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Cheltenham
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Cheltenham , or Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, England. The town has a population of 110,013 (2001 census). The people of the town are known as "Cheltonians". Its motto is: Salubritas et Eruditio ("Health and Education").
Cheltenham is located on the edge of the Cotswolds and has an image of being respectable and wealthy. The small River Chelt flows under and through the town and is subject to regular floods.
Cheltenham is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing the Gold Cup, being the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held every March.
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Encyclopedia
Cheltenham , or Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, England. The town has a population of 110,013 (2001 census). The people of the town are known as "Cheltonians". Its motto is: Salubritas et Eruditio ("Health and Education").
Cheltenham is located on the edge of the Cotswolds and has an image of being respectable and wealthy. The small River Chelt flows under and through the town and is subject to regular floods.
Cheltenham is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing the Gold Cup, being the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held every March. The town hosts several festivals of culture.
History
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. The spa waters continue to be taken recreationally at Pittville Pump Room, built for this purpose and completed in 1830. 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 which were inspired by or named after it.
Horse racing began in Cheltenham in 1815, and first became a major national attraction after the establishment of the Festival in 1902. Whilst the volume of tourists visiting the spa has declined, the racecourse now attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each day of the festival each year, with such large numbers of visitors having a significant impact on a town the size of Cheltenham.
The town is famous for its Regency architecture and is said to be "the most complete regency town in England".
On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the borough of Cheltenham was merged with Charlton Kings urban district to form the modern 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.
Education
The oldest school in Cheltenham is Pate's Grammar School (founded in 1574). Cheltenham College (founded in 1841) was the first of the major public schools of the Victorian period. The school was the setting in 1968 for the classic Lindsay Anderson film if..... It also hosts the annual Cheltenham Cricket Festival, first staged in 1872, and the oldest cricket festival in the world. The most famous school in the town, according to the The Good Schools Guide, is Cheltenham Ladies' College (founded in 1853). Dean Close School was founded in 1886 in memory of the Reverend Francis Close (1797-1882), a former rector of Cheltenham and the founder of Cheltenham's great tradition of education. The town also includes several campuses of the University of Gloucestershire, one other public and six other state schools, plus institutions of further education.
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.
A fifth cultural festival, the Cheltenham Folk Festival, is separately organised but also attracts international performers. A more local event, the Cheltenham Festival of the Performing Arts (formerly Cheltenham Competitive Festival) is a collection of more than 300 performance competitions but can claim to be the oldest of all Cheltenham's arts festivals, having been started in 1926.
Additionally, Greenbelt, a Christian arts and music festival, and Wychwood, a family-friendly folk and world music festival, are held at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Two sporting events are also routinely described as the 'Cheltenham Festival' or simply 'the Festival': the Cheltenham Cricket Festival which features Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and National Hunt racing's Cheltenham Festival (see below).
Sport and leisure
Cheltenham is known for its horse racing. Cheltenham Racecourse, located in the suburb 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. This co-incidence with Saint Patrick's Day ensures that the town swells with an influx of Irish horse racing devotees.
The local football teams are Cheltenham Town F.C., who have recently enjoyed success in The Football League and gained promotion to League One and Cheltenham Saracens F.C., who are members of the Hellenic League Division One West.
Amateur rugby union clubs include Cheltenham Saracens RFC, Cheltenham North RFC, Old Patesians R.F.C., and Cheltenham Civil Service RFC.
The Cheltenham Rugby Festival is a rugby-league-nines event held in May.
The town has one golf course, Lilley Brook, situated in the Charlton Kings district of the town.
Cheltenham is home to Steve Saunders, 10 times the British champion trials rider and runner-up in the World Championship in 1986.
Sandford Parks Lido is one of the largest outdoor pools in England. There is a main pool as well as a children's pool and paddling pool, both of which are set in landscaped gardens.
Shopping and night-life
Cheltenham is a regional shopping centre, home to department stores (the oldest being Cavendish House, from 1823), and centres including the Regent Arcade and the Beechwood Shopping Centre. It has a Michelin two-star restaurant, 'Le Champignon Sauvage'.
Major employers
Cheltenham has light industry employers, including food processing, aerospace, electronics and tourism businesses. The British government's electronic surveillance operation Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), renowned for its "doughnut-shape" building, is located in Cheltenham. GE-Aviation, Dowty Rotol, Chelsea Building Society, Endsleigh Insurance, UCAS (Universities & Colleges Admissions Service), Kohler Mira, Zurich Financial Services, Spirax Sarco and Kraft Foods' UK headquarters all have sites in and around Cheltenham.
Transport
Railway
Cheltenham Spa railway station is located on the main Bristol-Birmingham line, giving connections to Gloucester, Bristol, Swindon, London Paddington, Cardiff Central, Plymouth and the South West, Birmingham, Derby, the North West, the North East, and Scotland.
The Cheltenham Spa Express, once known as the "Cheltenham Flyer", is a named passenger train, connecting Cheltenham with London.
In addition, a restored station at Cheltenham Racecourse is the south terminus for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway heritage railway.
Road
Cheltenham is well connected to major trunk roads in the region, being adjacent to the M5 motorway (between Bristol and Birmingham) and its junction with the A417 to Swindon, and having the A40 flow from across the M5 through the town towards Oxford and London.
Tramway
Cheltenham was at one time a terminus of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Tramway.
Churches
The original parish church of Cheltenham is St. Mary's Church, 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 churches, including Trinity Church (one of the largest Anglican congregations outside London) and All Saints', Pittville (where the composer Holst's father was organist).
Campanology
The town features two notable rings of bells hung for change ringing. The first is at St. Christopher's (Warden Hill), these being the lightest ring of church bells in the world. The bells of St. Mark's are renowned for their tonal excellence and ease of "handling". The product of John Taylor's Bell Foundry they were cast in 1885 and 2007 and have undergone a major refurbishment. There is also a ring of 12 bells dating mainly from the 19th century, hung in St. Mary's Church. These are to be 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.
The towers in the locality of Cheltenham belong to the of the . For more information about local ringing activities see the .
Twin Towns
Cheltenham is twinned with:
- Annecy, France
- Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, US
- Göttingen, Germany
- Sochi, Russia
- Weihai, China
The town also has 'Friendship' status with:
- Stampersgat, Netherlands
- Kisumu, Kenya
- Yavne, Israel
Areas of Cheltenham
The districts of Cheltenham include Arle, Benhall, Charlton Kings, Fairview, Fiddlers Green, Hesters Way, Leckhampton, Montpellier, Pittville, Prestbury, The Reddings, Rowanfield, St. Marks, St. Paul's, St. Peter's, Springbank, Springfields, Swindon Village, Up Hatherley, Whaddon, and Wyman's Brook.
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 (see above map) is a former 72-acre historic park with mansion house, about a mile south-east of Cheltenham town centre. From 1935 onwards 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 enparked 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.
Notable residents
See also
External links
- Cheltenham Borough Council - Official Tourism Information Centre website
- — Web site for the local newspaper
- including many relevant references on Cheltenham
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