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Cheltenham

Cheltenham (/ˈɛltnəm/), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the most complete Regency town in Britain.[2]

Cheltenham
Motto(s): 
Salubritas et Eruditio ("Health and Education")
Cheltenham within Gloucestershire
Coordinates: 51°54′N 002°04′W / 51.900°N 2.067°W / 51.900; -2.067Coordinates: 51°54′N 002°04′W / 51.900°N 2.067°W / 51.900; -2.067
CountryUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionSouth West England
Ceremonial countyGloucestershire
BoroughCheltenham
Government
 • Governing bodyCheltenham Borough Council
 • LeadershipLeader & Cabinet
 • ExecutiveLiberal Democrat
 • MPAlex Chalk (Conservative)
Area
 • Borough18.00 sq mi (46.61 km2)
 • RankRanked 268th
Population
 (2021 census)
 • Borough118,836[1]
 • RankRanked 198th
 • Density6,600/sq mi (2,549/km2)
Postcode
GL50, GL51, GL52, GL53, GL54
Area code01242
OS grid referenceSO945225
Websitewww.cheltenham.gov.uk

The town hosts several festivals of culture, often featuring nationally and internationally famous contributors and attendees; they include the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, the Cheltenham Science Festival, the Cheltenham Music Festival, Cheltenham International Film Festival, the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, and the Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival.[3][4] In steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup is the main event of the Cheltenham Festival, held every March.

History

 
Cheltenham in 1933

Cheltenham stands on the small River Chelt, which rises nearby at Dowdeswell and runs through the town on its way to the Severn.[5] It was first recorded in 803, as Celtan hom; the meaning has not been resolved with certainty, but latest scholarship concludes that the first element preserves a Celtic noun cilta, 'steep hill', here referring to the Cotswold scarp; the second element may mean 'settlement' or 'water-meadow'.[6] As a royal manor, it features in the earliest pages of the Gloucestershire section of Domesday Book[7] where it is named Chintenha[m]. The town was awarded a market charter in 1226.

Though little remains of its pre-spa history, Cheltenham has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716. Captain Henry Skillicorne (1678–1763), is credited with being the first entrepreneur to recognise the opportunity to exploit the mineral springs.[8] The retired "master mariner" became co-owner of the property containing Cheltenham's first mineral spring upon his 1732[9] marriage to Elizabeth Mason.[10] Her father, William Mason, had done little in his lifetime to promote the healing properties of the mineral water apart from limited advertising and building a small enclosure over the spring.[8] Skillicorne's wide travels as a merchant had prepared him to see the potential lying dormant on this inherited property. After moving to Cheltenham in 1738, he immediately began improvements intended to attract visitors to his spa. He built a pump to regulate the flow of water and erected an elaborate well-house complete with a ballroom and upstairs billiard room to entertain his customers. The beginnings of Cheltenham's tree-lined promenades and the gardens surrounding its spas were first designed by Captain Skillicorne with the help of "wealthy and traveled" friends who understood the value of relaxing avenues. The area's walks and gardens had views of the countryside, and soon the gentry and nobility from across the county were enticed to come and investigate the beneficial waters of Cheltenham's market town spa.[10]

 
King George III in the 1780s

The visit of George III with the queen and royal princesses in 1788 set a stamp of fashion on the spa.[11] The spa waters can still be sampled at the Pittville Pump Room, built for this purpose and completed in 1830;[12] it is a centrepiece of Pittville, a planned extension of Cheltenham to the north, undertaken by Joseph Pitt, who laid the first stone 4 May 1825.[13]

Cheltenham's success as a spa town is reflected in the railway station, which is still called Cheltenham Spa, and spa facilities in other towns that were inspired by or named after it.[14]

Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll were regular visitors to a house in Cudnall Street, Charlton Kings – a suburb of Cheltenham. This house was owned by Alice Liddell's grandparents, and still contains the mirror, or looking glass, that was purportedly the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1871.[15]

Horse racing began in Cheltenham in 1815, and became a major national attraction after the establishment of the Festival in 1902.[16] Whilst the volume of tourists visiting the spa has declined, the racecourse attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each day of the festival each year,[17] with such large numbers of visitors having a significant impact on the town.

In the Second World War, the United States Army Services of Supply, European Theatre of Operations established its primary headquarters at Cheltenham under the direction of Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee, with the flats of the Cheltenham Racecourse[18] becoming a giant storage depot for countless trucks, jeeps, tanks and artillery pieces. Most of this materiel was reshipped to the continent for and after the D-Day invasion. Lee and his primary staff had offices and took residence at Thirlestaine Hall in Cheltenham.[19]

On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the borough of Cheltenham was merged with Charlton Kings urban district to form the non-metropolitan district of Cheltenham. Four parishes—Swindon Village, Up Hatherley, Leckhampton and Prestbury—were added to the borough of Cheltenham from the borough of Tewkesbury in 1991.[20]

The first British jet aircraft prototype, the Gloster E.28/39, was manufactured in Cheltenham. Manufacturing started in Hucclecote near Gloucester, but was later moved to Regent Motors in Cheltenham High Street (now the Regent Arcade), considered a location safer from bombing during the Second World War.

Geography

Cheltenham is on the edge of the Cotswolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the South-West region of England. The small River Chelt flows under and through the town.

Cleeve Hill, overlooks the town and is the highest point in the county of Gloucestershire and the Cotswold Hills range, at 1,083 feet (330 m).

The town is near the northeastern edge of the South West of England region being 88 miles (142 km) west-northwest of London, 38 miles (61 km) northeast of Bristol and 41 miles (66 km) south of Birmingham.[21]

Neighbourhoods

The districts of Cheltenham include: Arle, Benhall, Charlton Kings, Fairview, Fiddler's Green, Hesters Way, Lansdown, Leckhampton, Lynworth, Montpellier, Oakley, Pittville, Prestbury, the Reddings, Rowanfield, St Luke's, St Mark's, St Paul's, St Peter's, Springbank, Swindon Village, Tivoli, Up Hatherley, Whaddon and Wyman's Brook.

Montpellier

Located at the end of the Promenade South of the town centre, affluent Montpellier is known for its bars, restaurants and specialist shops. Surrounded by many grade one listed buildings, Montpellier Gardens are part of the Cheltenham Central Conservation Area.[22]

 
View of Pittville showing the park and the Pump Room
Pittville

Similarly affluent, but more a garden suburb in nature, is Pittville, known for its large park (the southern part of which is lined with large Regency terraces and villas) and the Pump Room, the largest of Cheltenham's former spa buildings, now a concert and events venue.

Lansdown Crescent

Lansdown Crescent is a Regency period terrace, designed by John Buonarotti Papworth for R.W. and C. Jearrad and constructed in the 1830s. The terrace is convex, and opposite the north-eastern part stands Lansdown Court, an Italianate villa possibly designed by Papworth but more probably by the Jearrads and built about 1830.

Charlton Park

Charlton Park is a former 72-acre (29 ha) historic park with mansion house,[23] about a mile south-east of the town centre. From 1935 the parkland gradually became a private residential area, the main housing development taking place between 1976 and 1983. The original mansion house dated from the 13th century; alterations throughout the centuries transformed it from a medieval, timber-framed hall-house into an 18th-century brick-faced mansion in the classical style. In the 1780s the estate was emparked for deer and had magnificent Dutch-style water gardens. After 1935 the old house became part of Charlton Park Convent, and since 1987 has been part of St Edward's School.

Green belt

Parts of the town has green belt along its fringes, and this extends into the surrounding Tewkesbury district, helping to maintain local green space, prevent further urban sprawl and unplanned expansion towards Gloucester and Bishop's Cleeve, as well as protecting smaller villages in between. West of the Greenfield Way and Fiddlers Green Lane roads, along with much of the open space up to the Civil Service Sports Ground, as well as the Cheltenham Racecourse and surrounding green park, along with St Peter Leckhampton parish church and Brizen Playing Fields/Haven and Greenmead parks along the south of the borough, are covered.

Government

Cheltenham Borough Council is the local authority for Cheltenham; it is split into 20 wards, with a total of 40 councillors elected to serve on the borough council. Since 2002, elections have been held every two years with half of the councillors elected at each election.

GCHQ

The head office of the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), known to locals as The Doughnut, is located in Cheltenham.

Climate

As with the vast majority of the British Isles, Cheltenham experiences a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification). It has warm summers and cool winters. The town held the British maximum temperature record from 1990 to 2003—temperatures reached 37.1 °C (98.8 °F).[24] The absolute minimum is −20.1 °C (−4.2 °F), set during December 1981. During a typical year, 145.6 days will report at least 1 mm of rain, and some 42.2 nights will record air frost.

Climate data for Cheltenham 1981–2010, 65 m asl
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 7.6
(45.7)
7.9
(46.2)
10.8
(51.4)
13.8
(56.8)
17.5
(63.5)
20.5
(68.9)
22.8
(73.0)
22.1
(71.8)
19.1
(66.4)
14.9
(58.8)
10.6
(51.1)
8.0
(46.4)
14.7
(58.5)
Average low °C (°F) 2.0
(35.6)
1.7
(35.1)
3.6
(38.5)
4.8
(40.6)
7.8
(46.0)
10.8
(51.4)
13.1
(55.6)
12.7
(54.9)
10.3
(50.5)
7.7
(45.9)
4.6
(40.3)
2.1
(35.8)
6.8
(44.2)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 71.6
(2.82)
61.9
(2.44)
57.4
(2.26)
67.7
(2.67)
67.9
(2.67)
67.9
(2.67)
66.4
(2.61)
66.2
(2.61)
74.0
(2.91)
81.1
(3.19)
80.5
(3.17)
80.8
(3.18)
843.4
(33.2)
Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm) 13.5 11.2 12.7 11.9 12.2 11.4 10.5 10.9 11.2 13.9 13.5 12.8 145.6
Mean monthly sunshine hours 55.6 74.9 107.6 154.2 184.9 183.0 199.2 186.6 137.2 107.1 64.3 48.9 1,503.5
Source: Met Office[25]


Economy

 
Cavendish House department store on the Promenade (October 2008)

As a Regency spa town, tourism is an important sector in Cheltenham's economy, but it also has some light industry, including food processing, aerospace and electronics businesses. The Government's electronic surveillance operation Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), known for its "doughnut-shaped" building, is in Cheltenham. Vertex Data Science, GE-Aviation, Chelsea Building Society, Endsleigh Insurance, Archant, Nelson Thornes, UCAS (Universities & Colleges Admissions Service), Kohler Mira, Zürich Financial Services, Douglas Equipment, Volo and Spirax-Sarco Engineering all have sites in and around Cheltenham.

A number of design agencies and businesses are located in the town. Weird Fish was founded in Cheltenham. SuperGroup plc, owner of the Superdry label, has its headquarters in Cheltenham.

Cheltenham is a regional shopping centre, home to department stores, the oldest being Cavendish House, from 1823,[26] and the Regent Arcade.

The Beechwood Shopping Centre in the town centre was demolished in 2017 to make way for a £30million, 115,000 square foot John Lewis store.[27]

Among Cheltenham's many restaurants, two are currently Michelin one-star restaurants, Le Champignon Sauvage and Lumière.[citation needed]

Employment and salary

The unemployment rate in Cheltenham was 2.7%[28] in 2010 compared to the UK national unemployment level of 7.9%.[29] The average GVA per head in Cheltenham was £21,947.27 in 2011[28] compared to the national average of £26,200.[30]

In 2012, The Guardian found that, at the end of 2011, 41 multi-millionaires lived in Cheltenham, which was the fourth-highest rate in the UK of multi-millionaires per 100,000 people at 35.44.[31]

Culture

Architecture
 
Cheltenham's Municipal Offices, an example of Regency architecture.

The town is known for its Regency architecture and is said to be "the most complete regency town in England".[32] Many of the buildings are listed, including the Cheltenham Synagogue, judged by Nikolaus Pevsner to be one of the architecturally best non-Anglican ecclesiastical buildings in Britain.[33]

Cheltenham Town Hall was built in 1902 to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

Art

The Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, also called The Wilson, hosts a programme of art exhibitions running throughout the year. The Wilson was named after polar explorer Dr Edward Wilson, who was born in Cheltenham.

In 2014, many of the town's historic cultural and leisure buildings were put under the control of The Cheltenham Trust,[34] a charity set up to manage and develop the buildings on behalf of the town. Along with The Wilson, the Trust now manages the Town Hall, the Pittville Pump Room, the Prince of Wales Stadium and Leisure @, a large fitness and swimming complex. A volunteer board of Trustees controls the Trust.[35] The Trust's CEO is Julie Finch, former director of museums in Bristol.[36][failed verification]

In 2014, a piece of graffiti by street artist Banksy appeared next to a telephone box in a residential street in Cheltenham. The graffiti depicted three men in trench coats and dark glasses apparently listening in to calls made in the telephone box.[37]

Cheltenham features several sculptural artworks of note, including:

 
Neptune's Fountain
 
The mechanical clock in the Regent Shopping Arcade, designed by Kit Williams. The distance from the duck to the fish is 14 metres.
  • Neptune's Fountain in the Promenade, built in 1893 and designed by Joseph Hall[38]
  • The Hare and the Minotaur, also in the Promenade, created in 1995 by Sophie Ryder[39]
  • A life-size bronze of an Emperor Penguin by Nick Bibby and placed in the foyer of The Wilson art gallery and museum in 2015[40]
  • The Wishing Fish Clock in the Regent Shopping Arcade, unveiled in 1987 and designed by Kit Williams
Music

Cheltenham hosts the annual Cheltenham Music Festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festival and the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain.

In 2010, Cheltenham was named the UK's fifth "most musical" city (sic) by PRS for Music.[41]

History

The collection's of the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum include decorative arts from the era of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The collection enjoys National Designation by the Arts Council of England.[42] The Holst Birthplace Museum contains personal belongings of the composer of The Planets, including his piano. It also includes a working Victorian kitchen and laundry, Regency drawing room and an Edwardian nursery.

The Cheltenham Civic Society has been responsible for erecting commemorative plaques in the town since 1982: blue plaques to celebrate well-known people and green plaques to celebrate significant places and events.

Festivals

Every year, Cheltenham Festivals organises music, jazz, literature and science festivals in the town, attracting names with national and international reputations in each field. Events take place at venues including the town hall, the Everyman Theatre, the Playhouse Theatre and the Pittville Pump Room.

Several other cultural festivals, including the Cheltenham International Film Festival, Cheltenham Paranormal Festival, the Cheltenham Design Festival, Cheltenham Folk Festival, Cheltenham Poetry Festival, The True Believers Comic Festival and Cheltenham Comedy Festival are separately organised but also attract international performers and speakers. A more local event, the Cheltenham Festival of the Performing Arts (formerly Cheltenham Competitive Festival) is a collection of more than 300 performance competitions that is the oldest of Cheltenham's arts festivals, having been started in 1926.

