Gloucestershire Historical Facts

It is believed that the Bell Inn Pub, located in Moreton-in-Marsh, was inspiration for the Prancing Pony Inn from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien.

It is believed that the the church door at St Edward's Church, in Stow on the Wold, which is flanked by two ancient Yew Trees, may have been inspiration for J.R.R.Tolkien's west-gate of Moria in The Lord of the Rings.

There are 99 Yew Trees in the churchyard of St Mary’s in Painswick, in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. Legend has it that the devil would not let the 100th one grow, and this was put to the test in recent years when a 100th tree was planted to mark the millenium. However, during a storm in 2007 one of the trees was blown down, which some believe was the devil's work.

The Cotswold town of Painswick was featured on BBC televisions "The Casual Vacancy" by J.K.Rowling.

The historic wool town of Painswick, in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds is home to the oldest bowling green in England.

By the end of the first world war, only a few flocks of the Cotswold Lion (sheep) remained and it became a rare breed. Thankfully, due to conservationists, there are now more than 50 flocks, with many of them in the Cotswolds.

The local limestone (which is still quarried today) is what gives the buildings in the Cotswolds their beautiful rich golden colour.

The Cotswolds local sheep 'The Cotswold Lion' once provided wool for half of England's cloth, bringing great prosperity to the region.

The Romans arrived in the Cotswolds in AD47, building famous roads such as 'the Fosse Way', and great towns such as Cirencester.

The Cotswolds is one of the most rural regions of England, with much of it made up of Farmland.