The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

GLOUCESTEESHIEE—HEEEFOEDSHIEE. 117
from low water. This bridge, the numerous villas of Clifton, and their shrubberies,
together with the venerable cathedral, the chaste Gothic church of St. Mary
Eedcliffe, and the lofty square tower of St. Stephen's, built in 1472, constitute the
principal attractions of the town. The Bristol Museum and several country seats
in the vicinity, including Leigh Court and Blaise Castle, are rich in works of art.
Amongst the famous men born in Bristol are William Penn, South ey the poet,
Thomas Lawrence the painter, and Chatterton. Bristol also disputes with Venice
ihe honour of being the birthplace of Sebastian Cabot.
There are no towns of importance in the hill district of Gloucestershire, to the
west of the Severn. Kciceiit, a market town 9 miles north-west of Gloucester,
has collieries, and a church with a lofty spire. Westhiinj-on-Scvern is interest-
ing to geologists on account of the fish and bone beds of its garden cliflf.
Newnham, on a hill below Westbury, exports the coal raised in its vicinity
and at Mitcheldean, in the interior. Half-way between these two places we pass the
ruins of the ancient abbey of Flaxley, whose foundation dates back to the twelfth
century. Lydney, lower down on the
Severn, has iron and tin-plate works, and
is a coal shipping port. We are now within
the manufacturing and mining districts
of the ancient Forest of Dean, nearly all
the towns and villages of which lie nearer
to the bank of the picturesque Wye, which
bounds the county on the west, than to
that of the Severn. 8t. Briavels, the
ancient capital of the forest, has a castle
of the thirteenth century, in which the
Lord Warden of the forest used to reside.
Keicland and Coleford are the principal
mining towns of the forest. The Buck-
Vis. 66- r'rirTo
stone, a famous rocking-stone on a hill-slope overlooking the valley of the Wye,
stands near the former of these towns.
Cirencester is the principal town in that part of the county which is drained
into the Thames. It is a place of great antiquity, the Coriuium of the Romans,
and its museum contains numerous Roman antiquities found in the neighbourhood.
Cirencester carries on a large trade in wool and corn. Near it stands the Royal
Agricultural College. Lechlade, near the confluence of the Colne and Lech with
the Thames, and at the eastern termination of the Thames and Severn Canal, is a
place of some traffic, but the other market towns in the north-eastern portion of the
county enjoy only local importance. The chief amongst them are Northkach,
Winchcoiiibe, Chipping Campdcn, and Stoic-on-fhe-Wokl.
Herefordshire, an inland county, has a surface beautifully diversified by
hills, and set off to the greatest advantage by luxuriant woods. The Wye inter-
sects it from the north-west to the south-east, and is joined about the centre of the
county by the Lugg, draining its northern half. Agriculture and cattle-breeding