly suitable for the growth of grasses and root crops. Fully one-half of the vale is in permanent pasture; and as the vale farmers rely on hay for the subsistence of their stock during the winter, they have become very skilful in making it. The hay is very frequently stacked on the third or fourth day after cutting, and is as green and sweet as new-mown grass; indeed, the hay made in this county is rarely equalled in quality elsewhere. The cattle in the vale are chiefly short-horns, though the Herefords predominate in that part of the county adjoining Herefordshire. They are generally fine animals; one is kept for every four or six acres, and the total number in the vale cannot be much less than 10,000. Some are fed for distant markets, others used for dairy purposes. Where the grass is rich, feeding is preferred to raising hay for the dairy. The Vale has long been famous for butter and cheese; that known as "double Gloucester" is made only in the Vale of Berkeley. The average produce is about 250 lbs. each cow. Dealers, judging of the quality of the produce from that of the land upon which the cattle are pastured, are accustomed to contract for the whole "make" of a farm. In former years the vale was famous for its vineyards; and, according to William of Malmesbury, who wrote in the twelfth century, the grapes grown in Gloucestershire, and the wine made from them, were very nearly as sweet as those of France. Wine-making has, however, entirely ceased in this county as well as throughout England; not, as the notion is, for want of heat, for Sweden produces excellent grapes, but because the vine requires an intensity of light rarely if ever observed in this misty climate. The surface of the vale varies in character; north of Gloucester it is almost a dead level, while south of that city it presents a series of gentle undulations. The aspect of the vale is highly pastoral; grass lands succeed each other almost without interruption, they are hemmed in by a profusion of hedges and hedgerow timber, and dotted by apple, pear, and elm trees, which overshadow the soil, suck out its fertilizing properties, diminish the surface, while they impart richness and picturesque beauty to the landscape. The vale is subject to severe storms of wind and rain, the result of its position and the varying climate of the county.

The forest district formerly included the greater part of the county west of the Severn, but has now become contracted to a surface of 8 miles in length and the same in breadth, the boundary being a circuit of 30 miles. The centre of the forest is about 5 miles N.W. of Newnham, on the bank of the Severn. The surface is agreeably diversified by numerous undulations, varying in height from 120 to 1000 feet, and much of it has been suffered to become waste. The soil is a sandy peat; but though unfit for agricultural purposes, it is admirably adapted for the growth of timber, and it has formed one of the royal forests from time immemorial. In the middle ages it afforded a safe refuge for robbers, who used often to go afloat on the Severn and plunder the vessels. The commanders of the Spanish Armada had orders not to leave a tree standing in it. "If," says Evelyn, "they should not be able to subdue our nation." In the time of Charles I. the forest contained 105,537 trees; pressed for money, the king granted it to Sir John Wyntour for the sum of £10,000, and a fee-farm rent of £2000. The grant was cancelled by Cromwell; but at the Restoration the number of trees had been reduced to 30,000, and Wyntour having obtained another grant, destroyed all but 200 of the trees fit for shipbuilding. To repair the mischief, 11,000 acres were inclosed and planted; and at the present time the forest is nearly covered with timber in various stages of growth. The oaks are of the finest quality and size grown in England.

