Chedworth

For the suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand, see Chedworth Park.

Chedworth is a village in Gloucestershire, in the Cotswolds and best known as the location of Chedworth Roman Villa, administered since 1924 by the National Trust.

Roman villa

It is a 1,700-year-old 'stately home' and was discovered by accident in 1864 It is the remains of one of the largest Romano-British villas in England featuring several mosaics, two bathhouses, hypocausts (underfloor heating), a water-shrine and a latrine. The water shrine became very special as the Romans used it to worship the goddess of the natural spring that gives it an endless amount of water.

History

The oldest house in the village is the manor house, which is situated near the parish church. The village lines a street over a mile long and has many attractive Cotswold stone houses.

A railway line once served the village – the Midland & South Western Junction Railway (later part of the Great Western Railway), which closed in September 1961. It ran through Chedworth Tunnel, 494 yards in length, and Chedworth railway station was in a deep cutting.

During the Second World War there was an RAF airfield at RAF Chedworth. The remnants of this can be seen today.

Chedworth was mentioned in author Craig Thomas' first novel "Rat Trap" published in 1976.

Chedworth Nature Reserve

This is a Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve situated on the South side of the Coln Valley and midway between the villages of Chedworth and Withington and next to the Roman Villa owned by the National Trust. The reserve is a section of the disused Cheltenham to Cirencester railway line and the track bed includes both cuttings and embankments. The Reserve takes the form of a woodland ride, with expanses of beech woods on either side of the railway line.

External links

• Photos of Chedworth Roman villa and surrounding area on geograph
• Photos of Chedworth and surrounding area on geograph
• Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust website