Cotswolds, Protected natural area in South West England, United Kingdom.
The Cotswolds is a region of southwest England defined by Jurassic limestone, stretching from the upper Thames meadows to the escarpment above the Severn Valley. Its villages, such as Bibury, are built of pale oolitic stone, with steep stone-tiled roofs, tall chimneys and small windows; a single-arch stone bridge crosses the water at Bibury.
The area grew wealthy through wool trade with continental Europe during the 13th and 14th centuries, which funded the construction of many limestone churches. Old trade routes and grazing patterns from that period still shape how the landscape looks today.
The name is often read as "sheep enclosure in rolling hills", though the English Place-Name Society traces it to the 12th-century Codesuualt, "Cod's high open land", possibly from a Brittonic goddess Cuda. Wool wealth from the Cotswold Lion sheep paid for the large limestone "wool churches" of towns such as Chipping Campden and Northleach.
The Cotswold Way runs 164 km along the hills from Chipping Campden to Bath, inaugurated as a National Trail in 2007. Beyond it, over 3,000 miles of footpaths and bridleways cross the farmland, so plan stages between market towns rather than relying on a single route. The escarpment edge is steepest above the Severn valley; the dip slope to the southeast is gentler.
The Jurassic limestone bedrock supports plant species that thrive on calcium-rich soils and have become rare elsewhere in England. Traditional sheep grazing has kept these grasslands open and species-rich for centuries, maintaining a habitat that would otherwise disappear.
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