Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire County Council
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/

**Gloucestershire**
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:	GB-GLS
ONS code:	23
NUTS 3:	UKK13
Demographics
Population - Total () - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked / km² Ranked
Ethnicity:	97.3% White
Politics
Executive
Members of Parliament
Districts

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 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.

Gloucestershire's county flower is the Wild DaffodilBBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3684291.stm, 5 May 2004, retrieved 8 April 2006..

History

Historically, Gloucestershire has also included Bristol, but Bristol is not part of the ceremonial or administrative county. 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 returned to Gloucestershire for ceremonial purposes.

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	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	5,771	196	1,877	3,698
2000	8,163	148	2,677	5,338
2003	10,617	166	2,933	7,517

includes hunting and forestry

includes energy and construction

includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

Towns and villages

Antiquities and Other Places of interest

Berkeley Castle, an example of a feudal stronghold.
Forest of Dean
Hailes Abbey
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.

The great Decorated Calcot Barn is an interesting relic of the monastery of Kingswood near Tetbury. Thornbury Castle, in the same district, 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 Hayles 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.

There are several royal residences in Gloucestershire, including Highgrove House, Gatcombe Park, and Nether Lypiatt Manor.