Cheltenham (/ˈtʃɛltənəm/CHELT-ən-əm) is a historicspa town and borough adjacent to theCotswolds inGloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the most completeRegency town inBritain.[3] It is directly northeast ofGloucester.
Cheltenham is located atRiver Chelt, which rises nearby atDowdeswell and runs through the town on its way to theSevern.[6] It was first recorded in 803, asCeltan hom; the meaning has not been resolved with certainty, but latest scholarship concludes that the first element preserves a Celtic nouncilta, 'steep hill', here referring to the Cotswold scarp; the second element may mean 'settlement' or 'water-meadow'.[7] As a royal manor, it features in the earliest pages of theGloucestershire section ofDomesday Book[8] where it is namedChintenha[m]. The town was awarded a market charter in 1226.
Though little remains of its pre-spa history, Cheltenham has always been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery ofmineral springs there in 1716. CaptainHenry Skillicorne (1678–1763), is credited with being the first entrepreneur to recognise the opportunity to exploit the mineral springs.[9] The retired "master mariner" became co-owner of the property containing Cheltenham's first mineral spring upon his 1732[10] marriage to Elizabeth Mason.[11] Her father, William Mason, had done little in his lifetime to promote the healing properties of the mineral water apart from limited advertising and building a small enclosure over the spring.[9] Skillicorne's wide travels as a merchant had prepared him to see the dormant potential on this inherited property. After moving to Cheltenham in 1738, he immediately began improvements intended to attract visitors to his spa. He built a pump to regulate water flow and erected an elaborate well-house complete with a ballroom and upstairs billiard room to entertain his customers. The beginnings of Cheltenham's tree-lined promenades and the gardens surrounding its spas were first designed by Captain Skillicorne with the help of "wealthy and traveled" friends who understood the value of relaxing avenues. The area's walks and gardens had views of the countryside, and soon the gentry and nobility from across the county were enticed to come and investigate the beneficial waters of Cheltenham's market town spa.[11]
In 1795, Captain Powell Snell raised the First Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) at the Plough Inn (now Regent Arcade) in Cheltenham.[12]
The visit ofGeorge III with the queen and royal princesses in 1788 set a stamp of fashion on the spa.[13] The spa waters can still be sampled at thePittville Pump Room, built for this purpose and completed in 1830;[14] it is a centrepiece ofPittville, a planned extension of Cheltenham to the north, undertaken byJoseph Pitt, who laid the first stone 4 May 1825.[15]
Cheltenham's success as a spa town is reflected in the railway station, still calledCheltenham Spa, and spa facilities in other towns inspired by or named after it.[16]
Alice Liddell andLewis Carroll were regular visitors to a house in Cudnall Street,Charlton Kings – a suburb of Cheltenham. Alice Liddell's grandparents owned this house, and still contains the mirror, or looking glass, that was purportedly inspired for Lewis Carroll's novelThrough the Looking-Glass, published in 1871.[17]
The Promenade, Cheltenham (postcard 1918) byA. R. Quinton
Horse racing began in Cheltenham in 1815 and became a major national attraction after the establishment of theFestival in 1902.[18] The racecourse attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each day of the festival each year,[19] with such large numbers of visitors having a significant impact on the town.
In theSecond World War, theUnited States Army Services of Supply, European Theatre of Operations established its primary headquarters at Cheltenham under the direction ofLt. Gen. John C. H. Lee, with the flats of the Cheltenham Racecourse[20] becoming a giant storage depot for countless trucks, jeeps, tanks and artillery pieces. Most of this material was reshipped to the continent for and after theD-Day invasion. Lee and his primary staff had offices and took residence atThirlestaine Hall in Cheltenham.[21]
The first British jet aircraft prototype, theGloster E.28/39, was manufactured in Cheltenham. Manufacturing started inHucclecote near Gloucester, but was later moved to Regent Motors in Cheltenham High Street (now the Regent Arcade), considered a location safer from bombing during the Second World War.
Cleeve Hill, overlooks the town and is the highest point in thecounty ofGloucestershire and the Cotswold Hills range, at 1,083 feet (330 m).
