cotswolds holiday accommodation
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When the M5 motorway was built through Gloucestershire, skirting the River Severn on one side and the Cotswold Edge on the other, a large number of hitherto unsuspected Romano-British sites were discovered. On the basis of this (very linear!) sample, archeologists have conjectured that there are 4,500 Romano-British sites in the Severn Vale, of which 4,400 remain to be discovered!
It is believed that the Cotswold area was heavily farmed at that time. Some of the finest remains are of large country villas, with finely crafted mosaic floors and pavements, and it is possible to view several sites such as Chedworth and Great Witcombe. See our list of the more popular Roman Sites in the Cotswolds.
Cirencester (Corinium) was the largest Romano-British town outside of London and the remains of part of the city wall and the amphitheatre can still be seen. There are also fine displays of Romano-British life in the Corinium Museum. Gloucester (Glevum) was an early fortress town on the Welsh border, and second to Corinium in size.
A very visible remnant of the Roman occupation is the pattern of roads which converges on Cirencester: the Fosse Way, which forms the backbone of the Cotswolds and runs in a straight line for almost 400 kms; Ermin Street, which runs to Gloucester, and Akeman Street, which no longer goes anywhere in particular. Sections of these old roads are by-passed by modern roads and provide the basis for an extended ramble through the countryside.
Wool made the Cotswolds. For centuries it was what people wore, and if you have an opportunity to wear period woollen clothing on a winter's evening you will understand why. It is a natural product, and when people spend their lives working with a natural product, with all its variability, it becomes arcane. Wool is as arcane as coffee beans, as arcane as vintage wines, as arcane as Cuban cigars. In the Middle Ages, the Cotswolds were the Microsoft of Europe, and William Grevel of Chipping Campden must have been Bill Gates. Wool financed the manors, and the abbeys, and the huge Perpendicular wool churches.
The Arts and Crafts movement was British in origin and went on to have an international influence. It began with a feeling of revulsion against the ornate, mass-produced goods of the mid-Victorian era, and emphasised craftsmanship and quality of materials, producing goods which were simple and subtle by comparison, and usually superbly executed. Although very different in style, it can be regarded as a precursor to the later Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements.
The movement had its centre in the influential designer William Morris who formed William Morris & Co in 1861 with the goal of re-vitalising the arts through craftsmanship. In this he was joined by several other designers such as the architect Philip Webb, the cabinet maker Ernest Gimson, and the designer C.R. Ashbee. The movement also overlapped with the influential (and now very famous) Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and many of the designs by Morris & Co were executed by the likes of Burne-Jones - examples of his stained glass can be seen in the Cotswold area.
The Cotswold connection arises because Morris liked the area and persuaded others to move there.