GLOUCESTERSHIRE

'Gloucestershire'

EnglandGloucestershire.png
Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Origin	Historic
Region:	South West England
'Area' - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 16th 3,150 km² Ranked 17th 2,653 km²
Admin HQ:	Gloucester
:	GB-GLS
ONS code:	23
NUTS 3:	UKK13
Demographics
'Population' - Total () - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked / km² Ranked
Ethnicity:	97.3% White
Politics
Arms of Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/
Executive
Members of Parliament	★ Roger Berry (L) ★ Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (C) ★ Parmjit Dhanda (L) ★ David Drew (L)/(Co-op) ★ Mark Harper (C) ★ Martin Horwood (LD) ★ Doug Naysmith (L)/(Co-op) ★ Dan Norris (L) ★ Laurence Robertson (C) ★ Steve Webb (LD)
Districts
Gloucestershire Ceremonial Numbered.png #Gloucester#Tewkesbury#Cheltenham#Cotswold#Stroud#Forest of Dean#South Gloucestershire (Unitary)

'Gloucestershire' (pronounced ; ''GLOSS-ter-sher'') is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other principal towns include Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester, and Tewkesbury.
When considered as a ceremonial county, Gloucestershire borders the preserved county of Gwent in Wales, and in England the ceremonial counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Bristol.
According to a 2002 marketing campaign by the charity Plantlife, the county flower of Gloucestershire is the Wild Daffodil^[1].

Contents

History

Economy

Towns and villages

Antiquities and other places of interest

2007 Flooding

Gloucestershire in popular culture

See also

Notes

External links

History

Main articles: History of Gloucestershire

Historically, Gloucestershire, until 1373, included Bristol. The area of South Gloucestershire was made part of the administrative County of Avon in 1974. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, it became a unitary authority, and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire.
The official former postal county abbreviation was "Glos.", rather than the frequently used but erroneous "Gloucs." or "Glouc.".

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added[2]	Agriculture[3]	Industry[4]	Services[5]
1995	'5,771'	196	1,877	3,698
2000	'8,163'	148	2,677	5,338
2003	'10,617'	166	2,933	7,517

Towns and villages

Main articles: list of places in Gloucestershire

Antiquities and other places of interest

★ Berkeley Castle, an example of a feudal stronghold.

★ Beverston Castle

★ Forest of Dean

★ Hailes Abbey

★ Owlpen Manor

★ Sudeley Castle

★ Tewkesbury Abbey

★ Tyndale Monument

★ Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, Slimbridge
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 Hailes near Winchcombe, 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 Bishop's 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.
Calcot Barn is an interesting relic of the abbey of Kingswood. Thornbury Castle 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 Hailes Abbey. 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. At Owlpen is one of the most picturesque Tudor manor houses set in a densely-wooded valley.
There are several royal residences in Gloucestershire, including Highgrove House, Gatcombe Park, and (formerly) Nether Lypiatt Manor.

2007 Flooding

In July of 2007, Gloucestershire had the worst flooding in recorded British history, with tens of thousands of residents affected. The RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage has been estimated at over 2 billion pounds. ^[6]

Gloucestershire in popular culture

★ In Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, Colonel White's family estate is in Gloucestershire.

★ Laurie Lee's novel ''Cider with Rosie'' is set in Gloucestershire.

★ Loise Lawrence's apocalyptic novel ''Children of the Dust'' begins in Gloucestershire, and the following chapters are presumably set near the destroyed city.

★ The movie ''Hot Fuzz'' is set in Gloucestershire, in a fictional town called Sandford. It was actually filmed in Somerset in the city of Wells.

See also

★ The Severn Bore

★ Annual Cheese Rolling Event

★ West Country dialects

★ Gloucester Old Spot

★ Gloucestershire Regiment

★ Gloucestershire County Cricket Club

★ Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

★ UK topics

Notes

1. BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3684291.stm, 5 May 2004, retrieved 8 April 2006.
2. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
3. includes hunting and forestry
4. includes energy and construction
5. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
6. BBC - News Flood crisis grows as rivers rise

External links

★ Gloucestershire County Council

★ Gloucestershire Neighbourhood Projects Network — A network of community and neighbourhood projects throughout the county.

★ The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum

★ ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>/home.html Archaeological Handbook of Gloucestershire by George Witts

★ BBC Gloucestershire news and features

★ ThisIsGloucestershire - Website of local newspapers the Gloucester Citizen, Gloucestershire Echo and The Forester

★ SoGlos.com — Online magazine for Gloucestershire including events, features, reviews and listings

★ Gloucestershire College