The town is near the northeastern edge of theSouth West of England region being 88 miles (142 km) west-northwest of London, 38 miles (61 km) northeast ofBristol and 41 miles (66 km) south of Birmingham.[22]
Parts of the town hasgreen belt along its fringes, and this extends into the surrounding Tewkesbury district, helping to maintain local green space, prevent furtherurban sprawl and unplanned expansion towards Gloucester and Bishop's Cleeve, as well as protecting smaller villages in between. West of the Greenfield Way and Fiddlers Green Lane roads, along with much of the open space up to the Civil Service Sports Ground, as well as the Cheltenham Racecourse and surrounding green park, along with St Peter Leckhampton parish church and Brizen Playing Fields/Haven and Greenmead parks along the south of the borough, are covered.[citation needed]
In May 2024, under plans byGloucestershire County Council, it was reported that there are secret talks to formally merge the conurbations of Cheltenham and Gloucester with each other.[23] The plans suggest that around ten newgarden towns could be built around the green belt atBoddington which if removed would result in the complete merger of both boroughs. Doing so would facilitate and effectively merge the two into asupercity.[24] The move has been criticised by bothCheltenham Borough Council andGloucester City Council.[25][26]
Cheltenham Borough Council is the local authority for Cheltenham; it is split into 20 wards, with a total of 40 councillors elected to serve on the borough council. Since 2002, elections have been held every two years with half of the councillors elected at each election.
Cheltenham was anancient parish.[27] Until 1786 it was administered by itsvestry, in the same way as most rural areas. The vestry was supplemented by a body of unelectedimprovement commissioners in 1786 known as the Paving and Lighting Commission, initially charged with paving, lighting and repairing the streets, which later gained other powers including providing awatch and setting standards for new buildings. The commissioners were reformed in 1852 to be partly-elected and were eventually replaced in 1876 when the town was incorporated as amunicipal borough.[28]
As with the vast majority of theBritish Isles, Cheltenham experiences a temperateoceanic climate (Cfb in theKöppen climate classification). It has warm summers and cool winters. The town held the British maximum temperature record from 1990 to 2003—temperatures reached 98.8 °F (37.1 °C).[31] The absolute minimum is −4.2 °F (−20.1 °C), set during December 1981. During a typical year, 139 days will report at least 1 mm of rain, and some 35.5 nights will record air frost.[32]
Climate data for Cheltenham (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1889–2001)
A number of design agencies and businesses are located in the town.Weird Fish andSuperdry were both founded in Cheltenham, and Superdry plc is still based there. The multinational design houseMeri Meri has its European headquarters in Cheltenham.
Cheltenham is a regional shopping centre, home todepartment stores, the oldest beingCavendish House, from 1823,[34] and the Regent Arcade. Since 2006, Cheltenham is the headquarters of "The Movie Booth", a company that owns and operates DVD rental kiosks.[35]
The Beechwood Shopping Centre in the town centre was demolished in 2017 to make way for a £30million, 115,000 square footJohn Lewis store.[36]
The unemployment rate in Cheltenham was 2.7%[38] in 2010 compared to the UK national unemployment level of 7.9%.[39] The averageGVA per head in Cheltenham was £21,947.27 in 2011[38] compared to the national average of £26,200.[40]
In 2012,The Guardian found that, at the end of 2011, 41 multi-millionaires lived in Cheltenham, which was the fourth-highest rate in the UK of multi-millionaires per 100,000 people at 35.44.[41]
According to the Office of National Statistics, employment in Cheltenham has decreased in comparison with the previous year. Cheltenham's employment rate was higher than across the South West as a whole in the year ending September 2023. The employment rate remains now at 81.3%, for ages 16–64. Unemployment (people looking for work) has risen since a year earlier. The most recent unemployment rate for Cheltenham was about the same as across the South West as a whole.[42]
The town is known for itsRegency architecture and is said to be "the most complete regency town in England".[43] Many of the buildings are listed, including theCheltenham Synagogue, judged byNikolaus Pevsner to be one of the architecturally best non-Anglican places of worship in Britain.[44]
TheCheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, also called The Wilson, hosts a programme of art exhibitions running throughout the year. The Wilson was named after polar explorerEdward Wilson, who was born in Cheltenham.
In 2014, many of the town's historic cultural and leisure buildings were put under the control ofThe Cheltenham Trust,[46] a charity set up to manage and develop the buildings on behalf of the town. Along with The Wilson, the Trust now manages the Town Hall, the Pittville Pump Room, the Prince of Wales Stadium and Leisure @, a large fitness and swimming complex. A volunteer board of Trustees controls the Trust.[47]
The Cheltenham Paint Festival[48] attracts hundreds of mural artists from dozens of countries worldwide and is a highlight of the Gloucestershire arts calendar.[49] In 2014, a piece of graffiti by street artistBanksy appeared next to a telephone box in a residential street in Cheltenham. The graffiti depicted three men in trench coats and dark glasses apparently listening in to calls made in the telephone box.[50] In 2016, it was removed – possibly destroyed – ahead of the sale of the house on which it had been painted.[51]
Cheltenham features several sculptural artworks of note, including:
Neptune's FountainThe mechanical clock in the Regent Shopping Arcade, designed byKit Williams. The distance from the duck to the fish is 14 metres.