Generally speaking, the soil as well as the climate of Gloucestershire, except on the Cotswold Hills, is admirably adapted for mixed husbandry. The geological formation chiefly regulates the nature of the surface soil, which is of medium friability. Part of the county rests upon the blue lias and oolite, the new and old sandstones, and the mountain limestone; the soils are consequently somewhat retentive, but drainage would greatly improve them. There are extremely rich meadows on the banks of the Severn, where river deposits are still going on, and they might be rendered as fertile as any in England by freeing them from water. Not only, however, is drainage neglected, but the facilities for irrigation presented by the level surface, and the existence of streams of water, are overlooked. The soil is seldom stirred beyond a depth of ten inches, and the process of ploughing and burning is not used. The produce of wheat for the whole county averages from 20 to 25 bushels per acre. Barley is grown more extensively than wheat, as it yields more money, though it is of inferior quality; oats are not much cultivated, as the horses employed in agriculture are fed on hay and chaff, and chemical analysis has demonstrated the accuracy of the local belief, that oats form a scourging crop. Beans of excellent quality are produced in the low-lying lands, as they luxuriate in a warm climate, and on a clay soil; the yield averages four quarters an acre. Teazles are also grown largely and profitably. Many of the farms have orchards, and a large quantity of cider and perry is made. The best cider, after being kept a year, resembles the light Rhenish wines; the worst is sold to retailers. It is less profitable to grow apple-trees than beef and mutton, but the farmers cannot get labourers without providing cider for them. The allowance is half a gallon daily for each man, and as much more as they can consume in harvest time. The horses of this county are a race peculiar to the S.W. of England—lean, slow, and clumsy; but attempts are now making to improve the breed by the introduction of Flemish and Suffolk stallions. Defective sight is very common amongst them,—this is attributable to inflammation caused by the dust of the limekilns with which the roads are made, but chiefly to the manner feeding, to which the horses submit themselves so full of chopped hay to satisfy their hunger, that when they exert themselves the collar used presses on the vessels of the neck, and checks the passage of the blood to and from the brain. Oxen are also much employed for draught; and occasionally, a yoke may be seen drawing a cart with a pole, and even with solid wheels similar to those of the Roman times. A large number of pigs are reared, principally of the Berkshire breed. In curing bacon, instead of removing the hair with hot water, it is burnt off with straw.

Gloucestershire is at present the resort of invalids and pleasure-seekers, who form large populations at Cheltenham and Clifton, where there are medicinal springs. If the soil were better cultivated, not only would the beauty of the scenery be heightened, but the climate would be rendered even more salubrious than it now is.

Gloucestershire is a maritime as well as an agricultural county; its cities, Bristol and Gloucester, carry on an extensive foreign commerce. The approach to the first is by the Somerset Avon, and to the latter by the Severn. The navigation of the Severn below Gloucester is, however, very dangerous, owing to its tortuous course, rapid tides, and shifting sandbanks; and having been superseded by the Gloucester and Berkeley canal, it is now deserted except by a few country barges. This canal was commenced in 1794, but from want of funds it was not completed till 1827. Its entrance is at Sharpness Point, near Berkeley, and it terminates in very spacious docks at Gloucester. It is 16 miles long, without a single lock, is 18 feet deep, 60 feet wide, and is navigable by vessels of 600 tons fully laden. Prior to the construction of the canal, the trade of Gloucester was confined to a few coasters, which shot up and down the Severn at particular tides. Not only does the Severn, the second of the English streams, cease to be a river in this county, but the first, the mighty Thames, begins its existence within its boundaries. About three miles south of Cheltenham, at the back of Leckhampton Hill, two little Gloucester—streams take their rise, one at Thames Head, the other at Seven Springs, and mingling about a mile from their source, form the Chura, which becomes the Isis, and afterwards the Thames. It is a moot point which is the true head of the river; but the general opinion is in favour of the Seven Springs, which pour forth the greater volume of water. The springs lie in a little dell, close to a highroad, and are shaded by overhanging trees; the water issues forth clear and pure from seven openings. A canal unites the Severn and the Thames at points where vessels of 70 tons burthen can navigate them. It commences at Lechlade, on the latter, and joins the Stroudwater canal, which crosses the Gloucester and Berkeley canal, and opens into the Severn at Framilode. The summit level of the Thames and Severna canal is at Sapperton, near Cirencester; here it passes by a tunnel 2½ miles long through a hill chiefly composed of hard rock, rising 250 feet above it. The tunnel is reached from the bank of the Thames by an ascent of 134 feet, which is effected by 14 locks; and from the bank of the Severn by an ascent of 243 feet, effected by 28 locks; the latter are concentrated between Sapperton and Wallbridge, in a space of 7½ miles. The total distance from river to river is 39 miles. The other rivers of the county are the Upper Avon, which, after passing through the county for five miles, flows into the Severn at Tewkesbury; the Chelt rising near Cheltenham, the Ledden rising in Herefordshire, the Frome rising near Brimpsfield, and the Middle Avon rising near Berkeley, all of which also feed the Severn; the Colne rising to the east of Cheltenham, and the Leach near Northleach, tributaries of the Thames; and the Windrush, which rises near Winchcombe, and flows into Oxfordshire.

