690 (‘r L O U C‘- Its great local importance Consists in providing a communication from South Wales and Dean Forest and their coal-lields to the Berkeley new docks and the south of l".n-gland. and is evidenced by the various competing schemes introduced in the same session of 1872 for bridges having the ‘same object. The great iron bridge itself consists of girders constructed on a modification of the bow- string principle, and rests on piers composed of cast iron cylinders sunk down in the rock aml filled with concrete. Coiumcncing with the L_'dne_v shore, the spans are as follows :—one of 134 feet, two of 327, . ve of 171 feet, thirteen of 134, and one of 196 feet (inclusive of swing bridge over canal), making in all 2:3. The width of the river is 1186 yards, and the total length of the bridge, including the masonry viaduct and swing span, 1387 yards. 'hile the main object of this stupendous undertaking is the transit of coal, ar1'ange- iuevts are also contemplated for passenger trallic across the river. Another canal, once of great importance to the commerce of Gloucestershirc, is the Thames and Severn canal, comiectiug the navigation of these two great rivers, the first of which rises at the back of Lcckhampton Hill, at Seven Springs. The Thames and Severn canal begins at Lechlade on the former river, and joining the Stroudwater canal, which crosses the Gloucester and Berkeley, enters the Severn at Framilodc. But this canal, though of con- siderable engineering skill, is now but little used, the Great Western railway having almost entirely superseded it; and it is the same with another canal running from the Severn at Gloucester to .'ewent and Ledbury. .1[um_faclurcs.—Gloucestershire is also an important manufac- turing connty. In the time of Edward 111. the manufacture of woollen cloth was introduced into its hill country by the F lcmings, attracted probably by the facilities offered for felting by the numerous streams of water flowing from the Coteswolds. manufacture gradually increased in spite of vexatious legislation, enacted with the view of encouraging native industry, b1it really tending to hamper the trade. Cirenecster is mentioned as its seat in Henry 1V.’s reign, and Stro11d in 1553. The raw material for the manufacture was long obtained from the produce of English flocks, but afterwards a better description of ' wool was imported from Spain, and towards the close of the last century a still finer quality was got from Germany. The main supply is now obtained from the British colonies in the southern hemisphere. The description of cloth for which Gloucestershirc and the west of England have been and still are most famous is broad-cloth, dressed with teazles to produce a short close nap on the face, and made of all shades of colour, but chiefly black, blue, and scarlet. The most prosperous time of the Gloucestershirc woollen trade was from 1800 to 1820, during which period the water—powc1' of the various streams was keenly utilized, and a very large pro- portion of the population was engaged early and late on the several processes, either in their cottages or at the mills. The commercial crisis of 1825 very seriously crippled the trade; and though it afterwards recovered, it is probable that fewer persons have since been employed in it. The further introduction of machinery, enabling manufacturers to dispense with much manual labour, the passing of the factory laws, and the increased facilities of obtaining education, have greatly improved the social habits of the manu- facturing population. Ilistory.—-Gloucestershirc has not been unnotcd in the annals of England. At Gloucester Henry III. was crowned; at Berkeley Castle Edward II. was murdered; the Wars of the Roses were ended at the battle of Tcwkesbnry, where in May 1471 Queen Margaret and Prince Edward were taken prisoners; the repulse which Charles I. sustained at Gloucester, when the earl of Essex compelled him to raise the siege, was the climax of his fortunes. 'l‘he county is strewn with relics of antiquity. Four Roman roads intersect it; Itoman pavements and vestiges are found at (‘ircn- cester, Gloucester, Woodchester, and Lydney, and camps—British, Saxon, Danish, and Iioman—in nnincrous places, with many iuterest.ing relics of the Middle Ages. Among these are the restored castle of Sudelcy, near Wincheombe, a manor house before the Conquest, a. baronial castle in the days of Stephen, and the home in succession of the Botelers, Seymours, Queen Katherine Parr, and the Chandos family ; '1‘hornbury Castle, an interesting rnin instead ‘ of a castellated palace, as it would have been had not its pretensions provoked the jealousy of Wolsey against its builder, Edward -"l?