Greenbelt, a Christian arts and music festival, and Wychwood Festival, a family-friendly folk and world music festival, were held at Cheltenham Racecourse.[43] The town also hosts the multi-venue Walk the line festival.

Two sporting events are also routinely described as the "Cheltenham Festival" or "the Festival": the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, which features Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, and National Hunt racing's Cheltenham Festival.

Film and television

Cheltenham has played host to and featured in a number of film and TV series:[44][45]

The Thistle Golden Valley Hotel was used by the ITV soap opera Crossroads for outdoor location filming from 1982 to 1985.[46]

Theatre

Cheltenham has four theatres: the Everyman, the Playhouse, the Bacon and the Parabola Arts Centre.

Demography

Population

According to 2010 estimates from the Office for National Statistics, Cheltenham's population is 115,300, ranked 186th out of 326 English districts based on population, with a population density of 6,410 people per square mile (2,470 people/km2), placing it 72 out of 326 English districts based on population density. Inhabitants of Cheltenham are known as "Cheltonians".

Ethnicity

According to the 2011 census,[47] the ethnic breakdown of the population of Cheltenham is as follows:

  • White British: 88.3%
  • White Irish: 0.9%
  • White, other: 5.0%
  • Mixed: 1.9%
  • Asian : 3.2%
  • Black : 0.6%

Crime and public safety

In 2013, Cheltenham was named one of the safest towns for university students to live in the UK by the Complete University Guide.[48]

Police

Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the town covering 14 neighbourhoods in the Cheltenham area.[49]

Education

The oldest school in Cheltenham is Pate's Grammar School (founded in 1574).[50] Cheltenham College (founded in 1841) was the first of the public schools of the Victorian period.[51] The school was the setting in 1968 for the classic Lindsay Anderson film if.....[52] It also hosts the annual Cheltenham Cricket Festival, first staged in 1872, and the oldest cricket festival in the world.[53]

The most famous school in the town, according to The Good Schools Guide, is Cheltenham Ladies' College (founded in 1853).[54][55] Dean Close School was founded in 1886 in memory of the Reverend Francis Close (1797–1882), a former rector of Cheltenham.[56] The town also includes several campuses of the University of Gloucestershire, two other independent and six other state secondary schools, plus institutions of further education.

Sport and leisure

Cheltenham Racecourse, in the nearby village of Prestbury, is the home of National Hunt, or jumps, racing in the UK. Meetings are hosted from October to April. The highlight of the season is the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which is normally held in the middle of March, during the Cheltenham Festival.

The town's football teams are the professional team Cheltenham Town F.C., who play in the Football League One, and semi-professional sides Bishop's Cleeve, who play in the Hellenic League Premier, Cheltenham Saracens F.C. in the Hellenic League Division One and more recently Montpellier Football Club, founded in 2021 by Liam Bond and Sam Collier and currently boasting a senior first team, a development team and a newly founded women's team.

Amateur rugby union clubs include Cheltenham R.F.C., Cheltenham Saracens RFC, Cheltenham North R.F.C., Old Patesians R.F.C., Smiths Rugby and Cheltenham Civil Service R.F.C.

In rugby league, university side Gloucestershire All Golds were admitted into the semi-professional Championship 1. The Cheltenham Rugby Festival is a rugby league nines event held in May.

The town has one golf course, Lilley Brook, in Charlton Kings.

Cheltenham has one of the largest croquet clubs in the country, and is home to the headquarters of the national body of the sport, the Croquet Association. The East Glos tennis, squash and women's hockey club, which was founded in 1885, is also located in the town.

Sandford Parks Lido is one of the largest outdoor pools in England. There is a 50 m (164 ft) main pool, a children's pool and paddling pool, set in landscaped gardens. Sandford Parks Lido is the home of Cheltenham Swimming and Water Polo Club. In 2021, Cheltenham Borough Council gave Sandford Parks Lido a new 35-year lease to continue operating the lido.[57]

Cheltenham Festival

Cheltenham Festival is a significant National Hunt racing meeting,[58] and has race prize money second only to the Grand National. It is an event where many of the best British and Irish trained horses race against each other, the extent of which is relatively rare during the rest of the season.

The festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse. The meeting is often very popular with Irish visitors,[59] mostly because of that nation's affinity with horse racing, but also because it usually coincides with St. Patrick's Day, a national holiday in celebration of the patron saint of Ireland.

Large amounts of money are bet during festival week, with hundreds of millions of pounds being gambled over the four days.[60] Cheltenham is often noted for its atmosphere, most notably the "Cheltenham roar", which refers to the enormous amount of noise that the crowd generates as the starter raises the tape for the first race of the festival.

Transport

Railways

Cheltenham Spa railway station is located on the Bristol-Birmingham main line, with services to Gloucester, Bristol, Swindon, London Paddington, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Maesteg, Plymouth and the South West, Birmingham, Derby, the North West, the North East and Scotland. The station is located to the west of the Montpellier area of the town and is known locally as "Lansdown".

The Cheltenham Spa Express, once known as the Cheltenham Flyer, is a named passenger train connecting Cheltenham with London. The town has had seven railway stations, but never had a direct route towards Oxford and London which have always been reached via Gloucester and Stroud.

The restored Cheltenham Racecourse railway station is the southern terminus of the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. The Honeybourne Line is being extended northwards to Broadway, with an eventual aspiration to extend the line southwards to Cheltenham Spa where the line originally branched off from the Bristol to Birmingham main line.

Roads

Cheltenham is adjacent to the M5 motorway, between Bristol and Birmingham, and its junction with the A417 to Swindon and the A40 runs from across the M5 through the town towards Oxford and London.

Buses and coaches

Stagecoach West operate the majority of bus services in Cheltenham, including services to Gloucester and Tewkesbury.

National Express operate a number of coach services from Cheltenham including route 444 to London and Heathrow airport. Before becoming part of National Express, Cheltenham was a major hub for Black and White coaches, with routes throughout the country, many of which formed a mass exodus through the town at 14:30 each day.

Tramroad

Cheltenham was a terminus of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad.

Churches

The first parish church is Cheltenham Minster, St Mary's, which is the only surviving medieval building in the town. As a result of expansion of the population, absorption of surrounding villages, and the efforts of both evangelical and Anglo-Catholic missions, the town has a large number of other parish churches,[61] including Trinity Church and All Saints', Pittville, where the composer Gustav Holst's father was the organist.

St Gregory's Roman Catholic church is an example of the work of the architect Charles Hansom.[62] The Gothic Revival building was built 1854–57, the porch was added in 1859, the tower and spire were completed in 1861 and the nave was extended to join the tower in 1877.[62] The church's s stained glass is by Hardman & Co.[62]

Bell ringing

The town has three rings of bells hung for change ringing. One is located in St Mark's Church - a ring of 8 bells, with the heaviest being some 16cwt. These were originally a ring of 5 bells cast at John Taylor of Loughborough in 1885, extensively overhauled and augmented in 8 in 2007.[63] Another is at St. Christopher's (Warden Hill), the lightest ring of church bells in the world.[64] The other is a ring of 12 bells hung in St. Mary's Church (the Minster). These were the venue in 2008 for the eliminators of the National 12 Bell Striking contest, in which teams of campanologists from around the world compete to win the Taylor Trophy. In 2017 the old ring of 12 was completely replaced with new bells cast by John Taylor & Co. The tenor bell is just over a ton in weight, and the new ring also includes a thirteenth bell, a sharp 2nd, to provide a lighter 8. The towers in the locality of Cheltenham belong to the Cheltenham branch of the Gloucester & Bristol Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers.