The Wye is also occasionally included amongst the rivers of this county, but it merely skirts part of its western boundary. In addition to the canals already described, there is one which runs from the Severn at Gloucester to the city of Hereford, about 35 miles. A large sum of money has been spent in improving the Severn from Gloucester to Stourport, in Worcestershire, where it is connected with a system of canals ramifying throughout England. The county is also traversed north and south, and east and west, by railways, which intersect each other at Gloucester; these different means of communication afford great facilities to the trade of the county.

The mineral productions of the county are—good freestone found in the hills, paving-stone and grit in the forest, and an excellent limestone near Bristol. Lead is found in different parts of the county, but the veins are too poor to repay the cost of working them. There are also beds of coal alternating with ironstone a short distance north of Bristol and in Dean Forest. The ironstone in the former district is not worked, but iron mines were opened in the latter as early as the days of the Romans, and extensive workings, locally called scowles, partly attributable to that people, still exist. There are upwards of 200 coal mines in the forest, and they present the peculiarity, that while the highest and middle of the three seams of coal which it exhibits are worked by deep pits, the lowest seam is worked by adits or levels driven into the side of the hills until they strike the coal. This apparent anomaly is in accordance with a general law of stratified rocks, by which the strata lowest in geological position usually rise to the greatest altitude above the level of the sea. The forest is locally governed by two deputy-gavellers appointed by the crown to superintend the woods and mines, besides four verderers elected by the freeholders; but the office of the latter has become purely honorary, especially since the herds of deer which used to wander through the forest were destroyed, to put a stop to poaching and its demoralization. The mining customs of the forest are ancient and peculiar. From time immemorial, all persons born in the hundred of St Briavel's, who have worked a year and a day in a coal-mine become freeminers, and are entitled to work coal in any part of the Gloucester-forest not previously occupied. Of late the custom has grown up of assigning the permission formally obtained from the crown, or gale, as it is locally termed, to "foreigners," that is, persons who are not freeminers. But though the practice introduced capital, the operations of persons contending for the possession of mines to which no limit was assigned, led to contests underground, and created great confusion of rights. To remedy this, an act of parliament was passed in 1844, by which the ancient customs have been moulded into a rational and provident system of mining. The forest is traversed by tramroads, and has been opened on the east and west sides by locomotive railways. In the centre of the forest is the Speech House, where the king's officers used to meet to administer the forest laws, and the freeminers to regulate their affairs. It is now merely a picturesque inn, situated in the midst of highly romantic scenery.

Gloucestershire is also an important manufacturing county. The manufacture of woollen cloth has been established for centuries in the valleys or "bottoms" of the Cotswold Hills; and several of these valleys meet in the Stroud district, and are watered by clear and rapid streams, which, after supplying the mills, unite in one stream, the Frome, and flow into the Severn at Framilode. The parishes of Bisley, Minchinhampton, Painswick, Woodchester, Horsley, Stonehouse, Stanley, Ebley, Dursley, and Wotton-under-Edge, were formerly the principal seats of the manufacture; but it has fallen into decay in many of these parishes; and the town of Stroud is now the centre of the fine-cloth manufacture. Large and increasing manufacturing establishments have been formed in the immediate neighbourhood of that town, and give employment to several thousands of workmen. Since the introduction of power-looms into the chief establishments, the whole process of manufacturing is performed by machinery, which is of a very elaborate and superior description. Although the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire have made greater comparative progress, the cloth is still unrivalled in the manufacture of fine worsted cloths. The best cloths are manufactured from the fine wools of Saxony and Siltesia, and the consumption of the better description of Australian wools is also greatly increasing. Formerly, a large quantity of the wools from Cotswold, Hereford, and Southdown sheep, was used in making cloth for the East India Company's trade; but this branch of manufacture has become almost extinct. Most of the cloth manufactured in this county is intended for the home trade; the light texture and superficial character of the cloths usually required for exportation precludes the Gloucestershire manufacturers from engaging largely in the foreign trade; still they occasionally export to the colonies and America. The dyers in this district are celebrated for the scarlet colours which they produce, the beauty and brilliancy of which are attributed to some peculiar property in the water of the Stroud valleys. The dark blue colours dyed in this district are also of very durable quality. The greater part of the cloths are now dyed in the wool, and not in the piece as formerly. The Great Western railway passes through Stroud, connecting it with London and Wales; and the Midland railway connects it with the north and west of England.

