Wotton has contours like Venice has canals. Like New York has yellow cabs. When I considered moving to the Cotswold area the first place I noticed on my Ordnance Survey map was Wotton; any place with so many contours, I reasoned, had to be interesting.
Wotton is built around the slopes of a deep valley which cuts into the Cotswold Edge, tucked in under the steepest part of the Edge. The heavily wooded Edge rises above the town and seems to surround it on most sides, while to the south the land drops away steeply to the Severn Vale, giving superb views for thirty miles or more.
Most of the Edge country in and around Wotton is officially designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty. The views from Wotton Hill or Coombe Hill are superb - you can see the towers of the suspension bridges across the Severn Estuary, the Black Mountains in Wales, the Mendip Hills south of Bristol, and follow the southern line of the Edge where it runs towards Bath. If you take the Cotswold Way from Wotton town to Wotton Hill, and follow it along the Edge for a couple of miles through Westridge Wood, you will come to the Tyndale Monument, a large tower built on a high point of the Edge in honour of William Tyndale, translator of what became the most famous book in the English language, the King James edition of the Bible. The keys to the monument can be borrowed from a house in the nearby village of North Nibley, and on a fine day you can see the world rolled out before you like a fine oriental carpet. Satan tempted Jesus by taking him to a high place and showing him the empires of the world, and in North Nibley you can experience this for yourself.
Wotton is a good base to explore the Edge country on foot or bicycle. The steep slopes on the upper part of the Edge mean that most of it is heavily wooded, and rivers have cut the Edge into a profusion of deep valleys, accessible only by narrow roads or footpaths. A bicycle is ideal, as there are many roads where you will be lucky to see one car in an hour. You will need to be fit; the slopes are very steep and you will need thighs like cordwood to cycle up them and brakes like Mike Tyson's handshake to cycle down them. There are no unfit cyclists in Wotton.
The Edge country is quiet and lonely and secretive. One can walk on footpaths for hours and never see another human being. Isolated valleys like Waterley Bottom, Tyley Bottom and Ozleworth Bottom have a genuine remoteness, the kind of stillness which brings out the imagination, and when schoolchildren in Wotton frighten each other with tales of the Westridge Beast, it is easy to understand. Rambling old houses have their ghosts, and wild, remote places have their beasts.
The town of Wotton is first mentioned in a charter from King Edmund of Wessex in 940 A.D. For centuries the town was dominated by the affairs and intruiges of the powerful Berkeley family, and in the reign of King John (brother of Richard the Lionheart, unwilling signatory of the Magna Carta, and the villain of every Robin Hood film) Wotton was sacked by John's men and burned down. The grammar school was founded in 1384 by Lady Katherine Berkeley and has been in continuous existence since then - it is now located in a modern building on the plain below the town, and the complaint that modern children don't get enough exercise does not apply to its pupils, who have a stiff climb back into Wotton each day. Important brasses (left) of Thomas IV of Berkeley and his wife Margaret, dating from Margaret's death in 1392, can be found in the church of St. Mary's.
Wotton is divided into the Old Town and the New Town. The Old Town, built in the area around the Church of St. Mary's, was the site of the original settlement, and the bulk of the New Town was built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the town was at the height of prosperity. Most of the shops in Long Street date from this period, and although some are spoiled by modern fronts at street level, the upper floors and rooftops form a marvellous jumble. Market Street is very picturesque, and on the corner of Market Street and Long Street is the 16th. century Tolsey with its turret and dragon weather vane. It was once the town lockup and Blind House, and was also used for local courts.
In Church Street are the beautiful Perry and Dawes Almshouses, funded with two separate bequests by Hugh Perry in 1634 and Thomas Dawes in 1712. The almshouses are built around a courtyard with a small chapel in the centre. Perry's daughter Mary married Henry Noel, second son of Viscount Campden (see Chipping Campden). Mary assisted in the defence of Campden House during a siege by the Parliamentary Army, melting lead for musket balls, but in the end they had to surrender and the house was largely destroyed.
Wotton was a centre for the woollen industry. The long valleys which cut into the Edge provided water and power for dozens of mills, most of which have either disappeared, fallen into ruin, or have been converted to other uses. Monk's Mill is mentioned in the Domesday Book, and it was owned by nearby Kingswood Abbey. It was a large establishment at the turn of this century, but only overgrown ruins remain today. The Hack Mill was still standing until recently, but it became so dilapidated and dangerous that it had to be demolished. An outstanding example of a mill building is the New Mill which can be seen on the road to Charfield; it is now the premises of the engineering firm Renishaws. A large number of footpaths in the Wotton area mark the routes between vanished mills, and there is nearly always something to see - the millponds, weirs, and flood channels make very attractive places to picnic.
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The Ancient Ram Inn, Wotton's oldest house dating from the 13th. century.
It is believed to have housed workers during the building of St. Mary's. It is now an Inn
and features several hauntings. 
The 17th. century Perry and Dawes almshouses. 
Under-the-Hill House as seen from the church tower of St. Mary's - shades
of Frodo Baggins and Mr. Underhill. The heavily-wooded Edge can be seen in the background.
The house, set on the slopes of Coombe Hill, once belonged to the wildly eccentric Moore
Adey. He was a good friend of Oscar Wilde and helped to finance Wilde's (unsuccessful)
defence during his famous "somdomy" trial in 1895. Wilde is believed to have
spent some time at Under-the-Hill house. In his later years Adey became conviced that the
house contained hidden treasure and employed labourers to pull apart the inside while he
wandered around in a long black cloak with a tame rook on his shoulder. He was eventually
committed. 
Market Street, Wotton. The Tolsey is just visible to the far right of the
picture.
A gateway to solitude: Tyley Bottom, as seen from Coombe Hill. The small
village of Coombe, less than one mile from Wotton up the Dyers Brook, is in the
foreground. A brass of Thomas IV of Berkeley and his wife Margaret in the church of
St. Mary's. The photograph is taken from E.S. Lindley's Wotton Under Edge, an
exhaustive history of the town. 
Douglas on the Westridge hunting the Beast (81k JPG) Return to Contents
In most cases further details can be found under Things to See.
Wotton is close to Dursley, Stroud and Tetbury, which should also be referred to.
The Heritage Centre,
The Chipping, Wotton Under Edge, Gloucestershire, Tel. 01453 521541
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Copyright Digital Brilliance 1995