Twin towns

 
A fingerpost in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, highlighting Cheltenham as the "Official Twin." The signpost points to other cities in the world named "Cheltenham".

Cheltenham is twinned with:[65]

Twinning with Sochi, Russia was suspended in response to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[66]

Notable people

See also

References

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  2. ^ "Visit Cheltenham". visitcheltenham.com. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  3. ^ . Garden-events.com. 17 June 2012. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  4. ^ "Jazz, Science, Music & Literature". Cheltenham Festivals. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Chedgrave – Cheltenham | A Topographical Dictionary of England (pp. 562–569)". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  6. ^ R Coates, English Place-Name Society Journal 16 (1983–84)
  7. ^ John Morris (ed.), Domesday Book, 15 Gloucestershire (1982) p162 ISBN 0850333210
  8. ^ a b Goding, John (1863). Norman's History of Cheltenham. London: Longman. pp. 124–25.
  9. ^ at Long Ashton, Somerset on 4 January; note in family bible
  10. ^ a b Hembry, Phyllis May (1900). The English Spa, 1560–1815: A Social History. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-0838633915.
  11. ^ Lewis 1848.
  12. ^ . Archived from the original on 15 December 2008.
  13. ^ Lewis, 1848.
  14. ^ For example, the Cheltenham Baths at Ossett#Spa, see History of Ossett Spa 21 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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  16. ^ "History". Cheltenham Festival. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  17. ^ . Sporting Chronicle. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  18. ^ "Cheltenham Racecourse". wikimedia.org. 17 June 2006.
  19. ^ "Archived copy". from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ^ "The Gloucestershire (District Boundaries) Order 1991". Opsi.gov.uk. 4 July 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  21. ^ "Distance between Cheltenham, UK and London, UK (UK)". distancecalculator.globefeed.com.
  22. ^ Hockin, Lynda. "Montpellier Gardens". www.cheltenham.gov.uk.
  23. ^ David Hanks. "A History of Charlton Park". Charltonparkcheltenham.org. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  24. ^ "Hot spell August 1990". Met Office. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  25. ^ "Cheltenham 1981–2010 averages". Met Office. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
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  34. ^ "Cheltenham Trust". www.cheltenhamtrust.org.uk.
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  37. ^ "Banksy 'surprised' at listed status". 10 April 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  38. ^ "The Neptune Fountain". Visit Cheltemham. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  39. ^ "The Hare and the Minotaur". Visit Cheltenham. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  40. ^ "The Wilson Penguin".
  41. ^ Smith, Richard (13 March 2010). "Bristol named Britain's most musical city". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  42. ^ "Arts and Crafts Museum Cheltenham". www.artsandcraftsmuseum.org.uk.
  43. ^ Greenbelt moved away in 2014 due to redevelopment at the Racecourse; there is no commitment to return."Home - Greenbelt". from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2014. and emails to supporters, March 2014)
  44. ^ a b c d e f g "Cotswold Filming Locations used for Cinema & TV". Cotswolds.info. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  45. ^ a b c d e f g "Filmed in Cheltenham - visit cheltenham". 30 June 2013. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013.
  46. ^ Geake, Simon. . SimonGeake.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016. After the in-story destruction of the motel by fire, the revamped motel was filmed from 1982 at The Golden Valley Hotel in Cheltenham; from 1985 filming moved to the Penns Hall Hotel (now Ramada Jarvis Birmingham) in Sutton Coldfield, the changed appearance explained as being due to rebuilding.
  47. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Cheltenham Local Authority (1946157372)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  48. ^ . Gloucestershire Echo. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014.
  49. ^ "Cheltenham". www.gloucestershire.police.uk.
  50. ^ A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales. Baldwin, Cradock and Joy. 1818. p. 446.
  51. ^ . Cheltenham4u.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  52. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Anderson, Lindsay (1923–1994) Biography". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  53. ^ . Cheltenham4u.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  54. ^ . Cheltenham Ladies' College – Welcome Archived 21 April 2013 at archive.today
  55. ^ The Good Schools Guide 2008. Lucas Publications. January 2008. ISBN 978-0-9552821-2-6.
  56. ^ . Cheltenham4u.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  57. ^ Winter, Bethany. "Cheltenham lido predicts wave of funding with new lease". Punchline Gloucestershire. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  58. ^ "Going is good for Cheltenham". BBC Sport. 17 March 1998. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  59. ^ "Cheltenham festival gets underway this afternoon". The Belfast Telegraph. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  60. ^ . Gloucestershire Echo. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015.
  61. ^ "Cheltenham". Find a Church. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  62. ^ a b c Verey, David (1970). Gloucestershire: The Vale and the Forest of Dean. The Buildings of England. Vol. 2. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 128.
  63. ^ "St Mark's Church".
  64. ^ "St. Christopher's Church". Tciwh.org.uk. 13 July 2001. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  65. ^ "Our Twin Towns". Cheltenham Twinning Association. 5 May 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  66. ^ "Statement from the Cheltenham Twinning Association on the situation in Ukraine". Cheltenham Twinning Association. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
Bibliography

External links

  • Cheltenham Borough Council
  • Visit Cheltenham
  • Genealogical Web site including many relevant references on Cheltenham
  • BBC archive film of Cheltenham from 1985
  • Explore Cheltenham Explore Cheltenham Spa - Online guide to the 'Festival Town of England'
Following the Cotswold Way
Towards
Bath
Towards
Chipping Campden
10 miles (16 km) to
Leckhampton, from White's Barn
8 miles (13.5 km) to
Winchcombe, from White's Barn