Neptune's Fountain in the Promenade, built in 1893 and designed by Joseph Hall[52]
The Hare and the Minotaur, also in the Promenade, created in 1995 bySophie Ryder[53]
A life-size bronze of an Emperor Penguin by Nick Bibby and placed in the foyer of The Wilson art gallery and museum in 2015[54]
The Wishing Fish Clock in the Regent Shopping Arcade, unveiled in 1987 and designed byKit Williams
In 2010, Cheltenham was named the UK's fifth "most musical" city (sic) byPRS for Music.[55]
MusiciansBrian Jones, guitarist and founding member ofthe Rolling Stones, and Michael Burston, nicknamed 'Würzel' ofMotörhead were both born in Cheltenham, with Jones buried in the town's crematorium following his death in 1969.[56] Other Cheltenham-born musicians of international renown includeGustav Holst,[57] for whom there is a dedicated museum and a monument in the town, andFKA Twigs.[58]
Progressive-indie bandNo Atlas is also from Cheltenham.
History
The collection's of theCheltenham Art Gallery & Museum include decorative arts from the era of theArts and Crafts Movement. The collection enjoys National Designation by the Arts Council of England.[59]TheHolst Birthplace Museum contains personal belongings of the composer ofThe Planets, including his piano. It also includes a workingVictorian kitchen and laundry,Regency drawing room and anEdwardian nursery.
The Cheltenham Civic Society has been responsible for erecting commemorative plaques in the town since 1982: blue plaques to celebrate well-known people and green plaques to celebrate significant places and events.
Several other cultural festivals, including the Cheltenham International Film Festival, Cheltenham Paranormal Festival, the Cheltenham Design Festival, Cheltenham Folk Festival, Cheltenham Poetry Festival, The True Believers Comic Festival and Cheltenham Comedy Festival are separately organised but also attract international performers and speakers. A more local event, the Cheltenham Festival of the Performing Arts (formerly Cheltenham Competitive Festival) is a collection of more than 300 performance competitions that is the oldest of Cheltenham's arts festivals, having been started in 1926.
Two sporting events are also routinely described as the "Cheltenham Festival" or "the Festival": the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, which featuresGloucestershire County Cricket Club, and National Hunt racing'sCheltenham Festival.
In 2021 the Cheltenham 7s festival began and is held at the end of July each year at the Newlands Rugby club opposite the main GE Aviation (ex Smiths Industries site) works between Southam and Bishops Cleeve. It is a festival of 7s sport, which includes Netball, Rugby, Dodgeball and Hockey amongst others and incorporates drinking and musical acts over the weekend to complement the sport.[61]
Film and television
Cheltenham has played host to and featured in a number of film and TV series:[62][63]
According to mid-2021 population figures published by theONS, the population of Cheltenham stood at118,866, making it the second largest settlement in Gloucestershire by population, after the city of Gloucester.[65]
Ethnicity and religion
According to the 2021 census, the population ethnicity breakdown is as follows:
There are numerous Protestant and Catholic churches throughout the town, and a Hindu Temple and a Mosque can also be found in the northern area of the town near St Pauls.[66][67][68]
In 2013, Cheltenham was identified by the Complete University Guide as one of the safest towns for university students in the UK.[69]
Based on data from 2023 to 2024, Cheltenham was described by CrimeRate.co.uk as "the safest major town in Gloucestershire", despite its crime rate being 55% higher than the county's average. It ranked as the 23rd most dangerous location out of 305 towns in Gloucestershire, with violence and sexual offences being the most common crimes.[70]
Crime Statistics:The overall crime rate for the period December 2023 to November 2024 was 107 per thousand residents, which is considered medium compared to other UK boroughs.[citation needed]
In January 2024, Cheltenham was noted for having the highest burglary rate in Gloucestershire with 53 incidents and led in criminal damage and arson with 84 crimes.[70]
Ward-level data from 2023 showed Cheltenham's crime rate at 119.85 per 1,000, with a 3.78% year-on-year increase, with St Paul's, Lansdown, and College wards having the highest rates.[71]
From December 2023 to November 2024, the crime rate was 105.1 per 1,000, with a noted increase in drug-related crimes by 6.4%.[72]
The town has one golf course, Lilley Brook, in Charlton Kings.
Cheltenham has one of the largestcroquet clubs in the country, and is home to the headquarters of the national body of the sport, theCroquet Association. The East Glos tennis, squash and women's hockey club, which was founded in 1885, is also located in the town.
