CHELTENHAM, a parliamentary and municipal borough of England, in Gloucestershire, situated about 88 miles N.W. from London, in a valley watered by the Chelt, and sheltered on the E. and N.E. by the Cotswold Hills. Its streets and buildings are spacious and elegant, and its spas and promenades are reckoned among the finest in England. The “Promenade” par excellence, indeed, which extends for more than a quarter of a mile, and is lined with trees, will bear comparison with any in Europe. Besides the parish church of St Mary’s, which probably dates from the 14th century, there are ten Episcopalian churches and numerous other places of worship; several of them are beautiful specimens of modern architecture, and the Roman Catholic church of Saint Gregory is especially admired. Among the educational institutions the most important are the well known Cheltenham College, which dates from 1842, and numbers upwards of 600 pupils; a foundation grammar school, originally established in 1574 by Richard Pates of Gloucester; a Church of England college for the training of teachers for national and parochial schools; and the Ladies’ College at Cambray House opened in 1854. Of the charitable institutions may be mentioned the General Hospital and Dispensary, which is supported by donations and subscriptions, and the Female Orphan Asylum, which owes its existence to Queen Charlotte. There are no manufacturing establishments of any importance; and the prosperity of the town, which has the reputation of being one of the healthiest, cleanest, cheapest, and best regulated places in the kingdom, is mainly due to its being a fashionable and educational resort. The mineral springs are four in number—the Old Wells, Montpellier, Cambray, and Pittville; and with the exception of Cambray, ...which is chalybeate, they all furnish a saline water. The Pittville spring is the mildest and most attractive, and it also possesses the best pump-room in the town,—a handsome building, surrounded by an Ionic colonnade, which was erected in 1825 by Joseph Pitt, at a cost of £20,000.
Cheltenham probably existed at a very early period, and Roman remains have been discovered on its site. The manor is described in Domesday-Book as terra τegis, or king’s land, and it possessed important privileges granted by several charters. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the town was relieved from the burden of sending two members to Parliament. It rose rapidly into importance at the commencement of the eighteenth century through the discovery of its mineral waters, which were visited in 1788 by George III., and soon after attracted general attention. In 1804 it consisted of only one street, and contained 710 houses and 3076 inhabitants; whereas at the census of 1871 the parish, which has an area of 4203 statute acres, contained 7825 inhabited houses, and had a population of 41,924. The Parliamentary borough, which was extended by an Act of 31 and 32 Viet, to an area of 4451 acres, and contains part of the parish of Leckhampton, had in the same year 8321 inhabited houses and a population of 44,519 persons, of whom 18,370 were males, and 26,149 females. It returns one member to Parliament, and is the seat of a County Court, a centre under the Bankruptcy and Judicature Acts, and the dépôt of the county police.
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