cheltenham, other, places, with, same, name, disambiguation, also, known, town, borough, edge, cotswolds, county, gloucestershire, england, became, known, health, holiday, town, resort, following, discovery, mineral, springs, 1716, claims, most, complete, rege. For other places with the same name see Cheltenham disambiguation Cheltenham ˈ tʃ ɛ l t n e m also known as Cheltenham Spa is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire England Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716 and claims to be the most complete Regency town in Britain 2 CheltenhamTown non metropolitan district and boroughCoat of armsMotto s Salubritas et Eruditio Health and Education Cheltenham within GloucestershireCoordinates 51 54 N 002 04 W 51 900 N 2 067 W 51 900 2 067 Coordinates 51 54 N 002 04 W 51 900 N 2 067 W 51 900 2 067CountryUnited KingdomConstituent countryEnglandRegionSouth West EnglandCeremonial countyGloucestershireBoroughCheltenhamGovernment Governing bodyCheltenham Borough Council LeadershipLeader amp Cabinet ExecutiveLiberal Democrat MPAlex Chalk Conservative Area Borough18 00 sq mi 46 61 km2 RankRanked 268thPopulation 2021 census Borough118 836 1 RankRanked 198th Density6 600 sq mi 2 549 km2 PostcodeGL50 GL51 GL52 GL53 GL54Area code01242OS grid referenceSO945225Websitewww wbr cheltenham wbr gov wbr ukThe town hosts several festivals of culture often featuring nationally and internationally famous contributors and attendees they include the Cheltenham Literature Festival the Cheltenham Jazz Festival the Cheltenham Science Festival the Cheltenham Music Festival Cheltenham International Film Festival the Cheltenham Cricket Festival and the Cheltenham Food amp Drink Festival 3 4 In steeplechase horse racing the Gold Cup is the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held every March Contents 1 History 2 Geography 2 1 Neighbourhoods 2 2 Green belt 3 Government 3 1 GCHQ 4 Climate 5 Economy 5 1 Employment and salary 6 Culture 7 Demography 8 Crime and public safety 8 1 Police 9 Education 10 Sport and leisure 10 1 Cheltenham Festival 11 Transport 11 1 Railways 11 2 Roads 11 3 Buses and coaches 11 4 Tramroad 12 Churches 12 1 Bell ringing 13 Twin towns 14 Notable people 15 See also 16 References 17 External linksHistory Edit Cheltenham in 1933 Cheltenham stands on the small River Chelt which rises nearby at Dowdeswell and runs through the town on its way to the Severn 5 It was first recorded in 803 as Celtan hom the meaning has not been resolved with certainty but latest scholarship concludes that the first element preserves a Celtic noun cilta steep hill here referring to the Cotswold scarp the second element may mean settlement or water meadow 6 As a royal manor it features in the earliest pages of the Gloucestershire section of Domesday Book 7 where it is named Chintenha m The town was awarded a market charter in 1226 Though little remains of its pre spa history Cheltenham has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716 Captain Henry Skillicorne 1678 1763 is credited with being the first entrepreneur to recognise the opportunity to exploit the mineral springs 8 The retired master mariner became co owner of the property containing Cheltenham s first mineral spring upon his 1732 9 marriage to Elizabeth Mason 10 Her father William Mason had done little in his lifetime to promote the healing properties of the mineral water apart from limited advertising and building a small enclosure over the spring 8 Skillicorne s wide travels as a merchant had prepared him to see the potential lying dormant on this inherited property After moving to Cheltenham in 1738 he immediately began improvements intended to attract visitors to his spa He built a pump to regulate the flow of water and erected an elaborate well house complete with a ballroom and upstairs billiard room to entertain his customers The beginnings of Cheltenham s tree lined promenades and the gardens surrounding its spas were first designed by Captain Skillicorne with the help of wealthy and traveled friends who understood the value of relaxing avenues The area s walks and gardens had views of the countryside and soon the gentry and nobility from across the county were enticed to come and investigate the beneficial waters of Cheltenham s market town spa 10 King George III in the 1780s The visit of George III with the queen and royal princesses in 1788 set a stamp of fashion on the spa 11 The spa waters can still be sampled at the Pittville Pump Room built for this purpose and completed in 1830 12 it is a centrepiece of Pittville a planned extension of Cheltenham to the north undertaken by Joseph Pitt who laid the first stone 4 May 1825 13 Cheltenham s success as a spa town is reflected in the railway station which is still called Cheltenham Spa and spa facilities in other towns that were inspired by or named after it 14 Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll were regular visitors to a house in Cudnall Street Charlton Kings a suburb of Cheltenham This house was owned by Alice Liddell s grandparents and still contains the mirror or looking glass that was purportedly the inspiration for Lewis Carroll s novel Through the Looking Glass published in 1871 15 Horse racing began in Cheltenham in 1815 and became a major national attraction after the establishment of the Festival in 1902 16 Whilst the volume of tourists visiting the spa has declined the racecourse attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each day of the festival each year 17 with such large numbers of visitors having a significant impact on the town In the Second World War the United States Army Services of Supply European Theatre of Operations established its primary headquarters at Cheltenham under the direction of Lt Gen John C H Lee with the flats of the Cheltenham Racecourse 18 becoming a giant storage depot for countless trucks jeeps tanks and artillery pieces Most of this materiel was reshipped to the continent for and after the D Day invasion Lee and his primary staff had offices and took residence at Thirlestaine Hall in Cheltenham 19 On 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 the borough of Cheltenham was merged with Charlton Kings urban district to form the non metropolitan district of Cheltenham Four parishes Swindon Village Up Hatherley Leckhampton and Prestbury were added to the borough of Cheltenham from the borough of Tewkesbury in 1991 20 The first British jet aircraft prototype the Gloster E 28 39 was manufactured in Cheltenham Manufacturing started in Hucclecote near Gloucester but was later moved to Regent Motors in Cheltenham High Street now the Regent Arcade considered a location safer from bombing during the Second World War Geography EditCheltenham is on the edge of the Cotswolds an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the South West region of England The small River Chelt flows under and through the town Cleeve Hill overlooks the town and is the highest point in the county of Gloucestershire and the Cotswold Hills range at 1 083 feet 330 m The town is near the northeastern edge of the South West of England region being 88 miles 142 km west northwest of London 38 miles 61 km northeast of Bristol and 41 miles 66 km south of Birmingham 21 Neighbourhoods Edit The districts of Cheltenham include Arle Benhall Charlton Kings Fairview Fiddler s Green Hesters Way Lansdown Leckhampton Lynworth Montpellier Oakley Pittville Prestbury the Reddings Rowanfield St Luke s St Mark s St Paul s St Peter s Springbank Swindon Village Tivoli Up Hatherley Whaddon and Wyman s Brook MontpellierLocated at the end of the Promenade South of the town centre affluent Montpellier is known for its bars restaurants and specialist shops Surrounded by many grade one listed buildings Montpellier Gardens are part of the Cheltenham Central Conservation Area 22 View of Pittville showing the park and the Pump Room PittvilleSimilarly affluent but more a garden suburb in nature is Pittville known for its large park the southern part of which is lined with large Regency terraces and villas and the Pump Room the largest of Cheltenham s former spa buildings now a concert and events venue Lansdown CrescentLansdown Crescent is a Regency period terrace designed by John Buonarotti Papworth for R W and C Jearrad and constructed in the 1830s The terrace is convex and opposite the north eastern part stands Lansdown Court an Italianate villa possibly designed by Papworth but more probably by the Jearrads and built about 1830 Charlton ParkCharlton Park is a former 72 acre 29 ha historic park with mansion house 23 about a mile south east of the town centre From 1935 the parkland gradually became a private residential area the main housing development taking place between 1976 and 1983 The original mansion