Henry III. was crowned at Gloucester; Edward II. was murdered at Berkeley; the wars of the Roses were quenched at the battle of Tewkesbury, where Queen Margaret and her son, Prince Edward, were taken prisoners; and Charles I. lost his crown mainly through the repulse he sustained at Gloucester. The county is strewed with relics of past ages and events. It is traversed by four Roman roads—the Fossway, Ermine Street, Ikenild Street, and the Via Julia. Many Roman pavements have been found at Cirencester, Gloucester, and Woodchester, those at the latter place being far superior to all others in this country. Camps—Brittish, Saxon, Danish, and Roman—exist in numerous places; and there are many interesting remains of the middle ages. Amongst these are the ruins of Sudeley Castle, near Winchcombe, built in the reign of Henry VII., by Ralph Boteler, and described by Fuller as being "of subjects' castles the most handsome habitation, and of handsome habitations the strongest castle;" Thornbury Castle, the intended strength of which having excited the jealousy of Henry VII., he destroyed it while in an unfinished state, and beheaded its owner, the Duke of Buckingham, in 1522; St Briavel's Castle, built in the time of Henry I., by Milo Fitzwalter, to curb the incursions of the Welsh, now the village post-office and prison; and Berkeley Castle, built prior to the time of Henry II., and now a fine example of the feudal residences of ancient times, in perfect preservation, and inhabited by a descendant of its founders, Earl Fitzhardinge. The machicolated gatehouse by which the castle is entered, the baronial hall and chapel attached, the keep and its towers, its dungeons, in one of which King Edward II. was murdered, serve to recall the times when the bold barons were petty kings. The chief mansions in the county are Badminton House, the residence of the Duke of Beaufort; Barrington Hall, of Lord Dynover; Oakley Park, of Earl Bathurst; Tortworth Park, of Earl Ducie; Sherborne House, of Lord Sherborne; Clearwell Court, of the Earl of Dunraven; Highnam Court, of T. Gambier Parry, Esq.; and Southam House, a perfect specimen of the domestic building of the time of Henry VII., the seat of the Earl of Ellenborough. Besides these, there are many other residences of note, though inferior in size.

Gloucester is formed into two divisions for election purposes, each of which returns two members.

**Population of Gloucestershire.**

| Year | Population | |------|------------| | 1831 | 387,998 | | 1841 | 431,495 | | 1851 | 458,805 |

Area, in square miles, 1258; in statute acres, 805,102. Pop. to a square mile, in 1851, 364 persons, or 69 houses.

The county returns 4 members to parliament—viz., 2 for the eastern division, and 2 for the western division; Cheltenham 1, Cirencester 2, Gloucester 2, Stroud 2, and Tewkesbury 2, in the eastern division; and Bristol 2, in the western division. Total 15.

Annual value of real property assessed to property tax, 1850-1, L2,235,627.

**Principal Towns and their Population in 1851.**

| Town | Population | |-----------------------|------------| | Bristol (Gloucester) | 137,328 | | Somersteshires | 35,051 | | Cheltenham | 6,096 | | Cirencester | 2,617 | | Dursley | 17,572 | | Gloucester | 33,051 | | Newent | 3,547 | | Stroud | 38,635 | | Tetbury | 2,615 | | Tewkesbury | 8,878 | | Thornbury | 1,470 | | Wincleomb | 2,052 |

Religious worship.—Belonging to Church of England; places of worship, 433; sittings, 165,003. Other denominations, 495; sittings, 129,793.

Education.—Day schools, 1283; day scholars, 58,218; Sunday schools, 600; Sunday scholars, 59,154. (v. c.)