Sandford Parks Lido is one of the largest outdoor pools in England. There is a 50 m (164 ft) main pool, a children's pool andpaddling pool, set inlandscaped gardens. Sandford Parks Lido is the home of Cheltenham Swimming and Water Polo Club. In 2021, Cheltenham Borough Council gave Sandford Parks Lido a new 35-year lease to continue operating the lido.[84]
Cheltenham Festival is a significantNational Hunt racing meeting,[85] and has race prize money second only to theGrand National. It is an event where many of the best British and Irish trained horses race against each other, the extent of which is relatively rare during the rest of the season.
The festival takes place annually in March atCheltenham Racecourse. The meeting is often very popular with Irish visitors,[86] mostly because of that nation's affinity with horse racing, but also because it usually coincides withSt. Patrick's Day, a national holiday in celebration of thepatron saint ofIreland.
Large amounts of money are bet during festival week, with hundreds of millions ofpounds being gambled over the four days.[87] Cheltenham is often noted for its atmosphere, most notably the "Cheltenham roar", which refers to the enormous amount of noise that the crowd generates as the starter raises the tape for the first race of the festival.
Transport for Wales operates services between Cheltenham Spa and South Wales, usually running through to Maesteg via Gloucester, Chepstow, Newport, Cardiff Central and Bridgend.
TheCheltenham Spa Express, once known as theCheltenham Flyer, is anamed passenger train connecting Cheltenham with London. The former Cheltenham Flyer was, for a time, the fastest passenger train in scheduled service in the world.[90]
At its peak, the town had eight railway stations,[91] only one of which survives. It is a matter of local controversy that trains are not run directly to London but instead via Gloucester; although routes do exist for a direct and therefore much faster service, as demonstrated during 2023 when a bridge closure in Oxfordshire led to some services to Hereford stopping at Cheltenham.[92]
Cheltenham is adjacent to theM5 motorway, between Bristol and Birmingham. Junction 10 serves the north of the town, via the A4019; junction 11 links to the south, via theA40 which continues towardsOxford and London.
National Express operates a number of coach services from Cheltenham including route 444 to London andHeathrow Airport. Before becoming part of National Express, Cheltenham was a major hub forBlack and White Coaches, with routes throughout the country, many of which formed a mass exodus through the town at 14:30 each day.
The firstparish church isCheltenham Minster, St Mary's, 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 parish churches,[95] includingTrinity Church and All Saints',Pittville, where the composerGustav Holst's father was the organist.
The town has three rings of bells hung forchange ringing. One is located in St Mark's Church – a ring of 8 bells, with the heaviest being some 16cwt. These were originally a ring of 5 bells cast at John Taylor of Loughborough in 1885, extensively overhauled and augmented in 8 in 2007.[97] Another is atSt. Christopher's (Warden Hill), the lightest ring of church bells in the world.[98] The other is a ring of 12 bells hung inSt. Mary's Church (the Minster). These were the venue in 2008 for the eliminators of the National 12 Bell Striking contest, in which teams ofcampanologists from around the world compete to win the Taylor Trophy. In 2017 the old ring of 12 was completely replaced withnew bells cast byJohn Taylor & Co. The tenor bell is just over a ton in weight, and the new ring also includes a thirteenth bell, a sharp 2nd, to provide a lighter 8. The towers in the locality of Cheltenham belong to the Cheltenham branch of the Gloucester & Bristol Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers.
A fingerpost in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, highlighting Cheltenham as the "Official Twin." The signpost points to other cities in the world named "Cheltenham".
^abGoding, John (1863).Norman's History of Cheltenham. London: Longman. pp. 124–25.
^at Long Ashton, Somerset on 4 January; note in family bible
^abHembry, Phyllis May (1900).The English Spa, 1560–1815: A Social History. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 179.ISBN978-0838633915.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^"RGH History".www.rghya.org.uk. Retrieved9 January 2025.
^Greenbelt moved away in 2014 due to redevelopment at the Racecourse; there is no commitment to return."Home – Greenbelt".Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved2 April 2014. and emails to supporters, March 2014)
^Geake, Simon."Crossroads".SimonGeake.co.uk. Archived fromthe original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved13 August 2016.After the in-story destruction of the motel by fire, the revamped motel was filmed from 1982 at The Golden Valley Hotel in Cheltenham; from 1985 filming moved to the Penns Hall Hotel (now Ramada Jarvis Birmingham) in Sutton Coldfield, the changed appearance explained as being due to rebuilding.
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