house dated from the 13th century alterations throughout the centuries transformed it from a medieval timber framed hall house into an 18th century brick faced mansion in the classical style In the 1780s the estate was emparked for deer and had magnificent Dutch style water gardens After 1935 the old house became part of Charlton Park Convent and since 1987 has been part of St Edward s School Green belt Edit Further information Gloucester and Cheltenham Green Belt Parts of the town has green belt along its fringes and this extends into the surrounding Tewkesbury district helping to maintain local green space prevent further urban sprawl and unplanned expansion towards Gloucester and Bishop s Cleeve as well as protecting smaller villages in between West of the Greenfield Way and Fiddlers Green Lane roads along with much of the open space up to the Civil Service Sports Ground as well as the Cheltenham Racecourse and surrounding green park along with St Peter Leckhampton parish church and Brizen Playing Fields Haven and Greenmead parks along the south of the borough are covered Government EditMain article Cheltenham Borough Council Cheltenham Borough Council is the local authority for Cheltenham it is split into 20 wards with a total of 40 councillors elected to serve on the borough council Since 2002 elections have been held every two years with half of the councillors elected at each election GCHQ Edit Government Communications Headquarters 2017 The head office of the British Government Communications Headquarters GCHQ known to locals as The Doughnut is located in Cheltenham Climate EditAs with the vast majority of the British Isles Cheltenham experiences a temperate oceanic climate Cfb in the Koppen climate classification It has warm summers and cool winters The town held the British maximum temperature record from 1990 to 2003 temperatures reached 37 1 C 98 8 F 24 The absolute minimum is 20 1 C 4 2 F set during December 1981 During a typical year 145 6 days will report at least 1 mm of rain and some 42 2 nights will record air frost Climate data for Cheltenham 1981 2010 65 m aslMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearAverage high C F 7 6 45 7 7 9 46 2 10 8 51 4 13 8 56 8 17 5 63 5 20 5 68 9 22 8 73 0 22 1 71 8 19 1 66 4 14 9 58 8 10 6 51 1 8 0 46 4 14 7 58 5 Average low C F 2 0 35 6 1 7 35 1 3 6 38 5 4 8 40 6 7 8 46 0 10 8 51 4 13 1 55 6 12 7 54 9 10 3 50 5 7 7 45 9 4 6 40 3 2 1 35 8 6 8 44 2 Average rainfall mm inches 71 6 2 82 61 9 2 44 57 4 2 26 67 7 2 67 67 9 2 67 67 9 2 67 66 4 2 61 66 2 2 61 74 0 2 91 81 1 3 19 80 5 3 17 80 8 3 18 843 4 33 2 Average rainy days 1 0 mm 13 5 11 2 12 7 11 9 12 2 11 4 10 5 10 9 11 2 13 9 13 5 12 8 145 6Mean monthly sunshine hours 55 6 74 9 107 6 154 2 184 9 183 0 199 2 186 6 137 2 107 1 64 3 48 9 1 503 5Source Met Office 25 Economy Edit Cavendish House department store on the Promenade October 2008 As a Regency spa town tourism is an important sector in Cheltenham s economy but it also has some light industry including food processing aerospace and electronics businesses The Government s electronic surveillance operation Government Communications Headquarters GCHQ known for its doughnut shaped building is in Cheltenham Vertex Data Science GE Aviation Chelsea Building Society Endsleigh Insurance Archant Nelson Thornes UCAS Universities amp Colleges Admissions Service Kohler Mira Zurich Financial Services Douglas Equipment Volo and Spirax Sarco Engineering all have sites in and around Cheltenham A number of design agencies and businesses are located in the town Weird Fish was founded in Cheltenham SuperGroup plc owner of the Superdry label has its headquarters in Cheltenham Cheltenham is a regional shopping centre home to department stores the oldest being Cavendish House from 1823 26 and the Regent Arcade The Beechwood Shopping Centre in the town centre was demolished in 2017 to make way for a 30million 115 000 square foot John Lewis store 27 Among Cheltenham s many restaurants two are currently Michelin one star restaurants Le Champignon Sauvage and Lumiere citation needed Employment and salary Edit The unemployment rate in Cheltenham was 2 7 28 in 2010 compared to the UK national unemployment level of 7 9 29 The average GVA per head in Cheltenham was 21 947 27 in 2011 28 compared to the national average of 26 200 30 In 2012 The Guardian found that at the end of 2011 41 multi millionaires lived in Cheltenham which was the fourth highest rate in the UK of multi millionaires per 100 000 people at 35 44 31 Culture EditArchitecture Cheltenham s Municipal Offices an example of Regency architecture The town is known for its Regency architecture and is said to be the most complete regency town in England 32 Many of the buildings are listed including the Cheltenham Synagogue judged by Nikolaus Pevsner to be one of the architecturally best non Anglican ecclesiastical buildings in Britain 33 Cheltenham Town Hall erected in 1902 to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra Cheltenham Town Hall was built in 1902 to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra ArtThe Cheltenham Art Gallery amp Museum also called The Wilson hosts a programme of art exhibitions running throughout the year The Wilson was named after polar explorer Dr Edward Wilson who was born in Cheltenham In 2014 many of the town s historic cultural and leisure buildings were put under the control of The Cheltenham Trust 34 a charity set up to manage and develop the buildings on behalf of the town Along with The Wilson the Trust now manages the Town Hall the Pittville Pump Room the Prince of Wales Stadium and Leisure a large fitness and swimming complex A volunteer board of Trustees controls the Trust 35 The Trust s CEO is Julie Finch former director of museums in Bristol 36 failed verification In 2014 a piece of graffiti by street artist Banksy appeared next to a telephone box in a residential street in Cheltenham The graffiti depicted three men in trench coats and dark glasses apparently listening in to calls made in the telephone box 37 Cheltenham features several sculptural artworks of note including Neptune s Fountain The mechanical clock in the Regent Shopping Arcade designed by Kit Williams The distance from the duck to the fish is 14 metres Neptune s Fountain in the Promenade built in 1893 and designed by Joseph Hall 38 The Hare and the Minotaur also in the Promenade created in 1995 by Sophie Ryder 39 A life size bronze of an Emperor Penguin by Nick Bibby and placed in the foyer of The Wilson art gallery and museum in 2015 40 The Wishing Fish Clock in the Regent Shopping Arcade unveiled in 1987 and designed by Kit WilliamsMusicCheltenham hosts the annual Cheltenham Music Festival Cheltenham Jazz Festival and the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain In 2010 Cheltenham was named the UK s fifth most musical city sic by PRS for Music 41 HistoryThe collection s of the Cheltenham Art Gallery amp Museum include decorative arts from the era of the Arts and Crafts Movement The collection enjoys National Designation by the Arts Council of England 42 The Holst Birthplace Museum contains personal belongings of the composer of The Planets including his piano It also includes a working Victorian kitchen and laundry Regency drawing room and an Edwardian nursery The Cheltenham Civic Society has been responsible for erecting commemorative plaques in the town since 1982 blue plaques to celebrate well known people and green plaques to celebrate significant places and events FestivalsEvery year Cheltenham Festivals organises music jazz literature and science festivals in the town attracting names with national and international reputations in each field Events take place at venues including the town hall the Everyman Theatre the Playhouse Theatre and the Pittville Pump Room Several other cultural festivals including the Cheltenham International Film Festival Cheltenham Paranormal Festival the Cheltenham Design Festival Cheltenham Folk Festival Cheltenham Poetry Festival The True Believers Comic Festival and Cheltenham Comedy Festival are separately organised but also attract international performers and speakers A more local event the Cheltenham Festival of the Performing Arts formerly Cheltenham Competitive Festival is a collection of more than 300 performance competitions that is the oldest of Cheltenham s arts festivals having been started in 1926 Greenbelt a Christian arts and music festival and Wychwood Festival a family friendly folk and world music festival were held at Cheltenham Racecourse 43 The town also hosts the multi venue Walk the line festival Two sporting events are also routinely described as the Cheltenham Festival or the Festival the Cheltenham Cricket Festival which features Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and