THE COTSWOLDS

The Cotswolds lie about 12 miles South of Stratford-Upon-Avon. The Cotswolds includes some of Englands most beautiful and well preserved towns and villages. This page includes photos and pictures of a few of the best attractions.

200M years ago the whole of central England was covered by a sea, and the skeletons of marine creatures laid down thick limestone desposits. Due to plate movements, the Eastern edge has dipped, and a fault running in a SW-NE direction, has produced a long escarpment (ridge of hills).

The limestone hills make excellent grazing for sheep, and sheep farming and wool brought great wealth to the area. The craftsmanship of the wonderful houses, churches, and villages, still preserved here, came from the wealth of the medieval wool industry.

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is one of the beautiful and well preserved towns in England. Chipping Campden was the principal town of the Cotswold wool trade. The long wide main street (see big picture below) is bordered by magnificent old stone houses, all dating from the 14th to 17th centuries. Virtually every house along the main street has a unique design.

Unfortunately the cars parked along the street today don't do anything to enhance the appearance of the town.

This is the old Market Hall, in the middle of the main street. The Market Hall was built in 1627, by Sir Baptist Hicks, a wealthy London money-lender. Financier to both Elizabeth I and James VI, Baptist Hicks received his knighthood as a consequence of large loans he made to James.

The house shown at left was built in 1380, for William Grevel who was the leading merchant of the Cotswold wool trade at that time. The most remarkable thing about Chipping Campden is how well the entire character of the tower has managed to preserve itself down the centuries.

Upper and Lower Slaughter The two villages of Lower and Upper Slaughter are two of the most picturesque villages in the England. The weird name has no connection with "slaughter". It's a variant of an old word for a marshy area. The villages lie 3 miles South West of Stow-on-the-Wold, on the River Eye.

Upper Slaughter Upper Slaughter lies at the head of this little valley. The village Church is built on top of a little hill (which rises up at the left of this picture), with the village around and below. The stream runs in a very natural scenic valley bordered by oaks, large willows, beds of reeds and rampant rose-bay willow herb.

Lower Slaughter About a mile downstream from Upper Slaughter, and with an altogether different character is Lower Slaughter. The building at the left in this picture is the village water-mill.

Here the landscape is flatter, and the village is immaculately kept. The stream winds through the village, crossed several small stone bridges.

Broadway One of the best known Cotswolds villages is Broadway. Broadway village lies at the bottom of the escarpment. The village consist of a long High Street, with broad grass verges, bordered by fine and individual Cotswold stone houses. The lower end of the High Street is a bit commercialised. Virtually every house is now either a tea-shop of gift shop. This picture shows the upper end of the High Street, which is unspoilt and best retains the original character of the village. This view is looking up Broadway Hill, which leads up to the top of the escarpment.

Broadway Tower At the top of the escarpment, overlooking Broadway village, is Broadway Tower. Broadway Tower is a folley built at top of the 2nd highest point along the Cotswold escarpment. The height of the escarpment here is 1024 feet (312m). Since ancient times this has been a fort and signalling point. Broadway Tower was erected in 1799, by George William, 6th Earl of Coventry There are potentially extremely good views across vistas of England from the top of the tower.
This is the view looking down towards the village of Broadway, which lies at the bottom of the escarpment. Broadway Tower is one of the few viewpoints where what you can see is strictly limited by the air quality. On warm sunny days distant haze severely limits visibility.
The weather page on the BBC website, gives an indication of visibility. Visibility is often good following rain, which clears the air. This picture was taken on a day when the visibility was classified as "excellent", but even here, distant haze limits the visibility. This is the view looking towards Bredon Hill (12 miles away), and behind it the Malverns (23 miles away). It is very useful to bring a map and perhaps binoculars, to be able to identify some of the towns, churches, villages, hills, and ranges, that you can see from up here.

Dover's Hill Dover's Hill is another viewing point, at the top of the escarpment, just West of Chipping Campden. Dover's Hill offers clear views to the West and North. It is possible to see Stratford, Warwick, and the spires of Coventry (25 miles away) on the horizon. There is a very useful brass plate on this pedestal, with engraved sight lines pointing to the various towns and hills.

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