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The Cotswolds is an area in south central England containing the Cotswold Hills, a range of rolling hills which rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment, known as the Cotswold Edge, above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jurassic limestone that creates a type of grassland habitat rare in the UK and that is quarried for the golden coloured Cotswold stone.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Cotswolds – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty )〕 It contains unique features derived from the use of this mineral; the predominantly rural landscape contains stone-built villages, historical towns and stately homes and gardens. The Cotswolds are roughly 25 miles (40 km) across and 90 miles (145 km) long, stretching south-west from just south of Stratford-upon-Avon to just south of Bath. It lies across the boundaries of several English counties; mainly Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and parts of Wiltshire, Somerset, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The hills give their name to the Cotswold local-government district in Gloucestershire, which administers a large part of the area. The highest point of the region is Cleeve Hill at ,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hill Bagging: Cleeve Hill )〕 just to the north of Cheltenham. ==History== There is evidence of Neolithic settlement from burial chambers on Cotswold Edge, and there are remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts. Later the Romans built villas, such as at Chedworth, settlements such as Gloucester, and paved the Celtic path later known as Fosse Way. During the Middle Ages, the Cotswolds became prosperous from the wool trade with the continent, with much of the money made from wool directed towards the building of churches. The area still preserves numerous large, handsome Cotswold Stone "wool churches". The affluent area in the 21st century has attracted wealthy Londoners and others who own second homes here or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds. The name Cotswold is popularly attributed the meaning "sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides",〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.kingscotepark.co.uk/index.asp?page=6913 )〕 incorporating the term, ''wold'', meaning hills. However, the English Place-Name Society has for many years accepted that the term Cotswold is derived from ''Codesuualt'' of the 12th century or other variations on this form, the etymology of which was given, 'Cod's-wold', which is 'Cod's high open land'.〔Smith, A. H. (1964) ''The Place-Names of Gloucestershire,'' part 1: "The Rivers and Road-names, the East Cotswolds," Cambridge, p.2〕 Cod was interpreted as an Old English personal name, which may be recognised in further names: Cutsdean, Codeswellan, and Codesbyrig, some of which date back to the eighth century AD.〔Smith A. H. 1964 The Place-Names of Gloucestershire part 2: The North and West Cotswolds, Cambridge pp. 7–8〕 It has subsequently been noticed that "Cod" could derive philologically from a Brittonic female cognate ''"Cuda"'', a hypothetical mother goddess in Celtic mythology postulated to have been worshipped in the Cotswold region.〔Yeates, S. J. (2008) ''The Tribe of Witches: The Religion of the Dobunni and the Hwicce'', pp. 11–18〕〔Yeates, S. J. (2006) "River-Names, Celtic and Old English: Their Dual Medieval and Post-medieval Personalities," ''Journal of the English Place-Name Society'' 38, pp.63–81〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cotswolds」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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