Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in South West England lying largely in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire but parts in Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Somerset.
With the largest AONB in Britain and widely known around the country and internationally, the Cotswolds would make a great addition to OSM.
This page is to organise efforts to bring OSM coverage of the Cotswolds to an excellent standard.
Update June 2020
Using data from Natural England under OGLv3 licence the boundary was updated by DaveF. The information below remains as a record.
AONB Boundary
The AONB was created in 1966 and is the largest of the AONBs. From what I can tell from the bits of the boundary I know about, the boundary largely follows roads and paths. I've created a boundary relation for the AONB 166570 166570. The relation has been tagged as a national park because the Government has in the past said that AONBs have equivalent status to National Parks, have the same landscape qualities and are created under the same legislation.
| Section | Description | Progress | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gloucester to Cheltenham | Largely follows the foot of the escarpment but detours at Upton Saint Leonards to exclude that village and the industrial estate at Brockworth. Does not include Hucclecote Meadows. | 100% | Not sure where the official boundary is between Upton and Brockworth so I've used the Glevum Way footpath for a bit and skirted Hucclecote Meadows which, I've confirmed, are definitely not in the AONB. I've made it follow the Cheltenham-Stroud road for a section between Brockworth and Shurdington then up to Leckhampton Hill. |
| Cheltenham to Gotherington | The AONB excludes Cheltenham and the estates at Bishops Cleeve and Woodmancote. | 100% | Largely guestimated, used the closest boundaries to Cheltenham outside of built-up areas. I know the boundary falls on the River Chelt so used that at Dowdeswell. The boundary has to include Cleeve Hill, so swung in and used track from the NPE as boundary by Cleeve Cloud and Battledown. Used Glos-Warks railway to Gotherington. |
| Dixton Hill and Oxenton | The AONB definitely includes the hills at Dixton and Oxenton. | 100% | Not sure where official boundary lies, used nearby major roads for boundary and a section of the county boundary. |
| Bredon Hill and Dumbleton | Again, I'm certain the AONB includes Bredon Hill. | 100% | Used main roads for boundary to Dumbleton. |
| Dumbleton to Broadway | AONB boundary leaves county boundary but parallels it from Dumbleton. | 100% | Used footpaths and roads for the boundary here as I do not know exactly where it lies, only that it stays within a mile from the county boundary until Wormington. From Wormington I used the main road to Broadway. This section may or may not be accurate. |
| Broadway to Quinton | AONB boundary follows scarp before coming right up to Long Marston depot. | 100% | Except for a short stretch on the railway, I put the boundary relation on main roads all the way to Quinton. The AONB follows around the foot of Meon Hill before heading to Ilmington. |
| Ilmington to Moreton in Marsh | AONB does not include Shipston on Stour or Moreton in Marsh | 100% | Used railways and main roads to provide the boundary here. Follows Railway to Moreton in Marsh. |
| Moreton in Marsh to Lower Oddington | AONB follows Fosse Way before joining and following another main road at Lower Oddington. | 100% | This section was much easier as everything I read about the AONB states it does not include Moreton in Marsh but joins the Fosse Way there. So I was able to used the railway to Moreton and follow the Fosse Way down almost to Stow. Stow is, however, in the AONB so I used minor roads to provide the boundary right to Lower Oddington before using the main road there. |
| Lower Oddington to Brailes Hill | 100% | Since I have little idea where the AONB boundary is supposed to lie here, I used minor roads for the boundary right to Brailes Hill. I know Brailes Hill is in the AONB. | |
| Brailes to Radway | AONB follows footpath at Radway. | 100% | The only thing I could find out about this section was that the AONB includes Radway and that a public footpath is the boundary near here. I had to trace a footpath from the NPE but I'm confident it's the correct footpath - the area is not well mapped in OSM at the moment. |
| Radway to Warmington | AONB comes close to M40 at Warmington, the most easterly part of the AONB | 100% | Information about restoring sheepwashes confirms that Warmington is in the AONB, the AONB partnership funded the restoration. I've just used an existing residential landuse provide the boundary. Deddington Hill is, curiously, not in the AONB. |
| Warmington to Shenlow Hill | Follows county boundary | 100% | Nice and easy, apparently the county boundary is also the AONB boundary to Shenlow Hill. |
| Shenlow Hill to Epwell | The AONB includes the hills between Shenlow Hill and Epwell | 100% | Just used nearest roads to hills right to Epwell. |
| Epwell to Rollright | Follows county boundary | 100% | As far as I can tell the AONB follows the county boundary here before breaking off at Rollright. |
| Rollright to Chipping Norton | Includes Chipping Norton | 100% | Apparently the AONB includes the town of Chipping Norton so I used roads as the boundary to Chipping Norton then guestimated a short section around the town. The A361 is the boundary at various points so I used it here. |
| Chipping Norton to Charlbury | Follows Salt Way | 100% | Sections added by Richard provided something to work towards in this section. They also made me realise that the boundary was following the salt way. |
| Charlbury to Woodstock | 100% | From another section by Richard, I used existing landuse and barriers for the boundary to Woodstock. AONB does not include Blenheim Palace. | |
| Woodstock to Ramsden | 100% | Although much smaller than the previous sections, without the help from other uses this section was more difficult. I could find no descriptions of the boundary online. As such I used whatever features that seemed to make sense. At Long Hanborough I used the railway and the roads and a footpath past Mill Wood as these were all on the NPE. I then used roads to Ramsden. This section of the boundary is likely quite inaccurate. |
Villages
ToDo.
Attractions
ToDo.
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