National Hunt racing s Cheltenham Festival Film and televisionCheltenham has played host to and featured in a number of film and TV series 44 45 Butterflies location work was predominantly filmed in Cheltenham 44 45 If 1968 was filmed at Cheltenham College and other locations 44 45 The Whistle Blower a spy thriller was largely filmed in Cheltenham as GCHQ is central to the plot 44 45 The Full Monteverdi a 2007 British film written and directed by John La Bouchardiere was partly filmed in Cheltenham 44 45 The House of Eliott a British television series produced and broadcast by the BBC between 1991 and 1994 was partly filmed in Cheltenham 44 45 Vanity Fair a BBC serialised adaptation of William Makepeace Thackery s novel of the same name was partly filmed in Cheltenham 44 45 The Thistle Golden Valley Hotel was used by the ITV soap opera Crossroads for outdoor location filming from 1982 to 1985 46 The Everyman Theatre TheatreCheltenham has four theatres the Everyman the Playhouse the Bacon and the Parabola Arts Centre Demography EditPopulationAccording to 2010 estimates from the Office for National Statistics Cheltenham s population is 115 300 ranked 186th out of 326 English districts based on population with a population density of 6 410 people per square mile 2 470 people km2 placing it 72 out of 326 English districts based on population density Inhabitants of Cheltenham are known as Cheltonians EthnicityAccording to the 2011 census 47 the ethnic breakdown of the population of Cheltenham is as follows White British 88 3 White Irish 0 9 White other 5 0 Mixed 1 9 Asian 3 2 Black 0 6 Crime and public safety EditIn 2013 Cheltenham was named one of the safest towns for university students to live in the UK by the Complete University Guide 48 Police Edit Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the town covering 14 neighbourhoods in the Cheltenham area 49 Education EditMain article List of schools in Cheltenham The oldest school in Cheltenham is Pate s Grammar School founded in 1574 50 Cheltenham College founded in 1841 was the first of the public schools of the Victorian period 51 The school was the setting in 1968 for the classic Lindsay Anderson film if 52 It also hosts the annual Cheltenham Cricket Festival first staged in 1872 and the oldest cricket festival in the world 53 The most famous school in the town according to The Good Schools Guide is Cheltenham Ladies College founded in 1853 54 55 Dean Close School was founded in 1886 in memory of the Reverend Francis Close 1797 1882 a former rector of Cheltenham 56 The town also includes several campuses of the University of Gloucestershire two other independent and six other state secondary schools plus institutions of further education Sport and leisure Edit The racecourse from Cleeve Hill Cheltenham Racecourse in the nearby village of Prestbury is the home of National Hunt or jumps racing in the UK Meetings are hosted from October to April The highlight of the season is the Cheltenham Gold Cup which is normally held in the middle of March during the Cheltenham Festival The town s football teams are the professional team Cheltenham Town F C who play in the Football League One and semi professional sides Bishop s Cleeve who play in the Hellenic League Premier Cheltenham Saracens F C in the Hellenic League Division One and more recently Montpellier Football Club founded in 2021 by Liam Bond and Sam Collier and currently boasting a senior first team a development team and a newly founded women s team Amateur rugby union clubs include Cheltenham R F C Cheltenham Saracens RFC Cheltenham North R F C Old Patesians R F C Smiths Rugby and Cheltenham Civil Service R F C In rugby league university side Gloucestershire All Golds were admitted into the semi professional Championship 1 The Cheltenham Rugby Festival is a rugby league nines event held in May The town has one golf course Lilley Brook in Charlton Kings Cheltenham has one of the largest croquet clubs in the country and is home to the headquarters of the national body of the sport the Croquet Association The East Glos tennis squash and women s hockey club which was founded in 1885 is also located in the town Sandford Parks Lido is one of the largest outdoor pools in England There is a 50 m 164 ft main pool a children s pool and paddling pool set in landscaped gardens Sandford Parks Lido is the home of Cheltenham Swimming and Water Polo Club In 2021 Cheltenham Borough Council gave Sandford Parks Lido a new 35 year lease to continue operating the lido 57 Cheltenham Festival Edit Main article Cheltenham Festival Cheltenham Festival is a significant National Hunt racing meeting 58 and has race prize money second only to the Grand National It is an event where many of the best British and Irish trained horses race against each other the extent of which is relatively rare during the rest of the season The festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse The meeting is often very popular with Irish visitors 59 mostly because of that nation s affinity with horse racing but also because it usually coincides with St Patrick s Day a national holiday in celebration of the patron saint of Ireland Large amounts of money are bet during festival week with hundreds of millions of pounds being gambled over the four days 60 Cheltenham is often noted for its atmosphere most notably the Cheltenham roar which refers to the enormous amount of noise that the crowd generates as the starter raises the tape for the first race of the festival Transport EditRailways Edit Cheltenham Spa railway station Cheltenham Spa railway station is located on the Bristol Birmingham main line with services to Gloucester Bristol Swindon London Paddington Cardiff Central Bridgend Maesteg Plymouth and the South West Birmingham Derby the North West the North East and Scotland The station is located to the west of the Montpellier area of the town and is known locally as Lansdown The Cheltenham Spa Express once known as the Cheltenham Flyer is a named passenger train connecting Cheltenham with London The town has had seven railway stations but never had a direct route towards Oxford and London which have always been reached via Gloucester and Stroud Cheltenham Racecourse railway station The restored Cheltenham Racecourse railway station is the southern terminus of the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway The Honeybourne Line is being extended northwards to Broadway with an eventual aspiration to extend the line southwards to Cheltenham Spa where the line originally branched off from the Bristol to Birmingham main line Roads Edit Cheltenham is adjacent to the M5 motorway between Bristol and Birmingham and its junction with the A417 to Swindon and the A40 runs from across the M5 through the town towards Oxford and London Buses and coaches Edit Stagecoach West operate the majority of bus services in Cheltenham including services to Gloucester and Tewkesbury National Express operate a number of coach services from Cheltenham including route 444 to London and Heathrow airport Before becoming part of National Express Cheltenham was a major hub for Black and White coaches with routes throughout the country many of which formed a mass exodus through the town at 14 30 each day Tramroad Edit Cheltenham was a terminus of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad Churches EditMain article List of churches in Gloucestershire The first parish church is Cheltenham Minster St Mary s which is the only surviving medieval building in the town As a result of expansion of the population absorption of surrounding villages and the efforts of both evangelical and Anglo Catholic missions the town has a large number of other parish churches 61 including Trinity Church and All Saints Pittville where the composer Gustav Holst s father was the organist St Gregory s Roman Catholic church is an example of the work of the architect Charles Hansom 62 The Gothic Revival building was built 1854 57 the porch was added in 1859 the tower and spire were completed in 1861 and the nave was extended to join the tower in 1877 62 The church s s stained glass is by Hardman amp Co 62 Bell ringing Edit The town has three rings of bells hung for change ringing One is located in St Mark s Church a ring of 8 bells with the heaviest being some 16cwt These were originally a ring of 5 bells cast at John Taylor of Loughborough in 1885 extensively overhauled and augmented in 8 in 2007 63 Another is at St Christopher s Warden Hill the lightest ring of church bells in the world 64 The other is a ring of 12 bells hung in St Mary s Church the Minster These were the venue in 2008 for the eliminators of the National 12 Bell Striking contest in which teams of campanologists from around the world compete to win the