}fl'0T'l,, duke of Buckingham, who was beheaded in 1521 ; St llriavel 23' Castle, to the south of the Forest of Dean, an ancient seat of the Borman kings, if not the Saxon, which became the residence of the chi--f officer of the Forest, and retains in its ruined state a decorated chimney shaft surmounted b_y a horn, the wardcr’s badge. ierl-'eley Castle. built prior to Henry 11., is an almost unique speci- men of a feudal residence in the actual occupation of a descendant of its fnnndcr, Baron Fitzharding. Edward II. was murdered in a detached upp -r chamber of the square tower. The chief mansions of the county are 13-adminton llouse (Duke of Beaufort); Oakley Park, Strond (Earl Bathurst); Toitworth Park, with a chestnut measurin 52 feet, a boundary tree in King Stcphr-n's r.-ign (Em-1 Ducic); .‘herbornc Park, .'orthlca._-h (Lord Slici-borne); ('lca1-in-ll , last abbot of Teivkesbury, for its first bislml-. The I‘ ESTER Court, Colcford (Earl of Dunraven); llighnam Court (T. Gambicr Parry); Sudcley Castle (J. Couehcr Dent); Southam House, the oldest residential house in the county, built in the time of Henry 'II., a timber and stone mansion of two stories (Earl of Ellen- borongh); and l’rinknash Park, a 15th century residence of the abbots of Gloucester (B. St John Ackcrs). Besides these there are various other seats of somewhat lesser size. Among the eminent persons born in the county are the chronieler llobert of Gloucester, Sebastian Cabot, 'illiam Cartwright the poet, Thomas Cllflli0l'l01J, ‘tobert Southey, the Rev. John Eagles, and George Whitfield. Educatitm.-—Aecording to the parliamentary returns of public elementary schools for the year ending 31st August 1876, there were in Gloucestershirc -108 day schools, 34 of which were also used as night schools. Of these schools 314 were in connexion with the Church of’ England, or the .'ational Society or parochial; 15 were board schools, 9 Roman Catholic, 36 British and Foreign, and 13 Vcsleyan Methodist Conference schools. See _Atkyns’s Glouccstc7'sIn'rc, 1769; llndderis Glow.-«-st;-1's/1ire, a republication of Atkyns, with additions, 1779; F osbrookc's .»1l»st:~ -I. of Ilccords and J[anusc7'z'pts 7'c.¢pcctz'11g the Uozuzty of GIUIICCSILT, 1807, 2 vols. 4to; The Forest of Dean, an. Ilistorical and Dcscn'plic-; Account, by H. G. Nicholls, M.A., 1858. GLOUCESTER, the capital city of the above county, and a county of itself, 114 miles from London by railway, derives its name from the British Caer-Gloui, near which at Kings- holm the Romans formed their camp of Glevnm, vestiges of which remain in four principal streets running N., S., E., and W., and crossingat the centre, as well as in Roman pave- ments, altars, coins, and pottery. A Roman station under Aulns Plautins, it became a city of Mercia, by name Gleananceastre, under the Saxons, and is named by Bede as one of the noblest cities in the land. A monastery was founded here in 679, in which in 1022 Bishop Wulstan of Worcester established the Benedictine rule. In the 8th century the city was repeatedly ravaged and burnt by the Danish invaders, and endured ruinous conflicts up to the time of the settlement between Canute and Edmund Iron- side. The abbey throve from the time of Canute, the foundations of the present church having been laid by O O I O O O O Nave 0 0' 0 S.Aisle_ Lacfycluipcfz 2 -‘hr , ‘J Gloucester Cathedral. Abbot Serlo (1072-1104), and Walter Erocestcr, its his- torian, beeoming its first mitred abbot in 1381. Edward the Confessor often resided at Gloucester, and it was a , favourite resort of the Norman kings, of whom Henry I. met with his death from a surfeit of lampreys, for which he ac- quired a taste there. Henry II. held a great council there (1175), and Henry III. was crowned in the abbey, and "loved Gloucester better than London.” The “statute of Gloucester” was passed (1278) in one of several parlianieuts [held there ; but the tide of royal favour experienced an ebb when Charles I. subjected the city, garrisoncd by the Par- liamentarians, to a critical siege, which was eventually raised in September 1643 by the earl of Essex. Until 15-11 the whole of Gloucestershirc lay in Worcester diocese, but in that year it was constituted the see of Gloucester, with the abbey church for its cathedral, and John Wakeman,
The cathe-