Taylor Trophy In 2017 the old ring of 12 was completely replaced with new bells cast by John Taylor amp Co The tenor bell is just over a ton in weight and the new ring also includes a thirteenth bell a sharp 2nd to provide a lighter 8 The towers in the locality of Cheltenham belong to the Cheltenham branch of the Gloucester amp Bristol Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers Twin towns Edit A fingerpost in Cheltenham Township Pennsylvania highlighting Cheltenham as the Official Twin The signpost points to other cities in the world named Cheltenham See also List of twin towns and sister cities in England Cheltenham is twinned with 65 Annecy Auvergne Rhone Alpes France Cheltenham Pennsylvania United States Gottingen Lower Saxony Germany Weihai Shandong ChinaTwinning with Sochi Russia was suspended in response to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 66 Notable people EditMain article List of people from CheltenhamSee also Edit England portalHMS Cheltenham a Racecourse class minesweeper of 1916 Acclaim Cheltenham a game studio that made Extreme G 3 and XGRA Extreme G Racing Association List of spa towns in the United Kingdom Cheltenham UK Parliament constituency Cotswold Brewing Co a brewery based in Cheltenham Arle Court Transport HubReferences Edit Cheltenham City population Retrieved 25 October 2022 Visit Cheltenham visitcheltenham com Retrieved 29 March 2021 Welcome to Garden Events Garden events com 17 June 2012 Archived from the original on 3 June 2019 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Jazz Science Music amp Literature Cheltenham Festivals Retrieved 8 November 2012 Chedgrave Cheltenham A Topographical Dictionary of England pp 562 569 British history ac uk 22 June 2003 Retrieved 4 February 2014 R Coates English Place Name Society Journal 16 1983 84 John Morris ed Domesday Book 15 Gloucestershire 1982 p162 ISBN 0850333210 a b Goding John 1863 Norman s History of Cheltenham London Longman pp 124 25 at Long Ashton Somerset on 4 January note in family bible a b Hembry Phyllis May 1900 The English Spa 1560 1815 A Social History Madison New Jersey Fairleigh Dickinson University Press p 179 ISBN 978 0838633915 Lewis 1848 One of Cheltenham s finest the Pittville Pump Room Archived from the original on 15 December 2008 Lewis 1848 For example the Cheltenham Baths at Ossett Spa see History of Ossett Spa Archived 21 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine Cheltenham Tourist Information Guide cotswolds info History Cheltenham Festival Retrieved 26 October 2019 Sports News Sporting Chronicle Cheltenham Festival Attendance Figures 2005 Sporting Chronicle Archived from the original on 21 September 2013 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Cheltenham Racecourse wikimedia org 17 June 2006 Archived copy Archived from the original on 12 April 2015 Retrieved 4 April 2015 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link The Gloucestershire District Boundaries Order 1991 Opsi gov uk 4 July 2011 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Distance between Cheltenham UK and London UK UK distancecalculator globefeed com Hockin Lynda Montpellier Gardens www cheltenham gov uk David Hanks A History of Charlton Park Charltonparkcheltenham org Retrieved 4 February 2014 Hot spell August 1990 Met Office Retrieved 4 February 2014 Cheltenham 1981 2010 averages Met Office Retrieved 3 May 2016 Records of Cavendish House Co Ltd Department store Cheltenham Archives Hub Archived from the original on 19 July 2012 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Jenkins Robin 18 October 2018 Eight amazing things about the opening of the John Lewis amp Partners shop in Cheltenham Gloucestershire Live Retrieved 26 October 2019 a b Cheltenham economic profile The Cheltenham economy Cheltenham Borough Council Cheltenham gov uk Retrieved 8 November 2012 Labour Market Statistics December 2010 Ons gov uk 15 December 2010 Retrieved 8 November 2012 Average salary falls 3pc in face of high inflation The Daily Telegraph London 23 November 2011 Retrieved 8 November 2012 John Burn Murdoch 13 September 2012 UK multi millionaires mapped where do the wealthy live The Guardian London Retrieved 8 November 2012 AA Illustrated Guide to Britain 1997 ISBN 0 393 31643 2 The Buildings of England Nikolaus Pevsner Penguin Books 1951 p 37 Cheltenham Trust www cheltenhamtrust org uk Cheltenham Trust www cheltenhamtrust org uk South West Business news local news expert opinion Business Live www business live co uk Banksy surprised at listed status 10 April 2015 Retrieved 18 June 2019 The Neptune Fountain Visit Cheltemham Retrieved 26 October 2019 The Hare and the Minotaur Visit Cheltenham Retrieved 26 October 2019 The Wilson Penguin Smith Richard 13 March 2010 Bristol named Britain s most musical city Daily Mirror Retrieved 4 July 2011 Arts and Crafts Museum Cheltenham www artsandcraftsmuseum org uk Greenbelt moved away in 2014 due to redevelopment at the Racecourse there is no commitment to return Home Greenbelt Archived from the original on 5 November 2016 Retrieved 2 April 2014 and emails to supporters March 2014 a b c d e f g Cotswold Filming Locations used for Cinema amp TV Cotswolds info 30 January 2014 Retrieved 4 February 2014 a b c d e f g Filmed in Cheltenham visit cheltenham 30 June 2013 Archived from the original on 30 June 2013 Geake Simon Crossroads SimonGeake co uk Archived from the original on 13 August 2016 Retrieved 13 August 2016 After the in story destruction of the motel by fire the revamped motel was filmed from 1982 at The Golden Valley Hotel in Cheltenham from 1985 filming moved to the Penns Hall Hotel now Ramada Jarvis Birmingham in Sutton Coldfield the changed appearance explained as being due to rebuilding UK Census 2011 Local Area Report Cheltenham Local Authority 1946157372 Nomis Office for National Statistics Retrieved 4 August 2020 Cheltenham ranked one of safest student towns in UK Gloucestershire Echo Archived from the original on 28 February 2014 Cheltenham www gloucestershire police uk A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales Baldwin Cradock and Joy 1818 p 446 Cheltenham Education Cheltenham College Cheltenham4u co uk Archived from the original on 27 December 2013 Retrieved 4 February 2014 BFI Screenonline Anderson Lindsay 1923 1994 Biography Screenonline org uk Retrieved 4 February 2014 Cheltenham Events Festivals Cheltenham Cricket Festival Cheltenham4u co uk Archived from the original on 22 February 2014 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Cheltenham Ladies College Welcome Archived 21 April 2013 at archive today The Good Schools Guide 2008 Lucas Publications January 2008 ISBN 978 0 9552821 2 6 Cheltenham Education Dean Close School Cheltenham4u co uk Archived from the original on 22 February 2014 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Winter Bethany Cheltenham lido predicts wave of funding with new lease Punchline Gloucestershire Retrieved 16 August 2021 Going is good for Cheltenham BBC Sport 17 March 1998 Retrieved 10 March 2009 Cheltenham festival gets underway this afternoon The Belfast Telegraph 10 March 2009 Retrieved 10 March 2009 Cheltenham Festival 2015 in numbers 150million in bets 10 745 bottles of champagne and 250 chefs Gloucestershire Echo Archived from the original on 5 July 2015 Cheltenham Find a Church Retrieved 26 October 2019 a b c Verey David 1970 Gloucestershire The Vale and the Forest of Dean The Buildings of England Vol 2 Harmondsworth Penguin Books p 128 St Mark s Church St Christopher s Church Tciwh org uk 13 July 2001 Retrieved 26 March 2013 Our Twin Towns Cheltenham Twinning Association 5 May 2011 Retrieved 11 March 2022 Statement from the Cheltenham Twinning Association on the situation in Ukraine Cheltenham Twinning Association 25 February 2022 Retrieved 11 March 2022 BibliographyDavid Verey Gloucestershire The Vale and the Forest of Dean The Buildings of England edited by Nikolaus Pevsner 2nd ed 1976 ISBN 0 14 071041 8 Commemorative Plaques of Cheltenham by Peter Smith amp Sue Rowbotham Reardon 2009 ISBN 1 873877 93 5 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cheltenham Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Cheltenham Cheltenham Borough Council Visit Cheltenham Genealogical Web site including many relevant references on Cheltenham BBC archive film of Cheltenham from 1985 Explore Cheltenham Explore Cheltenham Spa Online guide to the Festival Town of England Following the Cotswold WayTowardsBathTowardsChipping Campden10 miles 16 km toLeckhampton from White s Barn8 miles 13 5 km toWinchcombe from White s Barn Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cheltenham amp oldid 1152165274, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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